South Bronx Academy for Applied Media was so dangerous and disorderly that half the teachers quit the middle school after the first year, reports Samuel Freedman in the New York Times. In a survey, 98 percent of students reported fighting in the school and 94 percent said there was bullying. The school was rated “persistently dangerous.” But Applied Media also got an “A” in New York City’s rating system because bilingual and special education students improved academically. Safety counts for only 2.5 percent of a school’s grade.
Principal Roshone Ault says the school has a discipline system backed by experts in “social-emotional learning.” Teachers say they got no support.
“I didn’t teach last year,” (Shannon) Staples said. “I was a police officer and a baby sitter. You’d write up kids left and right, and then nothing would happen. No one would help you. And the kids would just come right back. After I got hit, the principal’s response was, ‘That’s what happens in middle schools.’”
(Shawn) Carson similarly described a lack of administrative support and meaningful discipline. “The administration would be telling you that it would all fall into place if you had a better lesson plan or more student engagement or arranged the desks in a U shape,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter how good your lesson plan is if the kids can’t even stay still long enough to write the ‘Aim’ and ‘Do Now’ off the board.”
The school also is short of books, students complained on the survey. Despite the ”applied media” theme, the school has no web site.
Recent Comments