Posted on 10/22/2007 9:06:49 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
After a week filled with rumors and absences, Ithaca High School has some changes ready for this week, and Ithaca City School District Superintendent Judith Pastel asks that students, parents and staff have patience as everyone adjusts.
The most obvious change students can expect to see will be locked classroom doors once classes start. Pastel said one recommendation that came from the Ithaca Police Department last week was to lock doors at the beginning of every class. Police and school officials are working together to ensure the students' safety. Locking classroom doors at the start of a class will make students more punctual and help identify which students are skipping class outright, Pastel said.
On Friday, an estimated 550 of the 1,600 students in the school missed a full day or up to four periods, Ithaca City School District Superintendent Judith Pastel said. An estimated 700 students were absent on Thursday, following rumors earlier in the week that something violent would occur at the school.
Some parents still intend to keep their children out of school.
“As of right now, I'm not comfortable sending my son back to school,” said Kari Cornell, who is keeping her son out of class. “But I'm so glad to hear that they're starting to take these concerns seriously.”
Cornell, who is a member of Concerned Parents of Caroline, said she wants to see how the district responds to a letter the group sent the district.
“I want a written response from the school district and board members before I'm comfortable sending my son back, and maybe I won't even be comfortable after that,” she said. “I need more than their word. I need to see progress.”
Jerry Achilles, of Enfield, is also keeping his daughter out of class today.
“I agree with the Concerned Parents of Caroline's demands, and I am going to make sure the school district is going to be enforcing these things before I send my daughter back,” he said.
Achilles said he liked the district's move to bring in personnel from the New York State Center for School Safety.
“I think that's good,” he said. “Somebody that's not from the school district needs to be looking into this.”
Achilles and Cornell said they both plan on being at Tuesday's school board meeting and possibly will voice their concerns about safety at the high school.
A friend of mine works for the Anaheim Unified School District in Orange County, California. They are doing the same thing at her school.
ughhhh Get the kids out of government kiddie prison ping!
I’m not sure this fits Moral Absolutes, but thought I’d run it by you Wagglebee.
Can you provide backstory on this?
14th amendment
It seems to me that in the case of a public high school to which children are compelled on pain of incarceration to attend cannot deprive the students of their "liberty" without at least doing so with "due process of law. "Surely, locking children in a room deprives them of their liberty. And surely, no due process of law has been observed.
Board meeting prompts second protest
http://theithacan.org/am/publish/news/200710_Board_meeting_prompts_second_protest.shtml
You vil get an education.
You vil learn.
You vil be good citizens.
You vil follow orders!
You are the property of the state!
Ve know vhat’s good for you!
White Population: 50,857
Black Population: 2,934
http://tinyurl.com/2pkqqe
*Someone* had an epiphany...
Another “feel-good” liberal response designed to fit the political correctionists’ agenda.
Leave to educators to over react. does everyone wear a skirt up there?
In my very conservative town, all the doors leading to classrooms were locked from the outside. Of course like most public buildings the doors are always open from the inside.
"She was attacked on the school bus. She stepped off the school bus to speak to a friend and someone spat out of the window onto her face,” says Amelia Kearney, the victim’s mom.
"One of the boys held up a sign that said, KKK I hate n****ers…they said they had a gun with her name on it."
After writing letters, emails and making phone calls to the Ithaca School District,Amelia Kearney went to the New York State Division of Human Rights to get help for her daughter.
"This is not the only incident. So many others go unchecked its the bravery of Amelia Kearney that brings this to light today,” says Sarenda Lourdes of the Race Liberation Alliance, ACTION.
http://tinyurl.com/3ar8yw
Assuming the allegations are true, why did Ms. Kearney continue placing her child on that bus, and in that school? Parental neglect is a far bigger contributor to Epiphany's problem than the inaction of some administrator in a far off office.
No. It's too cold much of the year. But they do wear panties.
Apart from false imprisonment, kidnapping, and violation of the fire code I can’t see much wrong with this....
Nothing like breaking a key in a lock because you’re in a hurry.
I believe that this violates fire codes; not sure though.
I wish I was being sarcastic.
I'm not being sarcastic: I remember reading that in Saudi Arabia (or was it Afghanistan??) two or three years ago, a girls' school caught on fire, but the religious police locked the doors and prevented the students from getting out because some of them were not "properly" covered. The Ithaca school committee should dig out some old news stories before locking any classroom doors.
Just like in Saudi Arabia.
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