It 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.

About a Year ago I did a program on the radio about a controversial school method of mandatory drugging of kids called Teen Screen. Today, someone forwarded me this YouTube clip/documentary on TS and included a clip from the radio show we did on the topic. Enjoy Below.

Link to the YouTube TS Video

Here’s the original Interview from 02/07/06 with anti-TeenScreen Advocate Ken Kramer from when I was guest hosting the afternoon show on WGMD:

 Original Ken Kramer Audio

Has Sussex County high school, Indian River bowed down to the winds of political correctness by deemphasizing the nickname “Indians”?  The only time I see the nickname used is on the sports pages:

Indians split at Lions tournament
Indians 79, Warriors 55

I don’t see the old Indian logo, or mention of the name Indians, anywhere on the schools web site.  Look around for yourself.  It may be mentioned somewhere but I can’t find it.   If the district is trying to move away from being potentially offensive, let us at least pick a new name like Indian River Cougars, or Power Plants, or…any ideas? 
 

Read more about banning indigenous peoples sports names. 

UPDATE:  I did see an “Indian” on the web site!  The cover of the school yearbook is shown, with a guy in full headdress.  Shhhhhh, don’t tell the National Congress of American Indians.

An update on the Cape Henlopen fighting post.

UPDATE BELOW!

A concerned parent writes:

Mr. Gaffney, 

This morning, my daughter told me that she was happy school was delayed; wishing though, that it would have been 2 hrs vs. 1 hr.  I thought to myself, she never complains about going to school - but her tone was different.  I pursued and asked her why the negativity with school?  She began to tell me that the past 2 weeks it seems that there have been fights among the students and even the police has been involved.  The latest episode being yesterday morning and the police were brought in to help the situation.  And then last Friday, there were rumors a gang fight was going to happen and so the police were there at the end of the day while the kids got on the buses. So, knowing your “getting to the bottom of things”, I was wondering if you could ask your listeners if their children have been talking about the fighting that is going on at the HS.  My daughter did not know who specifically or what the fights were about, but she felt afraid going back to school this morning.  That maybe there would be more fighting, like retaliation. I tried calming her by telling her to not worry that it was a good thing the police were there - but thinking to myself, I thought “wow, with all the staff and even a resource office; the police had to help out”  and “it might have been a bad situation” 

During today’s Dan Gaffney Show, some students and other parents confirmed the story about fights between “groups” of students, but the class of 2007 wants you to know Cape is still a great place:

Our names are Laura and Elizabeth Hinkle and we are seniors at Cape Henlopen High School.  We were in school this week when two fights occurred between two groups of students.  First of all, we would like to say that we feel safe at Cape; we have never ever been scared or intimidated in school.  The groups of students at Cape that got into the fights were separated quickly and the administration at Cape handled the ordeal in a safe and constructive matter.  Mr. Yore has raised morale at Cape and has made the students feel more positive about the school.  Cape is a public school and not a private school which is probably why some of these events happen.  These fights do not occur on a daily basis and are isolated incidents when kids do not know how to handle their problems in a constructive matter.  There are many positive things that are happening at Cape that should get more media attention.  Our sports are excelling this year.  Our teachers are building up our AP and honors classes and we are constantly being offered more opportunities for new and interesting learning experiences.   Mr. Yore has made a huge positive impact on the students and staff.  He has constantly showed us dedication by showing up to every Cape sporting, marching band, and scholastic event.  Students treat him with the utmost respect because he has shown us respect. We understand that these fights were an unfortunate event but they in no way should be a reflection of the whole Cape Henlopen High School.  The students who get into fights put themselves into those situations and it is not the Cape environment that encourages it. Thank you for your time and understanding. 

 Elizabeth Hinkle , Class of 2007 President 

 Laura Hinkle , Class of 2007 Secretary

We welcome your comments about the Cape Henlopen fights. 

UPDATE 12/18/06:

I asked the nice young ladies from Cape; “who are these groups of students”?

As far as we know about the fights it was two groups of black students.  They are seperate groups of friends from different parts of the county.  What we have heard in school is that they are friends (from for example, because we aren’t sure, Rehoboth and Milton) not necessarily gangs.  We have a police officer who is on campus at all times and we know that he was there right away and we believe other officers came as well.  Everyone involved in the fight was taken into the school office and no one is really sure what happened after that.  Because we aren’t directly friends with anyone involved in the fights this is about all we know.

 Groups, not necessarily gangs?  Thanks ladies.

 

 

 

 

spk eng! hErd rownd d cuntrE mo & mo dEz dAz, w d immigrant “prob” bt how lng b4 we aL wiL find it neceSrE 2 Lern a nu, RitN lngwij o b deemed illiterate?

I bet, if you read that without needing to consult a text-message dictionary, you’re maybe under thirty. The misspelling of proper English has always been a pet peeve of mine. Many people just aren’t spellers and I’m not rude enough to criticize them but it puzzles and dismays me twelve years of education doesn’t rectify this. Some even go on to college…and graduate…with less than perfect spelling skills. Now, I’m appalled to learn that text message abbreviations/phonetics are beginning to be accepted for school papers??! For those who are “spelling challenged” I’ve always said that ‘as long as the message is clear afforded a pass but this scares me:

Beginning this year, New Zealand high school students may use text speak on national exams, meaning they won’t lose points if they replace words with popular abbreviations, such as 2 for “to” or “l8″ for “late.”

New Zealand is the first country I’ve heard of allowing…nay, perhaps encouraging…this means of communicating and that rather surprises me. Maybe there are others but I have to wonder (heaven preserve us)…how long before we follow suit?

Oh, weL… sun. & a shhh dA, gueS I best go try find an on-line tutorial, hone my cmUnik8shn skiLz & Lern a nu lngwij. aftR aL, Ive a resume 2 wrte. Catch U aL l8r!