The Angry Rant of a Fed Up Teacher

Last Friday, a teacher was severely beaten by a student while 30 other students sat and watched. Wow, there are so many problems within that one scenario that are commonplace in Baltimore city schools that I am surprised that more incidences have not been reported. Let’s start here. There are entirely too many students in Baltimore City Classrooms. I believe that an incident like the one mentioned above would not have happened in a class of 20, because in those instances, it is easier to form a team like relationship with the members of the class, and that relationship might have moved a student to stop the fight instead of root the violent student on. 2) There is not enough support for new teachers; this woman who began teaching in December should have had more training and support from the administration and mentor teachers. Let’s be honest, very rarely do situations go from cold to hot in a matter of seconds. I believe someone nearby heard the chaos, but decided to think “she needs to get control of that class” instead of, “let me see if she needs help”. 3.) Why are we surprised at what happened when children are allowed to do whatever they want to do, with no repercussions. Instead of calling for specific instances (in my opinion, to avoid dealing with the problem) Dr. Alonzo needs to step up and put some serious policies in place to make our schools safe. Let’s shift our energy from paying students to fail an exam, and take a look at the order of needs, safety: for teachers and students is always at the top of the list.