Teacher World

A Canton kindergartner is the latest statistic regarding young children bringing a loaded gun to school. This time it was a loaded 9mm Ruger semi-automatic which was brought to Gibbs Elementary School last Wednesday by a 6-year old boy.

Apparently, he brought the gun, still in its locked case. But the bad news is that he also brought the key to the case and was able to unlock and open it. He was looking at it when, thankfully, a cafeteria worker and teacher happened to walk by and see what the boy had. They closed it up immediately and took it to their administrator.

Now, here is where it gets even stranger, when the boy was questioned about the gun, he told a teacher that his dad shot and killed somebody and buried the body in their backyard! A little weird, right? Especially when police discovered that this story was completely bogus.

When police arrived at the boy’s home on St. Elmo NE, they quickly determined that, not only had there been no shooting and no shooting victim, but the boy’s father lives out of state.

But that is not where this story ends, because the police discovered that the home in which this little boy is living with his three siblings was disgustingly dirty. Animal feces were everywhere, and photos taken by the police showed a home in which children were forced to eat, sleep, and live in filth and garbage. Additionally, Sandra Holderness, the “mom” admitted that she had left the gun out and unattended when she was sleeping.

Holderness has been arrested and charged with child endangering for failing to keep a loaded gun out of the reach of her child. If she is convicted, she could face 6 months to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Meanwhile, the 6-year old boy and his three siblings are in protective custody.

Parents at Gibbs Elementary School are rightfully upset. Even though Ken Kendall, the school’s safety director explained that this was an isolated incident and that the gun wasn’t even taken out of the case, parents are legitimately afraid.

And I can’t blame them! It seems that guns showing up in the hands of young people who have no idea how dangerous they are, is becoming a more alarmingly common occurrence these days. Just look back at how many blogs I have written about these events recently if you need proof.

So I totally understand when Brandi Burnsworth said, “I was upset that nobody let me know that my daughter was actually exposed to a loaded gun at school.” 

And Judy Henderson was clearly speaking for parents everywhere when she said, “The gun could have accidentally went off and killed any of the students.”

Kendall stated, “We’re safe here. I want the parents to know their children are safe. There was nothing to be fearful of here.”

But, let’s face it! That’s a bunch of bunk, because they were simply lucky. At any time, that boy could have pulled that loaded weapon out of its case and decided to “play” with it. Kids that age just don’t get it! They have no idea of the tragedy a loaded gun can cause. To them, it is a toy that looks fun like the countless movies they have seen.

So, let’s get real! Gibbs Elementary School quite literally dodged a bullet, as have so many elementary schools of late. It makes you wonder if we need metal detectors in all schools because we have too many parents out there who are no longer parents and certainly are not doing their jobs.

Holderness deserves to be locked up for a very long time, sending a message to other unfit parents to get their act together or suffer the same fate.

Ashley Motley, another Gibbs Elementary parent said, “Anyone is at risk when you have a child with a weapon. They don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t know the extent of the injury they can cause on someone.”

This is a frightening trend, and it must be looked into seriously by school systems everywhere.

School violence, Teacher-World's Blog Canton, child endangerment, loaded gun, Ohio

On this Memorial Day, we come together as a nation to pay homage to the countless people who gave their lives to secure our liberty and protect our basic rights. We, at Teacher World, want to express our sincere appreciation for all that our military personnel have done to protect, not just this country that we love so much, but to help protect citizens in other countries whose liberties or rights have been threatened. We pay special homage to those who are currently serving in a branch of the military and wish them peace and a safe return to their family members very soon.

As we celebrate the memory of these valiant soldiers, I can’t help but think of the everyday soldiers in our country, who don’t wear a uniform, but serve their fellow man just as diligently, especially in times of great need, and therefore, deserve our gratitude and prayers as well.

In light of recent events, the proud, resilient people of Joplin, Missouri, and so many others who have come from all parts of the United States to battle the total devastation that was left by the tornado that hit just a little over a week ago, come to my mind as excellent examples of these everyday heroes.

There are so many people who have shown tremendous bravery and heroism during and after this terrible tragedy, and I wish I knew the stories of each and every one. Though that is simply impossible, I will tell you about those I can, and I leave it up to those of you who are in Joplin to continue to tell the world the rest.

There were so many nameless people who opened their businesses, their storage rooms, and their walk-in coolers for those who were out driving or walking when the storm hit. Had it not been for these resourceful people, countless others would have been numbered with the dead. Two of these heroes paid the ultimate price, as they sought to protect as many people from the storm as they could. President Obama honored the memory of these brave men in his memorial address.

