WPS - Making life miserable one child at a time
I was just poking around the Worcester Public Schools website looking for the types of ‘fun’ we’ve banned in town. Spurred by this story in the Washington Post, I have a feeling my decision as to whether or not my son will attend public schools will hinge less on issues like funding and quite a bit more on the degree of bat shit insane authoritarianism ruling the day. While I couldn’t find out for sure if tag and dodge ball are banned in the WPS, I did find some things that made me giggle before getting mostly depressed.
Rule 15 of the WPS code is a great one:
Rule 15. - Cellular Telephones, Beepers, and Laser Pointing Devices
A student shall not possess a beeper, pager or other mobile telecommunications or two-way radio communications device of any type on school premises or at a school-sponsored situation, provided, however, that a student may possess a cellular telephone on school premises or at a school sponsored situation but may not use such cellular telephone during the hours school is in session or during a school sponsored situation. Any such device found in a locker may be considered to be in the possession of the student assigned to the locker for purposes of disciplinary action.
While I get the basic idea behind keeping mobiles out of the classroom, am I the only one who sees a problem with banning phones at a “school sponsored situation”, to be honest I don’t know what the hell a ‘situation’ is. But if I’m reading this right a kid could be disciplined for using a phone at a football game.
But if that isn’t weird enough how about this line of logic:
Although some parents and students feel it’s appropriate to have access to cell phones during the school day in case of emergencies and other school safety incidents, notifying family members immediately during the event can interfere in school officials addressing the incident in a safe and effective manner.
link
Let’s pretend for a moment that a city HS was to have a real incident, do we really not want kids on the inside being able to phone out? Lets imagine a real deal school shooting, doesn’t the ability to communicate with people on the inside, in real time, make Police efforts easier? Or does a canned press statement by Rob Pezzella fix everything immediately?
This one was great too:
Canine Unit is helpful to keeping Drugs Off Grounds
The Worcester Police Department’s Canine Unit has been assisting the School Safety Office recently by participating in Operation DOG (Drugs Off Grounds). Officer Steve Cortes and one of his trained canine drug dogs (Bria) visited a high school and middle school within the last few weeks and showed school administrators how the special dog can detect or discover drugs in student lockers. We are sending a stern message to students and parents that drugs will not be tolerated on school property,and if they are found,long-term suspensions and/or law-enforcement involement will occur.
Operation DOG will continue for the remainder of the school year.
link
I left the spelling and grammar errors in there on purpose, but only for the benefit of those of you who enjoy pointing out my terrible spelling and grammar. I was taught by the best, you see.
Anyways, Bria must be what’s hurting MCAS scores. If I was unable to get high before class in HS I would have certainly done even worse, which is almost impossible to imagine. I’d probably still be a freshman, some 16 years later, if not for early morning bong hits in the DMHS parking lot. If not for my sitting next to a vent in algebra class, which allowed me to smoke cigarettes and weed in the middle of the day with my oblivious teacher 10 feet away, I probably would have shot the place up myself and we’re talking years before we even had mobiles to confiscate! I look forward to pulling my son out of school on drug dog day, I don’t have any interest in raising my kid to believe it’s OK to piss on the fourth amendment for the sake of prohibition.
School just doesn’t look like a very good time these days, I suggest those of you in charge get rid of the drug dogs, let kids have their mobiles back and maybe even let them throw a ball at a class mate without fear of litigation. I would imagine a system of happy kids would produce better results and maybe even justify increased funding. But just a little less irrational fear in the world would be a close second.
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For the record, My nephew goes to grammar school in West Boylston, and they have indeed banned dodgeball.
Spelling aside, I’m going to disagree with you on this one.
I am hopeful that we will have moved before my son is ready for school.
However, if he does go to school in the WPS system, I’d prefer that classes don’t get interrupted by cell phones ringing. And I certainly would prefer that drugs aren’t being distributed or used around him.
I agree with you on the dodgeball issue, of course. That should not be banned.
I was really good at that and it is where I learned how to build my self-esteem at the expense of others. A skill I pride myself on today. (Joke for those that don’t get the sarcasm).
However, they still play suicide even though that game has been banned since I was a kid.
Well sure, we don’t want phones ringing all day, so we have them turn off their ringers (or completely shut down the units) just like we do in the work place, right? But what’s the harm in having a silent phone in your pocket?
Don’t get me wrong, I know my views on drugs and alcohol are in the minority. But it’s a comfortable minority, one of these days we’re going to acknowledge it’s all the things we want to hide from our kids that end up tempting them the most as soon as they’re out of our control.
One young man of my acquaintance was banned from wearing a “Go Vegan Or Die” shirt to school, on the grounds that it was some sort of threat. (He wasn’t vegan, he just thought it was a silly shirt.)
Talking to him about his school, month after month, I was shocked to realize that the school officials were *afraid* of these elementary schoolers. I don’t know if this is just the way of the 21st century, or a New England thing. I went to elementary school in Oklahoma, and it was not uncommon for kids to keep guns in their lockers to show off. (If memory serves, I think my friend Toby brought a bunch of swords to show-and-tell once. Those were the days.) I don’t think those schools were particularly great, but at least they didn’t make us feel like criminals.
My entire second grade class was threatened with detention for drawing pictures of complex Rube Goldberg-esque “bombs” on the back of pen pal letters we were forced to write every month.
Instead, we were ordered to draw “happy things.”
Seriously, I’ve always viewed that moment as the beginning of the PC Movement in Connecticut, for many reasons. The whole year before, we had been applauded for our creativity; in one split second, we were told we were the same as that bitch who got in trouble for stealing my lunch money.
And cell phones? I was screamed at by an administrator at my high school during graduation rehearsal in 2000 for talking on a cell. In an empty school.
As for dodgeball…giant game, Worcester Common, next weekend.
Pick a day.
I thoroughly appreciate the grammatical errors…and I’ll never believe Pete was good at dodgeball.
Can I bring the pepper spray to the dodgeball game?
I think the WPD still provides complimentary pepper ball service, Gabe.
Don’t you need a wall for a dodgeball game? Or are you going to play that version with teams and a midline? I always thought that was a sort of softer version of it; at least I was always better at it.
Anyway, where’s the wall on the Common? And can we invite the City Council? I’ll bet you could sell tickets to that!
Sounds fun! In my neighborhood (Shrewsbury St 1970’s), we played dodge rocks. Let’s play. Any Tuesday night at the Common should be best. Say 7ish?
There has always been and will always be some degree of bat shit insane authoritarianism ruling the day. But you’ll find that at private schools too, which I would find even more maddening, especially when writing that check every year.
I suck at dodge ball.