Below is the URL to a news article describing how the local NAACP is taking our school superintendent to task for the many F-graded schools in our county this year. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/062904/met_15976867.shtml You know, being an ex-teacher in this district feels like being the first guy off the Titanic and getting a lifeboat all to himself!

Per the news item referenced below, 11 of my county's schools have received a grade of "F" for the year! The two schools where I used to work (which are referenced in my blog entries below) now have grades of "F" and "D", respectively. But *I* was the one with the problem, right? http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061504/met_FCAT.shtml

More great news from our school district. Here's a local news article about how *two* students have "won" the local spelling bee after the judging got out of hand. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021904/met_14857870.shtml

Here's another local op-ed column about the student who got beaten on the school bus. This columnist proposes having attendants on school buses, an option that wouldn't have even been considered necessary when we were kids. However, she does at least make the interesting point that many students, far from being intimidated by the cameras, would be glad to "act out" for them--which the beating incident has already proven. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021604/new_14814974.shtml

Over ten years of teaching, I've heard dozens of excuses for misbehavior from students who think they're uttering such phrases for the first time. Here are a few "golden oldie" favorites, followed by my translations of them. "He hit me first!" (Because somebody transgressed against me, it's fine for me to retaliate in kind, rather than come to you first as I know I should have done.) "He started it! Why aren't you punishing him, too?" (I know I'm getting punished for not minding my own bus...

Below is a URL for an op-ed column that a local columnist wrote about the school-beating story. While the column is good, it only touches on the tip of the iceberg. We have major problems in our local school system that extend far beyond what happens on the buses. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021504/opl_14815166.shtml

Here are two more school-related issues from today's local paper. First is the fact that students who receive 5 or more discipline referrals have their names given to the local SRO (school resource officer, or police officer), and a panel is concerned about the offenders' civil rights--not the teachers', as usual. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021404/met_14819248.shtml Second is a follow-up about the student I've been talking about, who was beaten up on a school bus whil...

Here's a follow-up news article about the student who got beaten up on a bus. The administrators are handling it pretty clinically, eh?--as if it was some think-tank incident to be examined. Do you think they'd be this blase if *their* kid was riding that bus? http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021304/met_14808637.shtml

Sorry, here's the exact address for that news article: http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/021204/met_14796998.shtml

I just turned in my paperwork to take a year's leave of absence from teaching. However, I'm sure I'll keep on writing about the injustices of our school system. Why, here's a fresh example! A kid from our county was beaten up on a school bus, with the bullies getting little or no punishment. As Dave Barry says, I'm not making this up. If you read this on Thurs., Feb. 12, you can find the story in our local newspaper's website, at: http://www.jacksonville.com

Last time, you'll remember, I left off with my having swallowed a bottle of pills in an attempt to forget about my negative teaching evaluation. Here's more of the story. God was with me that day, it seems. I was driving to my therapist's office after I had swallowed the pills, and the next thing I remembered was waking up in a hospital room. As it turned out, I had basically pulled my car over to the side of the road, knocking over only a wooden post in the grass. A cop came along, saw the e...

I have ten years of teaching experience in the public school system. I initially taught for a few years in the 1980's. Then I dropped out of teaching until I got back into the system in 1997, to teach English at a middle school. My first two years back in the system were really wonderful. The school facility was in lousy shape, but I didn't mind that at all because I got to teach the way I wanted, and I felt I was making a difference. Then in 1999, three major things happened. First, the F...