Souhegan High (Amherst, NH) PTSA meeting draws several hundred concerned people

Nashua (NH) Telegraph ^ | 31 March 2004 | Lynn Tryba

[NewHampshireDuo]

A debate that has taken place since Souhegan High School opened in 1992 reared its head again Tuesday when hundreds gathered to discuss recent incidents at the school.

Excrement smeared on walls, vandalism, theft, drugs and alcohol on campus, and the teaching of a controversial poem all came up during a PTSA meeting attended by several hundred people. Many in the audience questioned whether the school’s nontraditional approach to education was leading to a lack of respect and behavior problems among the students.

“It seems to me that respect has left the building, and I’m very concerned,” said Kevin Dadoly of Amherst.

Dadoly is the parent who first complained to Principal Ted Hall about a poem containing vulgar language that was taught to his daughter’s 11th-grade world literature class.

The teacher has since been reprimanded. Still, some at the meeting expressed concern that the incident was a symptom of a larger underlying problem at Souhegan - that a lack of leadership and appropriate discipline was leading to a student body out of control.

“I’m against teachers being called by their first name,” said Jeff Odhner of Amherst.

Having “buddy-buddy relationships” with teachers leads to “a lack of respect that infiltrates everything else the students do,” he said.

Many in the audience defended the school system, pointing to its reputation as one of the best in the region.

“I learned how to memorize” in high school, said Bob Schaumann. “My kids learned how to think.”

In addition to the poem incident and an admitted ongoing problem with theft, the school administration has dealt with other problems recently, such as feces being smeared on walls and holes being sawed in bathroom pipes. Additionally, two students were disciplined earlier in the month following an incident where a gun was discharged at an off-campus, school-related event.

Student Brian Buonamano agreed that when the problems are grouped together, they seem overwhelming.

“If I didn’t go there, I would think, ‘what a mess that place is,’ ” he said, addressing the crowd from one of the three microphones available for public comment.

Despite the problems, he said 95 percent of the kids at Souhegan are good students interested in getting a good education. Making generalizations about the “moral decline in the school” bothered him, he said, because it blamed the entire student body for what is really a problem with a small minority.

“I find it off-putting because I’m included,” he said.

Others also questioned whether the school administration was being blamed for problems that begin at home. “My parents taught me to respect,” said senior Conor Thomas. “Who is really to blame?”

Others believe the school administration was being unfairly blamed for the thefts, as they mostly occurred when students left personal belongings unlocked and unattended.

Tuesday’s meeting was billed as a way to clarify details of recent events and to let parents voice concerns and ask questions of the school administration. The issues will be further discussed at Thursday’s Souhegan Cooperative School Board at 7:30 p.m. at the high school.

The school board issued a statement last week saying that among other steps being taken, the board is re-evaluating the possibility of hiring a school resource officer for the high school. Currently, only the Amherst Middle School uses a resource officer supplied by the police department.

[NewHampshireDuo]

Amherst, NH (not to be confused with Amherst, MA) is a quiet, upscale community that leans toward the right. The "model" high school, however, is ruled by the "progressives." Buddy, buddy with the teachers and everyone looking the other way has come to this. Maybe the citizens of the town are waking up to the fact that this very expensive school and its administration need to be reined in.

The poem referred to is by the new NH poet laureate (didn't even know we had such a thing), Cynthia Huntington, a prof at Dartmouth. Haven't read the poem but it was supposedly very vulgar and graphic, the subject being her hatred of her ex-husband's girlfriend.

[Maria S]

"Excrement smeared on walls, vandalism, theft, drugs and alcohol on campus...audience questioned whether the school’s nontraditional approach to education was leading to a lack of respect and behavior problems among the students."


There are days when not only do I feel like I must be 120 years old, but I wonder if the current generation has lost its mind.

[Endeavor]

I think their parents have lost their minds. I am constantly amazed at the lack of real parenting that goes on in the homes of so many kids these days.

[madprof98]

I guess the excrement on the walls really would give rise to some questions about the pedagogy.

[Maria S]

"I think their parents have lost their minds. I am constantly amazed at the lack of real parenting that goes on in the homes of so many kids these days."


You said much better than I!

[Redleg Duke]

We moved out of Amherst last June after living there for nine years. Our son just completed 4th grade there and I was very relieved to know that he wouldn't be condemned to Soughegan High!

"Progressive" is shorthand for "socialist totalitarianism".

[kierkegaardian]

The issues that Souhegan High School may be facing at this time are in no way related to the parents of students in Amherst. As a former student at said high school, and a responsible member of my school and town community, I can assure you that neither I nor my parents have lost our minds. Most students at Souhegan are thinking, proactive, intelligent citizens of the world. My parents raised me to have manners, to be informed about the world around me, and to observe basic rules of appropriate behavior, as did the parents of all people I know.

There are no deaths or brutal violence at this school. There are no young women dropping out of school due to teen pregnancy. Calling one's teachers by their first names does not promote disrespect - that is, if students are mature enough to be respectful. In my years at Souhegan, I have never seen an incidence of disrespect based on teacher-student first name basis. As for the "buddy-buddy" idea, it just doesn't hold. A teacher or an authority figure remains that, no matter what their name is. Likewise, simply forcing students to call their teachers by a formal title doesn't automate respectful conduct.

The negative press that recent events at Souhegan has garnered is generally widespread. The reaction of pointing fingers at responsible students, loving parents, or hard working teachers deeply upsets me.

mens sana in corpore sano,
T. G. Van Dyck

[Endeavor]

The issues affecting the kids at your former school are parent-related and they are authority-related. Calling teachers by their first names does not promote respect. It coarsens the environment. You probably don't "get that" and perhaps you never will. There is a certain gentility and therefore, associated behavioral expectation and fulfillment, that comes with recognizing that those in authority have been given that authority because they've earned it. In the case of teachers, they've studied for years to become just that, "teachers." You and your fellow students should afford them the respect that comes with that accomplishment.

What's really the point of calling them by their first names? Is it to accommodate your need to be respected by putting you (the student) on equal footing? You're not equal, no matter how smart you are and no matter how well-informed you happen to be. There's no sin in that. But not recognizing it is, quite plainly, naive.

[wndycndy]

My daughter graduated from SHS in 2002. The school administration IS the problem. Ted Hall (principle)and Ted Houlighan (advisory) are the biggest problems the school has. Neither will listen to parents concerns seriously and neither wants the school to change to a more traditional style.

[Imagine]

Ignorant children make ignorant voters. What more could the democrats possibly hope for?