Category: Discipline and Disorder
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Cell Phone Ban Working in Chesapeake
by James A. Bacon Chesapeake public schools banned cell phones and tablets in school for most of the school day and now report to The Virginian-Pilot that students are less disruptive and paying more attention in class. The rule enacted this year requires devices to be stored in a bag, locker or vehicle during school…
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Money Alone Won’t Solve Teacher Shortage
by James A. Bacon Virginia, like other states, is facing a teacher shortage. The debate over how to reverse the thinning of the ranks has been mind-bogglingly superficial. As a consequence, there is little prospect of solving it. The root of the problem is that the Virginia Education Association (VEA) and its ideological allies in…
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Ban Cellphones in Schools? It Can be Done!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Schools around the country, including in Virginia, are beginning to effectively ban students’ use of cellphones in schools. According to available data, about 75 percent of schools in the country ban the non-academic use of cellphones during school hours. However, in most cases, the ban is enforced sporadically. Teachers are put on…
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Are Nonchalant Adults Responsible For School Shootings?
by Kerry Dougherty Finally. For instance, the former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News — Ebony Parker — has been indicted on eight criminal charges in connection with the shooting of first grade teacher Abigail Zwerner in January 2023. This stunning act of senseless violence put Newport News in headlines around the…
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Anarchy Visits Another School
by James A. Bacon Teachers don’t feel safe in Albemarle High School, reports The Daily Progress. Within one recent week, a student punched a teacher in the face so hard he (or she) required medical treatment, while another student issued threats against teachers and classmates via social media and email. The newspaper reports other incidents…
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Charlottesville, Its Public Schools and UVa – Part Four – Chronic Absenteeism, Social Promotion, VTSS and UVa’s Ed School
by James C. Sherlock There is a rule: nothing else schools do will matter much for kids who are chronically absent. In Charlottesville, it is the Black children who dominate the chronic absenteeism statistics. Their SOL performance validates the rule. The process for preventing and dealing with chronic absenteeism within the school system is so…
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Charlottesville, Its Public Schools and UVa – Part Three – CCS Abandons Truancy Filings, Absenteeism Soars
by James C. Sherlock The effects of public policies can be murky. Not this one. The subject in this Part 3 is alarming chronic absenteeism of Charlottesville City Schools (CCS). At issue is the virtual abandonment by that division of the use truancy filings with the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, removing parental consequences. …
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‘Defund the Police’ and Other Nonsense
by Joe Fitzgerald “Defund the police” is a stupid slogan. Give its proponents the benefit of the doubt, however. Maybe what they meant was return police to their core mission of protecting life and property, remove their frequent role as social worker or mental health counselor, demilitarize their responses to all but the most dangerous…
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Charlottesville, Its Public Schools and UVa – Part Two – Black Students
by James C. Sherlock What drew me to this story is the fact that Black students in Charlottesville City Schools (CCS) have suffered to a degree unequaled elsewhere in the Commonwealth. Keeping in mind the domination of Charlottesville and its schools by the University of Virginia and its School of Education and Human Development discussed…
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Charlottesville, Its Public Schools and UVa – Part One – Bad things Happen
by James C. Sherlock In the relationship between Charlottesville and the University of Virginia, very bad things have happened to Charlottesville and continue to do so. I have developed a working thesis on that relationship. The city is at the mercy of the University by virtue of the latter’s wealth, influence, and power in Charlottesville…
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Wokeness As Social Disease: Charlottesville Schools Edition
by James A. Bacon If you have any doubt that wokeness is the primary force responsible for collapsing discipline in Virginia public schools, eroding teacher morale, deteriorating learning conditions, and the educational impairment of tens of thousands of students, consider this story from Charlottesville. After incessant student brawls this school year, 27 teachers at Charlottesville…
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Last Year’s SOL Performance — Meh
by James A. Bacon The Virginia Department of Education is running two weeks late in releasing Standards of Learning (SOL) testing data for the 2022-23 school year. The reason cited by state Superintendent Lisa Coons, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch, is to process retake data and appeals. The SOL results, as they appeared on a Richmond…
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Charlottesville Schools Ban Student Cell Phones
by James A. Bacon The Charlottesville public school system has banned the students’ use of cell phones. Superintendent Royal Gurley decries students’ “addiction” to the mobile devices, and teachers have complained that the phones have become a tremendous disruption in the classroom, reports The Daily Progress. The restrictions, school officials hope, will “increase connectivity between…
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Virginia Redefines Student Progress in Grades 3-8 for Distributing Federal School Improvement Funds
by James C. Sherlock The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) on June 16th notified the federal Department of Education (USDOE) of its updated State Plan. Such updates are required annually to allow the states to receive federal school improvement funds appropriated for Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as updated by the Every Student Succeeds…
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SCHEV on the Community College Guaranteed Admission and Credits Programs
by James C. Sherlock I received a note from Peter Blake, director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), in reference to my column on that program in early July. He thanked, as do I, readers for their interest and supportive comments. We agree with you that (Community College Guaranteed Admissions and…