He told the crowd about Dean Wells, a hero who ushered both his co-workers and customers at Home Depot to a safe place to wait out the store. Not content to save a few, he kept going back for more people, bringing each to safety. Just like a military leader protecting his troops, Dean did not stop until the storm finally stopped him. Sadly, Dean’s mission as well as his life ended when a wall of the store fell down on top of him, but many lives were saved as a result of his bravery.

Christopher Lucas was the 26-year old manager at a Pizza Hut in Joplin. He literally herded his employees and customers into a walk-in freezer, and then, in order to keep them secure and safe, he wrapped a bungee cord to hold the door shut from the inside and wrapped the other end around his arm. He held on to that bungee cord for as long as he possible could, until the incredible force of the tornado’s 200 mph winds finally pulled him away. His heroic efforts that night saved more than a dozen people’s lives.

Then there’s Jason, the tree cutter and his crew, who watched the storm coming in and the trees and debris flying, but rather than run for cover themselves, they got their chainsaws and began cutting up and removing trees from the roads knowing that ambulances and fire engines would need to be able to pass through. When Jason began to hear screaming coming from houses, he ran to the houses, isolated where the screams were coming from, and dug and cut his way to them in order to move them to the street. Jason continued to do this for four or five hours.

Jason said that one of the houses had smoke pouring out of it, so he cut an opening in the roof in order to get inside. In his urgency to get to the victims, he went through the hole, only to have the wall give way and be showered by burning ash. Luckily, Jason, an everyday hero, lived to tell his story.

Then there is Mark Norton, Will Norton’s father, who held on desperately to his son who was being pulled through the sun roof of his car. In spite of his own injuries, which were massive, he held on tightly until the strength of the winds was stronger than the strength of a father’s arms. I want Mark to know that he made the most heroic effort to save his son. Will knew that and so does the family. Not every soldier’s mission is successful, Mark. It is the valiant effort against all odds that we honor, and pray that you will find the courage to forgive yourself for a force that was simply too powerful to be stopped. 

We need to honor Will’s Aunt Tracey and his sister, Sara, who diligently tracked down every lead to try to find him, alive or dead. Their compassion for the many families who were going through a similar hell touched everyone who heard their words of faith and strength. Their stoic response to the worst possible news and their obvious faith, even when faced with such a seemingly unfair loss, is a true example of heroism which rises above personal sorrow.

Dan Mitchell, president of the Bridge Ministries, who has been so instrumental in trying to organize rescue efforts and set up distribution centers, has been a hero to so many. Through his heroic efforts, he worked with the family of Lantz Hare, a friend and parishioner of his, to get definitive proof that he was one of the victims of this terrible storm.

Additionally, it was his strong plea for urgent help and his insistence that it was time for someone to step in and do for Joplin what the grief-stricken, tired community cannot do for themselves, the whole time being so respectful of the work that those in charge have been doing, that also makes this man a hero.

Listen to his heroic words: “We are forced into a major operation where we’re organizing efforts to make a difference, to make the straightest line to the victims. And all of us are traumatized, too, by the friends we’ve lost and just the fear of life and death; things that have occurred here over the last few days…this is a strong community, and there’s a deep faith here. And God is good at bringing order out of chaos, and that’s what’s happening.”

When he was asked about the President’s visit, and what he would like to say to him if he had the chance to talk to him, he pleaded, on behalf of Joplin, for the government to step in, to take control. He said he had heard in a meeting that other agencies were unwilling to step on anyone’s toes by coming in and offering help. His answer: “We’re overwhelmed; we need you…We do need some help, I think our local officials are amazing men and women, and they are doing an incredible job under the circumstances, but there’s more here than we can do…So, I would say, let’s step on, go ahead and step on our toes, and help!”

A true hero knows when he has done everything he can do on his own, and has the courage to ask for help. Dan Mitchell has been a heroic presence in Joplin and has sacrificed his time and energy to help the families, especially his kids from Bridge Ministry, get back on their feet. But, he knows when it is time to step aside and let others, who have more resources, take charge. Thank you for your heroic dedication, your tireless efforts, and your willingness to step out of the limelight in order to get things done.

There are so many more: parents searching for their children and children searching for their parents, Governor Nixon who has worked tirelessly to get more help for the people of Joplin, and ministers who hold church services in the street because the churches they once served have been leveled. This list goes on; everyday people rising to the challenge of this terrible tragedy to become heroes to us all.

President Obama summed it up so well in his memorial speech when he said, “There are heroes around us all the time. And so, in the wake of this tragedy, let us live up to their example, to make each day count, to live with a sense of mutual regard, to live with that same compassion that they demonstrated in their final hours. We are called by them to do everything we can to be worthy of this chance we’ve been given to carry on.”

