School survey yields ‘scary’ results
BY MAC McLEAN
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Almost a third of Sullivan County’s middle-school students say they may have gotten into a car with a drunk driver.
According to the survey, 32.2 percent of boys and 27.2 percent of girls in the county school system’s sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade classes were driven at some point by someone who was drinking.
“This is a serious health issue,” said Meredith Charles, director of the school system’s coordinated school health department. “These are our middle-school students. It’s a wonder they ever make it to school in the first place,” she said.
Charles asked about 95 percent of middle-school students 46 questions designed to identify risky behavior. She reported the results Monday to the Sullivan County Board of Education.
The survey found that 75.7 percent of students said they don’t wear a helmet when they ride a bike, and another 37 percent watch more than three hours of TV each day.
Almost 30 percent – 28.9 percent of boys and 25.3 percent of girls – said they have had at least one drink of alcohol and of those who said “yes” to this question, 40.2 percent had their first drink before their 11th birthday.
Another 17.6 percent of students said they have “seriously thought about killing themselves,” while 49.9 percent, 59.8 percent of girls and 37.6 percent of boys, said they are trying to lose weight.
“Some of that stuff’s pretty scary,” board Chairman Ron Smith said after Charles’ presentation. “We know what these kids say, now the question is, what are we going to do about this?”
Although Sullivan County’s survey results were comparable to other school systems in the region, Charles said she’s been trying to work special lessons that address these behaviors into the county’s health classes.
She hopes to conduct a survey during the next school year to gauge whether these lessons have any effect.
That upcoming school year will start one week later, according to a new calendar the board adopted Monday night. The 2009-2010 school year will start with a half day for students on Aug. 4 and end on May 24, 2010.
Board members also agreed to make fixing the roof at Central High School a priority for the school system’s maintenance budget this year because it is leaking in four classrooms and some of the building’s hallways, said Maintenance Supervisor Joe Mike Akard.
Twenty-one of the county’s 28 school buildings received a failing grade when it came to the condition of their roofs, according to a physical assessment the school system conducted last spring. Smith said the results of this assessment will be the main topic of a school board retreat set to take place Sunday at Northeast State Technical Community College.
| (276) 645-2518
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Reader Reactions
I just read the postings from both cottonpicker and farmer. Thank you both so much! I have some issues that need to be addressed in one of the school systems and did not really know exactly how to start. I am not one to back down and once I get started, I won’t stop until I see a change. I agree with cottonpicker also. I believe a lot of these problems are part of the Bible being fulfilled. Every time you look in the paper you see horrible news! I can bearly stand to watch the news anymore. Christians need to stand up and fight!
Okay, here goes!! If we all contact our SCHOOL BOARD we can request a special hearing on these subjects. That, I know we can do. But the real problem is not the schools, it is the home. As several of us have said. No amount of griping at the schools or even our government is going to help unless “we” as people change. “We” cannot change unless we are willing to change. The most we can do at this point is to teach “our” children at home what is right and true. Even if the schools teach otherwise. God said these times would come. But He also said that He would be there for us. In Matthew 18: 18-20 it is said “Take this most seriously; A yes on earth is yes in heaven, a no on earth is a no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, My Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of Me, you can be sure that I’ll be there.“
Take notice people, God is with us and will not forsake us even though we ourselves have forsaken our own.
God be with you all. I am praying as well as my husband and children are.
Sparkie, Let’s look at your first question. The best way to deal with all this? Well, a solution can only come after the powers that be are challenged. I’d suggest that as many people as possible address school boards. Being public schools, the public can certainly be heard. Calls to the district office to schedule times to speak at board meetings would be best. To simply show up at a board meeting probably wouldn’t work, as they have so much to cover. When addressing the board, specific incidents to refer to would be best. Those folks are smart, and know how to avoid difficult questions. If you know specific situations where administrators didn’t support teachers, didn’t discipline students, etc., let them know. Don’t use teachers’ names, and by all means, don’t use names of students involved. Assure them you’d love to go to Executive Session (with only board members present) and give them ALL details, including names, dates, examples, etc. Be prepared as they’ll do everything under the sun to avoid discussing this kind of stuff. DON’T BACK DOWN!!! They know you’re right, and want you to simply go away. You’ll be given only a short time to address them, so don’t beat around the bush. Respectfully demand answers!!!
Question #2. How to let administrators know? Trust me, they already know all about this. It is the worst fear of most of these people to have the way schools are run be made public. You must understand, schools are left to police themselves, for the most part. They want little interference from the outside in terms of this kind of thing.
You and I, plus the others who have written here, are part of the “silent majority.“ We all want this changed. The problem hasn’t been addressed because so many people feel as though they can’t make a difference. They don’t think they’ll be listened to. That may be true, at least the first couple times. However, if tax payers continue to challenge these cowardly leaders week after week, and month after month, I believe changes would come about.
How about letters to the editor of this paper? How about contacting a reporter at this paper about doing a story? Don’t ease up!! It can be changed if this is brought to light.
By the way, if you contact administrators who work in the actual schools, they’ll simply tell you that the decisions they make are following district policy. That’s true to some degree. It isn’t true, however, in the instances when different students are punished differently for the same violation. Those are the ones you must have details about, though.
Respectfully challenge these folks and you’ll see some highly educated people squirming in there seats. They hate having this stuff brought up. Remember——>DON’T EASE UP ON THEM UNTIL CHANGES ARE MADE!!!! You can make a difference.
What is the best way to deal with all this? How do you let the administrators know? Do you write the school boards? I am willing to be a part of trying to help. Anyone have any ideas? I would love to see some of these problems for teachers get worked out.
