Mariner Middle School Mess
January 22nd, 2007 by Dan GaffneyIt sounds like big problems at Milton’s Mariner Middle School in the Cape Henlopen School District. The minutes from the last two teachers union (CHEA) meetings tell the sad tale:
A member expressed concern regarding the behavior at Mariner Middle School. The students are defiant and arrogant. Teachers are hesitant to be in the hallways during the class change since they are verbally abused by students. Students then remain in the hallways several minutes after the late bell. Students are stealing from teachers’ desks. Teachers are being pulled for emergency coverage at the expense of their own planning period since substitutes refuse to enter the building. Teachers are writing referrals but are discovering that no action is being taken and in some cases the referral is not even entered into the computer. The administration has suggested that the behavior is a result of the teachers not establishing appropriate repore with the students which is how the first two weeks of school was to be utilized. Not following the established discipline matrix is a grievable offense. Teachers should keep documentation of referrals and the action, or lack thereof, that occurs in each case.
Substitutes refuse to enter the building! Imagine how the students must feel.
It was discussed in a previous meeting that substitutes refuse to work at Mariner Middle and therefore teachers are being pulled for emergency coverage. The current contract requires 30 consecutive minutes of planning time every day which can only be denied in the event of an unforeseen emergency. If substitutes are continually declining to work at Mariner Middle then this is no longer an unforeseen occurrence. The teacher who allegedly offensively touched a student has been suspended with pay while the parent/teacher is filing charges. The accused teacher decided previously not to continue membership in CHEA which greatly limits what the union can do. A Member expressed concern over the situation and the students’ reaction to the incident. Students seem to be intimidating teachers with the threat of accusing the teacher of a crime.
Options for parents: school choice out of the district, private school, or home school.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Assuming that the complaint is accurate, it describes an intolerable condition involving a breakdown in behavior and discipline that must be addressed by the administration and the teachers with input from parents and students as well….
 …I am also disturbed that the same concern seems to have been expressed two successive months, suggesting that the situation was festering back then from November to December.
January 22nd, 2007 at 1:01 pm
A building-wide discipline problem is absolutely the fault of the principals. I once worked as a teacher in a middle school that had problems. Often, the rincipals took two weeks to act on discipline referrals, and when they did, the punishment was laughed off by the students.
If the district wants to get Mariner back under control, they have to clamp down on the principals. Or they could also replace all of the administrators. The district needs to be worried about keeping their teachers and their students. They need to do something soon.
Since Cape principals make more money than any other principals in the county, shouldn’t they be the best in the county?
January 22nd, 2007 at 4:41 pm
I should try and get a job at that school once I graduate. Oops…no…better not. Dan will try and get me fired!!!
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Let me assure you that the staff at MMS are united in our resolve to give the children of our community the best education possible. We work very hard every day to prepare these young men and women to become well rounded contributing members of this community. This is evident through the words of the young lady who called in to the station this morning. Why focus on the 10% minority when the majority of the students are performing at or above standards?
Sure we have some discipline issues, but what school doesn’t! Our building is staffed with a family of highly qualified professionals whose main goal is to educate the future of America.
Also realize that the concerns stated in the CHEA minutes were not necessarily those of the majority of the staff. I personally am in the halls between every class every day and have not once felt threatened by a student. It was also not mentioned that there are substitutes who choose to be assigned at MMS exclusively.
We are a forward thinking instiution and are constantly re-evaluating our policies according to the best interest of our students. We consistantly reward safe, responsible and respectful behavior and correct misbehavior in a way that students respond well to. Our students are high achievers in academics, sports and the visual and performing arts. I personally have taught for 13 yers at several schools througout the state and have never been at a school where communication among the staff has been so prevlelant.
So Mr. Gaffney, if you want to report on the goings-on of our school, why not do some more investigation other than a simple cut and paste of the minutes of a meeting.
January 23rd, 2007 at 6:27 am
A rare admin posting. This message sent via e-mail from a listener:
“institutions
consistently
years
throughout
prevalent
Those are just the misspelled words I picked up in my half asleep state. I can’t even start to sort through the grammar. If this is who’s educating “the future of America,” we’re surely going to Hell in a handbasket. It could be time to cash in and move to Costa Rica.”
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:28 am
Marinerteacher has written an obviously articulate, very well expressed piece. True, it does contain several careless misspellings - aren’t we all guilty of these, no matter how well educated or qualified we are?
January 23rd, 2007 at 7:36 pm
“It could be time to cash in and move to Costa Rica.â€
I’ll certainly vouch for Costa Rica! One of the best education systems in all the Americas!! And one of the best climates of any country ever!
Cheers,
Hube (whose 2nd home is in Costa Rica)
January 24th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Costa Rica aside, I have two suggestions that the Cape Henlopen School District should consider.
The first is in-school suspension, where suspended students are required to report to a special room for that purpose for an all day detention there under the supervision of a strict disciplinarian para professional. I can assure you from personal experience as a teacher that misbehaving students hate this punishment because it temporarily restricts their freedoms, therefore an effective deterrent.
The second involves peer mediation, by volunteer students who are trained and guided by faculty and administration, available to defuse growing tensions by leading in mediation sessions. Like the first, I can assure you of the effectiveness of this approach.
