Toronto Schools Becoming Shooting Galleries?
Last week student Jordan Manners was killed in a Toronto high school - shot in a shameful first for Toronto, its first ever shooting in a city school. According to Dave Plaskett, a teacher at C.W. Jefferys, the scene of the shooting, it was a foreseeable tragedy just waiting to happen. In an article published in the May 30 Toronto Daily Star, Plaskett is quoted as saying, "It's possible that (Manners' death) could have been prevented."
The article goes on to detail a school that is anything but the one described by school administration after the shooting. Donna Quan, safe schools superintendent for Toronto, describes Jefferys as an "outstanding school", in contrast to Plaskett's description of a school where he states the norm was teachers being assaulted and threatened regularly by students; intruders having easy access to the school; students being bullied, robbed, and having their lockers broken into on a regular basis; and instructions and requests made to students by teachers and administration being routinely ignored; as well as other serious situations.
Who should the people of Toronto believe? If anyone really wants to know, the answer is - go with everything that Plaskett is saying and ignore every claim made by administration. Sandra Fusco, a former Jefferys teacher , says that "the principal and vice-principal were concerned more with avoiding formal complaints - either to the teachers' union or to the police- than finding solutions to the problem." Believe it, people. This is the way the vast majority of our schools are being run today. The administrators are more concerned with hiding the reality so that their schools appear to be well-run, model institutions.
Been there, done that one, folks. I know from first-hand experience, played out repeatedly, that Mr. Plaskett is the one to believe. He sent a letter to staff members, administration and police on Friday May 25th. His letter describes violations of the Safe Schools Act as being routine and routinely unpunished. He questions why C.W. Jefferys even pretends to have a conduct code when teachers are hamstrung in every effort to punish students who break it. It's one heck of a good question, and it is relevant to an absolutely alarming number of our schools. Most parents don't realize the frightening extent to which this situation exists, and some just plain don't want to know.
What is the answer? I don't pretend to know for sure. Nor would I try to say there is a simple solution available. I do know that to "fix" this problem will take a major overhaul of the discipline in our schools and that would be easier if most of our current administrators were sent to look elsewhere for paycheques.
I would like to see the problem solved before it claims other lives. I just don't have a lot of hope that it will be.
The article goes on to detail a school that is anything but the one described by school administration after the shooting. Donna Quan, safe schools superintendent for Toronto, describes Jefferys as an "outstanding school", in contrast to Plaskett's description of a school where he states the norm was teachers being assaulted and threatened regularly by students; intruders having easy access to the school; students being bullied, robbed, and having their lockers broken into on a regular basis; and instructions and requests made to students by teachers and administration being routinely ignored; as well as other serious situations.
Who should the people of Toronto believe? If anyone really wants to know, the answer is - go with everything that Plaskett is saying and ignore every claim made by administration. Sandra Fusco, a former Jefferys teacher , says that "the principal and vice-principal were concerned more with avoiding formal complaints - either to the teachers' union or to the police- than finding solutions to the problem." Believe it, people. This is the way the vast majority of our schools are being run today. The administrators are more concerned with hiding the reality so that their schools appear to be well-run, model institutions.
Been there, done that one, folks. I know from first-hand experience, played out repeatedly, that Mr. Plaskett is the one to believe. He sent a letter to staff members, administration and police on Friday May 25th. His letter describes violations of the Safe Schools Act as being routine and routinely unpunished. He questions why C.W. Jefferys even pretends to have a conduct code when teachers are hamstrung in every effort to punish students who break it. It's one heck of a good question, and it is relevant to an absolutely alarming number of our schools. Most parents don't realize the frightening extent to which this situation exists, and some just plain don't want to know.
What is the answer? I don't pretend to know for sure. Nor would I try to say there is a simple solution available. I do know that to "fix" this problem will take a major overhaul of the discipline in our schools and that would be easier if most of our current administrators were sent to look elsewhere for paycheques.
I would like to see the problem solved before it claims other lives. I just don't have a lot of hope that it will be.
1 Comments:
Are the administrators stupid? Been too long away from the classroom? Don't the get the disdain with which some students regard teachers? I think administrators should be required to serve time in classrooms. Maybe they would get it. Or maybe they really are stupid. Some kids just aren't afraid of consequences anymore. And should we be surprised? There are no consequences for bad behaviour.
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