Teacher-World's Blog Dan Mitchell, Governor Nixon, Joplin, Mark Norton, Memorial Day, Missouri, President Obama, Will Norton

The Escambia County School District in Pensacola, Florida, is trying to live up to its motto: “making a positive difference.” And Superintendent Malcolm Thomas thinks he has found one way to do just that.

Thomas has become alarmed over the increase in teen suicides in the last few years, especially those that seem to be related to bullying. “I do think it is a growing concern among parents and people in the community, and lots of times the person being bullied – they’re a little intimidated by going to someone in authority and reporting,” Thomas said.

In order to make that process is a little easier for students, a website has been developed which students can access online. In a relatively short amount of time, they can report bullying or harassment incidents, even if they choose to report these incidents anonymously. Thomas showed Fox 10 News how easy it is; you simply click on the website, click the problem tab, enter your school or area, describe what occurred, and click submit. The reports go to the administrator for that particular student’s school.

Thomas was quick to say that the entries guarantee that an investigation will take place, but the validity of the report must be proven before any action would be taken. “We’re not going to go out on a witch hunt just because someone gave us an anonymous tip. We’re going to have to be able to prove it,” Thomas said.

Thomas’s reasons for starting this website are clear; he never wants to hear of a teen suicide in his district due to bullying. “No one ever wants to be in that position. I certainly don’t want to be there in Escambia School District, to think that we could have prevented it if we’d just known,” Thomas said.

Bridgette Rich, who was interviewed by Fox 10 News said she could see where it could have benefits, but didn’t think many students would use it. But Teresa Barham said, “It should make them feel more comfortable being able to report any harassment they’re receiving, so I think it’s a great idea.”

Thomas feels that this website will have a positive effect on kids, especially those who face harassment and bullying. And he plans to have it up and running on the school’s website starting next fall.

So, let me start out and tell you what I think, then hopefully you will tell us what you think. First of all, I am confident that there will be many students who will use this website to report bullying incidents. And I am hopeful that those that are legitimately reported will be handled promptly and strictly.

But, here is my fear. Kids will be kids. Some students will use this website as a tool to get kids they don’t like in trouble, manufacturing stories that are not true, especially since reports can be anonymous. These false allegations, at the least, will slow the intended process of dealing with real situations of bullying down. At the worst, innocent people may get accused of things they haven’t done, or kids will begin to lose confidence in the website’s effectiveness to attack harassment and bullying.

In spite of my concerns, I think it is a positive plan for reporting and confronting bullying in schools, and I plan to keep my eye on the Escambia County School District next year to see whether Thomas’s plan is successful.

So, what do you think? Please take a few minutes and tell us your opinion.

Bullying, Teacher-World's Blog Bullying, Escambia County School District, harassment, reporting bullying, Superintendent Malcolm Thomas, teen suicide

This is a sad follow-up on Will Norton, the young, recently-graduated boy from Joplin, Missouri, who has been missing since Sunday night when he was sucked through the sunroof of his car.

I discovered this morning that Will had a YouTube channel which was very popular. In fact, it has received more than 1.5 million views. I spent some time getting to know him through his videos, and was blown away by this talented, gregarious, creative, young man. What a joyful spirit! This is a young man who clearly lived life to the fullest.

Which makes the news out of Joplin this morning even harder to take. Sadly, reports indicate that Will has finally been found, but that he is another victim of this terrible tornado. My heart grieves for this boy, who was clearly so very special, and had his whole life ahead of him. And I grieve for this family, who had such hope, as did many of us, that they would find him alive.

His Aunt Tracey posted this message on his Facebook page last night: “Everyone, tonight is a sad night for us. I’m sorry to tell you that Will was found but he was not alive. We are grieving deeply. It brightens our lives to know that even in his passing he touched lives. We will write more soon but tonight we will mourn as a family. Please pray for Mark, Trish and Sara as well as my parents. God bless you all. Please pray for those still lost and hurting. Aunt Tracey”

I send my deepest regrets to this family, and to so many others who are going through such desperate times. God bless, and know that our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Teacher-World's Blog Joplin, Missouri, Will Norton, YouTube

Sadly, I have an update on two of the boys I blogged about yesterday from Joplin, Missouri. The families of Zach Niederhelman and Lantz Hare learned that both of their boys died in Sunday’s deadly tornado.

Late yesterday afternoon, Tammy Niederhelman received word that her 12-year old son, Zach, was one of the victims whose body was positively identified in the morgue. She and her husband, Tony, have been searching for their son for the last four days and had gone to the morgue daily since a neighbor had told them that a boy who looked like their son had been found dead near their house. This neighbor stayed with the body until an ambulance took it away.

Tammy had remained hopeful and fought hard without success for the opportunity to see the bodies at the morgue in order to see if one of them was her son. Yesterday, she was reunited with her son and is now finally able to begin the grieving process; such sad news, but at least they can stop frantically searching for a son who is not coming home.