This subject doesn’t need to die here. The only way to change it is to let the schools know that the way they run things ISN’T a secret. Contact administrators today!!!!!
these posts really help me to deal with som eof the situations that are going on at this time. I accidentally have myself removed from receiving updates on the posts. Does nayone know how I can get back on the email notifications?
Thank you all for your comments. I agree that taking God out of the schools is where the problem with the schools started. But that couldn’t have happened if God hadn’t been taken out of the home first. Our lives have become so busy that people don’t take the time or the effort to keep God in our homes and our families. If we did, there wouldn’t have been a majority vote that was required for the laws to pass. People are so worried about offending someone or they don’t have the time and energy to put into the fight that they’ve just given up and let Christian values be sacrificed. It still comes down to “IT HAS TO START AT HOME!“ Adults need to get a clue that once you decide to have a child, your best interest no longer matters! Everything is about raising a well adjusted, respectful, healthy, happy, child into a responsible, giving and caring adult. Until that job is done, it has to take priority. Once our children become adults, we can then think about our wants again. Children learn ethics and responsibility and how to behave from thier parents. Parents have to work together to teach these things, even if the parents do not live together-that’s not the child’s fault. Don’t make the kids pay for it. You can still find ways to work together for the best interest of the child. Sorry people but this one is one of my soapboxes. I have a 9 and 13 yr old at home and I am a single parent. My number one goal is to teach them how to be responsible, healthy, successful adults. Kids don’t come with instructions. We do the best we can and PRAY. We try to keep them away from the bad influences and involve them in activities that promote self-confidence, good self esteem, ability to work with others, stress good grades and persistance, hard work and willingness to give to and help others. First and foremost they have to know we love them even when they make mistakes. We back them up when they are right and dicipline them when they are wrong. It’s not easy, but nothing that’s worth doing is easy, but it is worth doing the best you can and giving it all you have. I know my kids are worth it.
I just read labtek97’s posting and it was great. I guess this helps us all to vent about the schools situations.
I still say that all this started whenever God was taken out of the picture. We need to continue to pray for our educators and for the students.
It is really sad to see what is happening in our nation.
labtek97, You make so many valid points. Yes, I read every word you said. Have you ever compared the money America spends per child versus other countries?? Trust me, the problem of disrespectful kids, cowardly administrators, etc., cannot be fixed by money. Suppose money was unlimited, and every program under the sun was implemented in the school system. Kids who don’t care, want to disrupt, expect someone to simply hand them something, will not change. I am, of course, talking about high school kids. Perhaps at the lower levels some different programs could help. High schoolers (many of them) are so defiant, that the more programs there are, the more they fight the system. They know the purpose of the programs, and giving in and participating would show that adults are getting to them and having an influence on them. Most high school age folks today know right from wrong. However, they also want independence and doing things THEIR way, even if they fail, is cool in their world.
The process must start at home, as you point out. Parents must become parents. Otherwise, we’re headed for some serious troubles.
STILL WAITING ON AN ADMINISTRATOR TO JUMP INTO THIS DISCUSSION. COME OUT OF HIDING AND LET US HEAR THE REAL DEAL. TELL THE TRUTH. IT MIGHT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER.
I have read all these comments and every one of them has valid points. Probably the most valid point (and I’ve seen this in the younger generation of the work force too, not just schools) is that young people are not taught to respect each other, authority, life, property (thiers or anyone else’s), thier parents, their church, or themselves. They have NO respect for anything. Teenage girls think the only way to get boys to like them is to dress trashy and act and talk trashy. Boys are being taught to disrespect girls and women and to encourage trashy behavior. I read a lot of blame being put on administration who won’t take actions. The reason they won’t take action isn’t just the fear that the parents may get a lawyer and sue them, it’s also the shameful reality that if a parent gets a lawyer and sues, the parent will probably win! and the ill mannered problem student will be rewarded for disrupting. I have children in the Sullivan Co. middle and elementary school system and the schools they go to are (from what I have seen) very good at making kids accountable and punishing them for their actions. Parents have to support the schools dicipline before the schools can act, and the laws have to changed so that people can’t benefit from having an unruly, disrespectful child. Parents need to step up to the plate, but you cant’ wait until they’re in middle school to do it. It has to start when they’re very young. There are lots of reasons kids today act the way they do, look at the world around them. They think that the world owes them and they didn’t ask to be born, so they shouldn’t have to do anything that they don’t WANT to do. It’s all about “what do I get out of it?“ instead of “who can I help today” or “can I do something to make someone’s life better today?“ How many adults can you look around and find that are the EXACT same way??? If there are no positive role models left, who do the kids look up to? Parents have to at least show kids that the positive role models (the coaches, the teachers, the volunteers, preachers, etc)are who they should look up to, and that the guys on MTV who are singing about “ho’s and ***ches and slapping women around and killing cops and anyone else who offends or hurts your feelings”, or the one’s singing about girls “shakin their booty in his face” aren’t cool. Drugs aren’t cool. Drinkin’ ain’t cool! Getting in the car with someone else who’s drinking “ain’t cool”. And the kids who feel like that stuff is not cool need to stand up for what they believe in. The big question is how do you get the laws changed, and how do you get parents involved and really make a difference. There are lots of things for kids in schools to motivate them. Most of those things cost money. The “problem” children are most likely the ones who needs someone to step up and say “YOU matter”. Your life matters and what you do with it matters. These are also the kids who no-one wants to deal with. People just say “if he/she’s disruptive, remove him/her. send them home.“ No one asks “what are we sending them home to?“ We can’t save every student, but EVERY student deserves for us to at least attempt. I know this is long and I’m very sorry and appreciate anyone who actually took the tiem to read all of it. There are so many issues in this article they get your head spinning. This should be our WAKE UP call!
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