By Guy Sagi
I have taught in a local high school outside Fayetteville, North Carolina, for many years. I have seen principals come and go. I can admit some were great, and some were not so great. However, this time, we have been fooled.
Let me explain: other principals were transparent. They kept nothing from the parents, children were out of control yet disciplined, teachers could make decisions on how they ran their class to maintain better control, and they had some support.
Guess what? That is no more. We are under a dictatorship. Teachers are currently polishing their resumes to leave after Christmas break. Work conditions are unbearable and the support is zero. To give one example, we now have to call the office even to be allowed to use the restroom.
The current principal fails to realize this is not a small private school with 400 children on a college campus who were handpicked with no behavioral issues. These are children from many different economic backgrounds and family situations, some with special needs and behavior issues that must be handled differently.
Fights and Drugs
Things may seem quiet at the high school. Many people on the outside feel like things are going great. Well, joke’s on you. I cannot believe the board knows all about these fights, drugs, disrespect, vaping, and out-of-control actions and still allow the principal to run this school the way she is.
Marijuana and Vaping
Children suffer no consequences for anything, including vaping. However, the teachers get blamed for “allowing” it. There is no need for assistant principals because they can only take kids to the principal, who will tell them to go back to class and then tell the assistant principals not to bring them to her.
Cell Phone Policy is a Joke
There is a “no cell phone in class” policy. Teachers are to call the administration for help when non-compliance with this policy exists. However, those calls go unanswered.
Underground Fight Club
There have been numerous fights every single day since school started. There was one fight where a student with special needs was attacked by a group of kids and locked in the bathroom.
The school feels like an underground fight club because students can fight whenever they want with no consequence. They get sent back to class or get two day’s suspension, only to return and repeat the cycle.
It is so bad here that a student maliciously pushed a substitute teacher, and he was only sent home for a day and was able to return. However, the substitute who was assaulted was moved from the class that she had since school started. We are now letting the children run the operations.
Is Your Child Eating?
The teachers get in trouble if the kids eat in class, but we can’t allow them to leave. If they arrive 19 minutes or less after the bell, they are late; for more than 20 minutes, they are considered absent. But if the lunch lines run behind, children often throw their food away, not being able to eat because they cannot be in the hallway or finish their food in class.
Programming Issues and Special Education
Children are stuck in classes they have already completed and have nothing else to take because the principal removed so many classes. There are special needs children who belong in different classes but are stuck in mainstream courses. Some children have a behavior plan that requires someone sit with them in their classes every day, yet they receive no help. There are those with individualized education programs who do not have it followed, and their case managers cannot be found because they are stuck in too many classes.
It’s time to remove the current board of education members and start fresh with people who have an objective eye, see what is going on, take the time to meet with the teachers and substitutes who manage to get to stay, and hear them out. Yes, the children’s behavior and low pay are a big part of why we can’t keep staff, but so is the administration and how they treat us.
SEND HELP
I sometimes wish the state would just take over and run the school. If you have read this far, I thank you. This is not a smear campaign but an extreme truth. The condescending emails the principal sends, the way she speaks to staff, the lack of support, and the way she pumps up discipline only to not follow through in any way are sad.
The children aren’t learning anything because they don’t have to. The scariest things I heard this year were statements from students such as, “We can get high, all they gonna do is send us to the old lady, and she will send us back to class,” and, “We can fight, it is only two days home because she (the principal) does not believe in in-school suspension.”
The students are right. This is how it plays out every time.
Are these incidents being reported to the board of education? Why haven’t they stepped in? Why has no one spoken to the teachers and staff to see how they feel? Where is the concern?
Sincerely,
A fed-up staff member on the way out!
This letter originally appeared here.