Also, yesterday the family of Lantz Hare finally got answers about their son.  Dan Mitchell, Lantz’s minister, reported that two of Lantz’s friends kept bugging him on Monday to help them find his car so they could find some clues that would lead to their friend’s recovery. Mitchell finally left the job of setting up a distribution center to someone else in order to go with them.

Together with his daughter, Lantz’s two friends, and the youth minister from their church, they walked two miles to the area where they thought he had been. After searching two more miles, they finally found Lantz’s blue car. Their efforts to find Lantz were unsuccessful, however, some firemen told them they needed to go to the hospital because anyone who had been found in that area had been sent to the hospital.

They contacted the family so that they could go to the morgue as well. Lantz was not in the hospital, but they were given the names of 50 other places to call. A huge group of people began calling these places trying to track down information. Somehow, Mike Hobson, a long-time friend of the family and whose son was a good friend of Lantz’s, was able to gain access to the morgue where his body was believed to be and make a positive identification of Lantz’s body. It is possible that the fact that  Hobson is a police officer allowed him to gain access to the morgue where other people’s efforts have been unsuccessful .

Of the situation in Joplin, Dan Mitchell said, “I just know that, what I’ve experienced in this disaster is you have to fight for it. You know, if, when people are weak someone has to stand up and fight. And it’s not; they don’t have to do that because there’s evil intent. They have to do it because everyone’s confused and just doing the best they can. And so, our city officials are working hard and making decisions on the fly, and I think they’re doing the best they can…Mike just did what other victims need is an advocate, and that’s how this young man was found. And that’s what we all need is an advocate on our side who will stand up for us when we’re weak.”

Well said, and, as sad as this news was for the Hare family, I am certain that they are grateful for the dedication and strength of these people who worked together to find their son.

The other missing people I reported on, Will Norton and Dee Ann Hayward, are still unaccounted for, and there are so many more. We need to surround these poor families with our thoughts, our prayers, and for those of you who are close enough to that area, they need more advocates. Step up and be a voice for these aching family members who are too weak to fight right now.

Can you hear the crying in Joplin? It breaks my heart, and I will continue doing my part to support these grieving families by continuing to blog about their needs and their frustrations.

These missing children could be our missing children. These missing parents could be one of us. These are our families, and we owe it to them to be their advocates while they are weak.

Teacher-World's Blog Joplin, Lantz Hare, missing people, Missouri, tornado, Zach Niederlhelman

After watching video after video from CNN out of Joplin, Missouri, seeing the frustration, anger, and fear that families still searching for loved ones are feeling, and shedding many tears for the victims and for their frantic families, I felt compelled to write this blog for these families, if for no other reason than to let them know they are not alone. I find myself writing this blog with both a heavy heart and an angry one as well. After such a devastating storm, chaos is understandable, but it looks as though there is simply no one in Joplin who has the wherewithal to organize the chaos so that families can find or claim their loved ones; making this an hourly, even a daily tragedy for these poor people.

Why is there so much frustration? First, information is so disjointed and the searchable area is way beyond Joplin, as the storm picked up and carried cars, houses, and buildings for miles. Second, at this point, 125 have been confirmed dead, but an estimated 1,500 are still missing! The sheer number of missing people makes this a nightmare in a town covered in debris and human suffering.

In a press conference, Governor Jay Nixon stated, “When you have folks that are lost, and when you have folks that are missing, we are very cognizant of the need to talk to those families first, and trying to get to the families.” But while rescue efforts are obviously underway, the questions these families have about their missing loved ones seem to be falling on deaf ears.

A local call-in center has received a multitude of information and potential leads. Brian Todd reporting from the call-in center explained, “After the calls come in here the information immediately goes into a database shared with the sheriff’s office, the state highway patrol, and the first responders who are coming through all the neighborhoods.”

But their efforts don’t seem to be working. The problem is trying to co-ordinate all of the information coming in and getting that information out fast enough to families who are desperately awaiting news.

Michelle and Mike Hare have been searching for their 16-year old son, Lantz, and have received multiple leads that have, according to Michelle, “turned out as cold as ice.” Yet, Michelle says she’s grateful for every lead and follows up every one. Lantz was in his car when the storm hit, and though his wrecked car has been found, he has not turned up. One of the leads they were given was that a body matching their son’s description was found near his destroyed car, and the individual who found him stayed with him until authorities arrived and took him away. That is the last piece of information they have received regarding their son. 

Michelle said, “We need to have some closure one way or the other to be able to move on and, if it is my son, to…let him rest in peace, and not be, you know, out there where his family’s not able to do what we need to do for him now if it is him.” Meanwhile, she waits, prepared for the worst.