January 24th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
Perry,
We do have both “In School Detention” and “Peer Mediation” in place at MMS. Also, last month we implimented an after school detention program for students who are habitually late to class and poor behavior to subs. Furthermore, we are about to impliment a demerit system where students who are habitually getting sent to “time out” are denied social and athletic priviledges through the acculumaltion of demerits.
January 25th, 2007 at 7:12 am
I cannot reply directly to what was aired on Mr. Gaffney’s radio show regarding Mariner Middle School as I choose not to listen to his program, but I did read the website after hearing about what was broadcast. As a staff member at MMS I would agree that there are some valid concerns, however I would strongly argue against the assertion that the situation is out of control. Moreover, new initiatives are now in place to curb student misbehavior. I also feel compelled to point out that to focus on the small percentage of students who do misbehave overshadows the achievements and accomplishments of the 95 percent or so who come to school every day, are respectful, do their work and wish to learn.
I would also like to reiterate the sentiments of “marinerteacher” - at no time have I ever felt threatened or intimidated by a student - whether it’s in the hallways or in the classroom. I’m proud to teach at Mariner; although I began my teaching career at a different school, I hope to be here at MMS until I retire.
January 25th, 2007 at 8:46 am
Marinerteacher, glad to hear of the efforts at Mariner Middle to control and punish misbehaving/disruptive students.
One point of clarification: I distinguish between your “in school detention” and “in school suspension”. By the latter I mean it as a substitute for the traditional suspension from school which misbehaving students often actually desire. I am talking about in effect imprisoning them in a separate room in school during the school day, for a number of days, say a week, where they have no freedom, instead are required to sit in place in the suspension room supervised by a brawny, strict disciplinarian of the drill sergeant caliber. Do you have that at Mariner Middle?
PS: Your spelling is almost as bad as mine; you need to pay attention to the spell checker (words underlined in red): implemented; privileges;
January 25th, 2007 at 10:27 am
MMSStaff: Well, at least your post is spelled correctly! A teacher, and union member has made public some very damning information about behavior at MMS, (you admit valid concerns), and rather than address said concerns you attempt to cloud the issue by stating the obvious and irrelevant that “most kids are good”. The important issue is, what concerns revealed by the teacher (not Dan) are true, and what is being done to correct these problems. Too bad you didn’t hear the broadcast; you missed other teachers confirming the bit about substitutes refusing to teach.
January 25th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Lurker,
I’m sorry you interpreted my championing our good students as “clouding the issue.” Marinerteacher had already outlined the steps we are taking to improve behavior and I didn’t feel a second listing of the same items would be helpful. No school is perfect; I would be surprised if there were any schools who found themselves to be so. And as for the “damning information” - which came from the public airing of minutes at a meeting attended by only two of our teachers - I do not believe they accurately reflect the sentiments of our staff as a whole.
January 26th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Just a note: the “public airing of minutes” was first done by the CHEA when posted publicly on the net.
“I do not believe they accurately reflect the sentiments of our staff as a whole. ”
Do they accurately reflect the sentiments of the teachers involved, or did the teachers make it up? How many teachers are reporting these problems? We know the identity of the teachers from the minutes, are you willing to go public with your identity and the dispute of these claims? Are you willing to provide WGMD with “positive” information about the education of the students at the school? I’d be happy to report the news. Thank you.
January 29th, 2007 at 11:24 am
I have been in Mariner Middle during the day when students are there. And I see some of the disrespect that goes on in the school. However, how can we blame the school totally. SCENERIO——- A child gets suspended or written up for fighting, bad language or disrespect. Parents are called in, the parents jump down the schools throat because their little baby could not have used that kind of language, or started the fight. Someone must have provoked them…it’s someone elses fault. Sorry to inform many parents but your child is going to get provoked for the rest of their life by some situation or another, and what you are teaching your child is it’s ok to hit, yell, curse and disrespect when you are provoked. What ever happened to walking away. The problems today stem from the home. How can the school enforce disipline and punishment when there is no follow through in the home. Kids hear their parents yelling at teachers and principles and this is where they get their disrespect. Kids hear parents say it wasn’t their childs fault. How many of you have been in the store and heard these kids language within hearing way of the parents…..and the parents say nothing. Kids today don’t think twice about using the “F” word in front of adults or having inappropriate conversations in public. It stems from the home. Our kids attitudes are not the schools problem it’s the parents problem, since the parents are the ones who have chosen to ignore it in the home. In todays society everyone has chosen to blame someone else for our actions instead of stepping up and taking responsibility for our own actions. COME ON PARENTS YOU HAD THE KIDS, STEP UP AND TAKE CONTROL AND RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEM, DON’T LEAVE IT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THEN TURN AROUND AND COMPLAIN ABOUT HOW YOUR KIDS ARE ACTING. Stop trying to make everything all better for your kids, kids are growing up with no sense of guilt for what they do because us as parents are sugar coating the situation to make our kids feel better about it. PATHETIC PARENTING!!
March 22nd, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Mariner Middle School is kinda getting out of control, but you have to put some blame on the administration! New assistant principal, and they do nothing. They just want to get rid of us. I know i am a student there! I just hate this school. And furthermore i recomend that all graduating 8th graders to GO TO SUSSEX TECH!