5 Year Old Suspended For Haircut.

Mixed opinion on this one.

I understand the urge to be unreasonable and fight the machine (and at times it is needed).

I also understand the school's needs to keep order.

better solution: have the entire class as an asignment find a hat they like, wear it and have them write why they chose the hat.

I don't believe hats were allowed at my elementary/middle school. I don't think they were in high school either, but nobody gave a *** and wore them anyways

That rule was actually enforced at my school, but there was a loophole in the wording. Basically the rule only applied during a certain time frame, so I'd just wear my hat until class started. It pissed off one of the history teachers something fierce. He'd stalk me to my classes, the bell would ring and the hat would come off and he'd go back to his own classroom. ***was hilarious. Got to take a class with him my senior year. He turned out to be a pretty cool guy. Definitely one of the better teachers at my school.

Mr. Casey Barduhn, Superintendent
Westhill Central School District
400 Walberta Park Road
Syracuse, New York 13219

Dear Mr. Barduhn and Board of Education Members:

It is with the deepest regret that I must retire at the close of this school year, ending my more than twenty-seven years of service at Westhill on June 30, under the provisions of the 2012-15 contract. I assume that I will be eligible for any local or state incentives that may be offered prior to my date of actual retirement and I trust that I may return to the high school at some point as a substitute teacher.

As with Lincoln and Springfield, I have grown from a young to an old man here; my brother died while we were both employed here; my daughter was educated here, and I have been touched by and hope that I have touched hundreds of lives in my time here. I know that I have been fortunate to work with a small core of some of the finest students and educators on the planet.

I came to teaching forty years ago this month and have been lucky enough to work at a small liberal arts college, a major university and this superior secondary school. To me, history has been so very much more than a mere job, it has truly been my life, always driving my travel, guiding all of my reading and even dictating my television and movie viewing. Rarely have I engaged in any of these activities without an eye to my classroom and what I might employ in a lesson, a lecture or a presentation. With regard to my profession, I have truly attempted to live John Dewey’s famous quotation (now likely cliché with me, I’ve used it so very often) that “Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.” This type of total immersion is what I have always referred to as teaching “heavy,” working hard, spending time, researching, attending to details and never feeling satisfied that I knew enough on any topic. I now find that this approach to my profession is not only devalued, but denigrated and perhaps, in some quarters despised. STEM rules the day and “data driven” education seeks only conformity, standardization, testing and a zombie-like adherence to the shallow and generic Common Core, along with a lockstep of oversimplified so-called Essential Learnings. Creativity, academic freedom, teacher autonomy, experimentation and innovation are being stifled in a misguided effort to fix what is not broken in our system of public education and particularly not at Westhill.

A long train of failures has brought us to this unfortunate pass. In their pursuit of Federal tax dollars, our legislators have failed us by selling children out to private industries such as Pearson Education. The New York State United Teachers union has let down its membership by failing to mount a much more effective and vigorous campaign against this same costly and dangerous debacle. Finally, it is with sad reluctance that I say our own administration has been both uncommunicative and unresponsive to the concerns and needs of our staff and students by establishing testing and evaluation systems that are Byzantine at best and at worst, draconian. This situation has been exacerbated by other actions of the administration, in either refusing to call open forum meetings to discuss these pressing issues, or by so constraining the time limits of such meetings that little more than a conveying of information could take place. This lack of leadership at every level has only served to produce confusion, a loss of confidence and a dramatic and rapid decaying of morale. The repercussions of these ill-conceived policies will be telling and shall resound to the detriment of education for years to come. The analogy that this process is like building the airplane while we are flying would strike terror in the heart of anyone should it be applied to an actual airplane flight, a medical procedure, or even a home repair. Why should it be acceptable in our careers and in the education of our children?

My profession is being demeaned by a pervasive atmosphere of distrust, dictating that teachers cannot be permitted to develop and administer their own quizzes and tests (now titled as generic “assessments”) or grade their own students’ examinations. The development of plans, choice of lessons and the materials to be employed are increasingly expected to be common to all teachers in a given subject. This approach not only strangles creativity, it smothers the development of critical thinking in our students and assumes a one-size-fits-all mentality more appropriate to the assembly line than to the classroom. Teacher planning time has also now been so greatly eroded by a constant need to “prove up” our worth to the tyranny of APPR (through the submission of plans, materials and “artifacts” from our teaching) that there is little time for us to carefully critique student work, engage in informal intellectual discussions with our students and colleagues, or conduct research and seek personal improvement through independent study. We have become increasingly evaluation and not knowledge driven. Process has become our most important product, to twist a phrase from corporate America, which seems doubly appropriate to this case.

After writing all of this I realize that I am not leaving my profession, in truth, it has left me. It no longer exists. I feel as though I have played some game halfway through its fourth quarter, a timeout has been called, my teammates’ hands have all been tied, the goal posts moved, all previously scored points and honors expunged and all of the rules altered.

For the last decade or so, I have had two signs hanging above the blackboard at the front of my classroom, they read, “Words Matter” and “Ideas Matter”. While I still believe these simple statements to be true, I don’t feel that those currently driving public education have any inkling of what they mean.
Sincerely and with regret,

Gerald J. Conti
Social Studies Department Leader
Cc: Doreen Bronchetti, Lee Roscoe
My little Zu.

Just makes you sound like a *** that did that for no other reason than to piss someone off... so cool...

Well, since this thread was bumped.

Snip.

This is what America debates when we don't feel like talking about how the education system is going down the tubes.

Sparth and I were on the same thought train here... Seriously though, are you telling me that some of you are more outraged by the thought of someone's personal, individual atheistic being suppressed (Even though it's the parents, and yes I do agree that it's silly.), than individual and expansive thought being suppressed via a condensed curriculum that continues to be squeezed to accommodate standardized testing? EDIT: Oh ***! /highfive

Then explain to me why my dad had to work three jobs in order to make ends meet as a school teacher in the richest goddamn county in the country. Go on, I'll wait.

..... Seriously what the *** is wrong with all these schools anymore?

There are rules in place... get over it... a lot of the public school ones are there to eliminate issues... some of it is to prevent gang affilation or confusion... other is to prevent bullying or whatever other reason they came up with at the time... Does the rule need to be there? Maybe not... is it a good one? maybe yes maybe no... but it is there and it is not necassary or damaging to a child to not let him have a mohawk... so I say get over it and go to class... Private schools are a different story...

As for the educational standards its a difficult road to travel down... on one hand they look for a way to best educate and on the other hand they look for a way to equally test and grade each child... its fraught with so many issues and complaints on every side that it's almost impossible to change anythign for the better because everyone is complaining... There is a need for overhaul but who has the best way? How can you provide the best education and maintain an air of equality as well?

because your dad lives beyond his means

Oddly this irritated me more than the article >.< Can anyone explain to me why so many people use "anymore" incorrectly? I swear it's been on the rise the past 4 years but can't attribute it to anything. "Correct" words for that situation are "now" "today" or "lately" by the way.

And before people come shouting at me with pitchforks, this is a serious post, not trying to derail, flame or troll. I'm genuinely curious on the incorrect use of it. It's driving me nuts o.o lol

That's the funniest ***I've heard all day. My Dad grew up dirt poor in West Virginia and is the stingiest person alive.

FLAV! You are overlooking obvious differences in our states. Population, demographics, etc. Illinois needs are quite different from Texas's when it comes to education. I would say California is the most comparable state, despite political leanings.

Then explain to me why my dad had to work three jobs in order to make ends meet as a school teacher in the richest goddamn county in the country.

Go on, I'll wait.