And her ex-husband, Mike, says they have gone from hospitals in Springfield, Kansas City, and Wichita looking for their son. They have a Facebook page for Lantz Hare and Mike’s cell phone number is on this link if anyone reading this has any additional information.

I blogged earlier in the week about Will Norton, a graduate of high school for only a few hours who was ripped out of his Hummer through the sun roof. His father, who was with him at the time, tried to hold onto him but had to watch as his son, who was quoting Bible verses the whole time, was ripped out of his arms and up into the tornado.

They had been very hopeful because they had received a lead from a doctor that their son had shown up in the ER, had been treated, and had left the hospital. Unfortunately, the boy in question was not their son, and Will’s condition remains a mystery. They, too, are searching all over, as there is no way of knowing how far he was taken by the storm.

Then there’s Dee Ann Hayward, whose son, Caleb, had graduated from high school on Sunday. She had gone to pick up pizza for the graduation party, but she never returned. Her three children, Christina, Caleb, and Robert are frantically searching for her. Robert said, “We all miss her. She was a great person. She didn’t deserve this at all. Any one of us would trade places with her.”

Like so many others, they have been looking everywhere for her, including in neighboring states, and in the hospitals. They reported, as did another family CNN followed, that people at the morgue have been very unfriendly and unwilling to let them search for their mother. 

Finally, I was so furiously saddened by the story of Tammy and Tony Niederhelman whose son, Zach is believed to be dead. Before the storm hit, Tammy told Zach to get into the bathroom for safety. Somehow, when Tony woke up, he was sitting out in his pickup truck with no recollection of how he ended up there. He said that they looked for Zach and couldn’t find him. The next day, he was told by a neighbor that he found Tony standing over Zach’s body after the storm, and he made sure Tony got to the hospital. The neighbor said about 20 minutes after the storm ceased, Zach was picked up by an ambulance, and there was no doubt that he was dead when the ambulance took him away.

Three days in a row, starting on Monday, the Niederhelmans showed up to the morgue where they were told they had to fill out paperwork. Each day, they brought pictures of their son. Each day, they tried to get down to the morgue to identify and claim their son, but each day they were told they couldn’t do that. They even tried to bring a CNN camera crew inside with them, but the camera crew was blocked. Each time, they have gotten a different answer, even being told that the morgue had lost their paperwork.

Today, when they went back again and filled out more paperwork, they were told it might be as much as two weeks before they would be able to try to see their son! Are you kidding me? What parent is going to accept that answer? I sure wouldn’t; I would be breaking down those doors to see my child at this point! No guard would be able to stop me!

The Niederhelmans have said that they are arguing for all of the families out there who just want to know, and have the right to know, if their loved one is in the morgue. Anderson Cooper who has been reporting from Joplin said, “I don’t understand, wait a minute; they said it’s going to take two weeks for them to be able to go to the morgue and find out whether their child is there? I was in Sri Lanka after the tsunami, and they would photograph those people who had died in the storm, and loved ones could just look at the pictures and identify their loved one if they were able to. I don’t understand why that can’t happen here.”

According to John King, from CNN, one of the reasons things are moving so slowly at the morgue is because they made a mistake in identifying somebody, so they have pulled back and have reverted to this ridiculously meticulous process.

This is simply not acceptable! These people in Joplin, Missouri, have suffered enough. Someone needs to get in there who can get the process moving in a methodical fashion and allow these people the chance to either care for or bury their loved ones. It’s been done before; it can be done again. Get this process moving and allow these poor people to move on!

Teacher-World's Blog Dee Ann Hayward, Joplin, Lantz Hare, Missouri, tornado, Will Norton, Zach Niederhelman

Well, it was a first for Hawaii schools, but sadly not a first for other U.S. schools; a gun was fired by a student on school property. Here are the details of the case.

On Monday, an eighth grade boy who attends Highlands Intermediate School in Honolulu, claims he found a Glock pistol in a secluded area of the school’s campus, which he decided to show to his friends about an hour before school started. Apparently, one of his friends got a little nervous when the boy began waving it around and tried to push it away. Unfortunately, in doing so, the gun accidently went off, and the bullet ricocheted off a lava rock wall. When it hit the wall, it fragmented injuring a boy who happened to be nearby, causing minor hand injuries.

“It was a bad choice on his part, and he’s lucky he didn’t end up killing his friend,” the boy’s father, Jason Takayesu, told The Associated Press. “I’m sorry for what happened. I’m just thankful it wasn’t worse.”

Police followed up on the gun and discovered that it was registered to someone outside of the Takayesu family. When they confronted this person on Monday with the gun, he said it had been stolen from him several months ago.

Initially, Takayesu’s 14-year old son was arrested under suspicion of attempted murder; however, once the facts were revealed, he was released to his parents. He will be suspended from public school next year, and during that time, he will attend an alternative school, according to his father.

Police say they have a good idea how the Glock pistol was found on campus, but the case is still under investigation.

Sheldon Oshio, the complex area superintendent who oversees Highlands Intermediate School, said that administrators at the school responded quickly to the incident. The school wasn’t locked down, and classes were able to continue as normal.

“The school assessed the situation and took swift action on containing the situation, and the appropriate authorities were contacted,” Oshio said. And the children all took home letters from a vice principal which explained what had occurred at the school.

The only complaint seemed to be from parents who felt that they should have been notified by phone or by text message in a prompter fashion. Spokeswoman for the Hawaii Department of Education, Sandy Goya, said that they plan to have all public schools using mass messaging in emergency situations starting next fall.

“Plans are in place in our complex area to improve our mass messaging and communications,” said Oshio. “We always want to be cognizant on how and when we want to communicate so it doesn’t impede any investigation.”

And on the school’s website, an announcement regarding the incident reminds them: “I am asking parents and guardians to remind their child/children that firearms are dangerous instruments and do not belong in school, on the school bus, at school-related activities, or in their backpacks. Under Chapter 19, possession of a firearm leads to serious punishment for offenders and is classified as a Class A offense. Bringing firearms, including air guns and any instrument that may be readily converted to expel a projectile, to school is also a violation of the Hawaii Gun-Free Schools Act. Any student who violates the Hawaii Gun-Free Schools Act shall be removed from attending school for no less than one calendar year…”

A very tough lesson for a 14-year old to learn, but thankfully he will learn it in a situation which could have been so much worse. It is a defining moment for him as well as for the other students who witnessed what took place.

In the meantime, how the heck does a loaded gun end up on school property? I plan to keep my eyes and ears open for this one, and I’ll fill you in as soon as I hear an update.

School violence, Teacher-World's Blog Highlands Intermediate School, Oahu, school shooting

I’m certain that you have seen pictures and listened to gut-wrenching stories from Joplin, Missouri, in the wake of last night’s tornado. We’ve heard of the destruction to their local hospital and to the town in general, and are beginning to hear of missing people as well as people who have died in this ferocious storm’s tirade. But, as if we need to hear more tragic news, this storm started right after the graduation ceremony for students from Joplin High School.

We know the emotions connected with high school graduations: joy, relief, excitement, and a healthy dose of fear from the seniors, and those same emotions seasoned with a dash of sadness and nostalgia from the parents. Most of us have experienced graduations from one or both of these vantage points.

So we can imagine the excitement as the 450 seniors and their family members began to stream out of a local university where the graduation ceremony was held. And, as seniors posed with their loved ones for the pictures to mark the momentous occasion, the sky began to darken and rain began to fall. Before too long, the storm had turned violent, and happy thoughts were quickly replaced with thoughts of self-preservation.

Let me tell you of some of the lucky and maybe not so lucky graduates of last night’s storm. Meet 18-year old Aaron Frost, who left with his girlfriend after his graduation ceremony to meet up with his family at a restaurant, when his mother called him on his cell phone. “She pretty much demanded that we pulled over,” he said. “I would have drove right into the storm. My mom pretty much saved me there.”

He and his girlfriend were able to get to a Fast Trip convenience store where they took cover in a walk-in cooler with about 18 other people. According to Frost, “You can’t really do anything. We just bent over and covered our heads.” During the storm, Frost’s hand was struck by a piece of glass, but he was fine otherwise. Both the store and his car were damaged.

Frost later went to Joplin High School to see how it had weathered the storm. I can’t imagine the feelings that must have raced through his head when he saw the roof ripped off of the building and debris everywhere. “To see my high school flattened is especially hard,” he said. “It’s indescribable.”

The principal of the high school, Kerry Sachetta, shared the same reaction as he surveyed the damage which he called terrible. “I walked around as much as I could to see it and it just looks like it’s been bombed from the outside in,” he said. In response to the devastation, Joplin public schools have cancelled school for the rest of the year.

Scott Lauridsen, another 18-year old graduate described the change of emotion he experienced in just a few short hours. “I was excited — ready to start things new and move onto college and experience life and then all this happened. Now I’m just worried about helping out with the community and getting things back together,” he said.

One of the most difficult aftereffects of this terrible tornado has been the uncertainty of not knowing what has happened to some of the members of this community. The unreliable phone service is making it even more of a challenge for friends and family to connect with missing loved ones.

Will Norton, a friend of Lauridsen’s, is one such unlucky graduate. His family knows that Will and his father were driving when the storm struck. Sara Norton, Will’s sister said that after the graduation ceremony, she and her mother were in one car about 30 seconds ahead of the Hummer which her father and Will were driving in. She and her mother immediately went down to the basement for safety after getting a call from her father asking for them to open the garage door.

The next thing she heard her father say was, “Pull over, Will! Pull over!” And then, according to Sara, their car started flipping. She said that when her father regained consciousness he told them that he had seen Will, whose seat belt snapped and he was then ejected through the sunroof.

Will’s father is in stable condition with broken bones and 20 staples in his head, but the family does not know what has happened to Will. In order to try to garner information which would help them in his recovery, they set up a FindWillNorton on Facebook, asking people if they have seen him. Sara received notification that a doctor had seen Will’s name on the ER roster; he was checked in before his father got to the hospital, and he was checked out, and was alive. That is the last they knew as of 10:54 a.m.

Taylor Costley, another graduate expressed her sadness that so many of her classmates have lost their homes and that some are still unaccounted for. She was one of the lucky ones whose family survived this brutal tornado. She summed things up quite succinctly when she said, “Graduation’s supposed to be a joyous occasion, but we can’t really feel that happy about it. At the same time, I’m so thankful I’m okay and my family’s okay.”

What a horrendous ending to such a momentous and important day! My thoughts and prayers go out to all of the victims of this recent tragedy, as I’m sure do yours. I hope Will and so many others like him are found safe and secure. And I also pray that this community is safe from further storms that have been predicted.

Teacher-World's Blog graduation, Joplin, Missouri, tornado, Will Norton

Just a quick update tonight on the Tyler Clementi case as it pertains to Dharun Ravi, Tyler’s former roommate at Rutgers University.

I’m sure you all remember reading and hearing about the tragic suicide of Tyler Clementi this past September shortly after his roommate, Dharun Ravi, and Molly Wei, allegedly videoed a romantic encounter Tyler had with another man in his dorm room and streamed it online for others to see.

I have reported already in a previous blog, that Molly Wei appeared in court earlier this month where she pled not guilty in two counts of invasion of privacy for watching the video with Ravi. Per court orders, Wei must complete a three-year counseling program on cyber bullying as well as alternate and cultural lifestyles. She must also complete 300 hours of community service.  Included in her plea deal was her agreement to testify against Ravi. If she completes the counseling and community service without further legal problems, the invasion of privacy charges will be dropped from her record.

So, that leaves us with Dharun Ravi whose attorneys entered a not guilty plea today on behalf of their client. No surprise there, right? He is charged with streaming the video of this physical relationship which, according to prosecutors, was allegedly accessed from another room and then advertised on Twitter, making this private encounter, without Tyler’s knowledge, publicly available to others.

Ravi is facing a 15-count indictment of hate crime charges involving invasion of privacy and evidence tampering. Prosecutors claim that after the incident (I’m sure when Ravi realized what kind of trouble he was in) he tried to cover up his actions by deleting a previous Twitter post, replacing it with one he hoped would mislead investigators. Additionally, prosecutors claim that he asked witnesses not to testify against him.

The tragic suicide of Tyler Clementi has sparked grave concern for young people like Tyler who face bullying on school campuses leading to an increase in anti-bullying sentiment all across our nation. It sparked President Obama less than a month after his death to condemn what had transpired at Rutgers University and to say to others like Tyler, “You are not alone. You did not do anything wrong. You didn’t do anything to deserve being bullied and there is a whole world waiting for you filled with possibilities.”

And it prompted the proposed federal anti-harassment legislation called the “Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act.” If this law is passed, it would require any school that receives federal student aid to develop policies which would prohibit the harassment of any student on a school campus.

In the meantime, I will continue to update you regarding Dharun Ravi’s case. I can only hope the courts remember the family of Tyler Clementi before agreeing to any deals which keep Ravi from facing up to the consequences of his misguided and bigoted actions. A slap on the wrist this time would be criminal! 

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Bullying, Teacher-World's Blog cyber bullying, Dharun Ravi, invasion of privacy, Molly Wei, Tyler Clementi

Yesterday, I began a blog about President Obama’s plan to fix No Child Left Behind. Since his plan is rather lengthy, I tried to make it more palpable by breaking it down into two blogs. If you haven’t read my previous blog, you will want to start there or this will make little sense. I had discussed Obama’s first four details of his plan, so I will start this blog with his fifth.

Because schools that are doing well are frequently mislabeled “failing” under NCLB, the President’s fifth proposal is to offer states and school districts more flexibility when it comes to determining areas which require improvement and strategies which would address poor performance. He would continue to place expectations on struggling schools to make necessary changes to become more successful.

Frankly, I think most schools are already working to identify where improvements need to be made and developing the necessary strategies through collaboration to do just that, so I’m unclear how this is different from current policy, except perhaps doing away with the label “failing.” Unless, I’m not reading this correctly, this seems like a lot of gobbledygook.

The President’s sixth proposal addresses the valid concern that at this time it is frequently the case that schools which face the greatest challenges don’t have the most effective teachers. Obama proposes providing incentives and accountability to get effective teachers to work in these schools and to identify effective teachers and use them as mentors for less effective teachers.

Let’s face it; the reason why many effective teachers are unwilling to work in challenging schools is because these schools are usually intercity schools where the teachers battle far more than low academic performance. I would also assert that there are probably many effective teachers in these schools already but they are laboring against such unbelievable odds that their effectiveness is not even recognized.  But if teachers who have been labeled effective are willing to take advantage of incentives to teach in challenging schools, more power to them. I would hope that the effective teachers already in those schools would receive the same incentives to stay.

I heartily support President Obama’s sixth proposal: to get away from federal government’s “one size fits all” solutions, and increasing local control to track down their own solutions to address problems in their schools. Yes, get the federal government out of our business so that we can more effectively proceed with the business of educating our children!

The next phase of President Obama’s plan addresses the fact that NCLB does not promote or reward innovation in our schools. His plan calls for extending the school day and school year, creating smarter tests, using collected data to improve teaching methods, raising standards for all kids, and supporting grant programs which reward both states and schools who find better ways to get highly effective teachers in the classroom.

The only issue I have with this last part of his plan is the idea of increasing the school day. I recently wrote a blog which advocates going to year-round school. We all know that the first month or so of school is spent reteaching the skills from the year before because our students all suffer from amnesia over the summer. If we want to stay competitive with other nations, we must look realistically at year-round schools. But a longer school day? No way! We risk student and teacher burn-out if our days are made significantly longer, and I believe the extra minutes tacked on are not worth the price we will pay.

Next, Obama addresses the fact that, under NCLB, the schools which are the lowest-performing schools simply do not have the resources or the reforms to make necessary improvements. The President’s solution: “Invest in ambitious and bold efforts to transform our nation’s lowest achieving schools, while demanding new and dramatic change in their leadership and reforms to teaching and learning at those schools.”

I’m sorry, but this just sounds like political talk, in fact I couldn’t even figure out how to put this in my own words, which is why I gave you the exact quote. What does this really mean? How is this really going to happen? And who’s paying for it? Blah, blah, blah!

The President then claims that currently, many parents are not engaged in their children’s education, and schools are not always welcoming of parents. Again, I must quote directly from Obama whose plan supports that we “double the federal investment in family engagement” (what the heck does that mean?) and that incentives be provided for schools which create innovative ways of engaging parents and community members.

Yes, parents do need to get more involved in their children’s education, although I’m uncertain how doubling “the federal investment” is going to encourage that. (What does that even mean?) If President Obama’s plan could focus as much attention on ineffective parents as it does on ineffective teachers, we might see some real changes in our schools.

And, while it may be true that some schools are not welcoming of parents, I would argue that the vast majority of elementary schools are. In my school, for instance, I can honestly say that I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t see parents in our building helping their child’s teacher, attending a function in their child’s classroom, meeting with the principal over a school project, etc. 

President Obama’s final focus is on rural schools, as he concludes that currently states don’t have the resources to adequately provide support for rural schools which face unique challenges. Obama’s plan supports the innovation, reform, and better funding of rural schools particularly in regards to better use of technology. Finally, and here we go again, he calls for the need to recruit and retain effective principals and teachers in rural schools.

So, how do I feel about these proposals to fixing No Child Left Behind? Frankly, I am somewhat ambivalent. While I wholeheartedly support fixing this ridiculously punitive legislation with its cookie-cutter view of education, and its idiotic expectation of 100% passage of state tests by 2014, I have been in education long enough to know that whatever new policy is adopted will eventually be thrown out only to be replaced with a new policy, which in time will also be thrown out only to be replaced with a new policy yet again…

And educators become pawns in the hands of those who have the power to make the decisions; we are expected to embrace the policies, or we will be held accountable when the newest policy fails. Ironically, we who know the most from first-hand experience in the trenches are not asked to share our opinions. We have no voice, but we will be expected to be good, little soldiers ready to fight the next policy’s battles. It just gets old after awhile. And I get so tired of the political rhetoric instead of real solutions to real problems.

Those of us who teach have no choice but to wait this next round out. The good news is that, from the looks of President Obama’s plan and based on how terrible NCLB has been, anything he is proposing would be better than this broken, unrealistic policy.

So, my ultimate reaction is to wait it all out, to try not to be too cynical, and to hope for the best. What about the rest of you? Let us know how you feel.

Educational Reform, low-performing schools, No Child Left Behind, state achievement tests, Teacher-World's Blog Educational Reform, effective teachers, No Child Left Behind, President Obama, state achievement tests