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
cottonpicker, you’re right!! Some teachers don’t care. In their defense, however, when time after time they’re made to look foolish by administrators, mocked by students, and see examples of them having little say so in anything, it’s easy to understand why they sort of, give up. You’re right, they shouldn’t simply throw in the towel, but just put yourself in their place. It isn’t pleasant.
Sparkie, don’t hold breath waiting on an administrator to enter this discussion. It won’t happen. They’re hiding under their desks.
I just read unpopular and cottonpickers posts and I agree 100 % with both of them. We need to start standing up for what is right in our schools. I did some research last night and found that a lot of teachers have been falsely accused of different things from the students just because they tried to enforce the rules. I read where a teacher reached an agreement with the school board after he sued when he was falsely accused of viewing inappropriate material on a school computer. He fought back and won. A lot of teachers just resign because they don’t want the publicity to affect them or their families. Even after being proved innocent, the “stink” of accusations linger.
I keep reading what has been said. I did notice that we are also forgetting about “some” of the teachers who don’t care either. Not all, but there are enough that I have noticed. My 3 children are in elem., middle, and high school. They do have some who don’t try to help you. They have just gotten to the point where if the child messes up, they put them in their head as a problem child. Then there are the teachers who, as someone said before, do the work for them and just pass them.
Granted, for the most part the teachers really do care. But even on the news you see the teachers who are into dating the children and such.
But getting back to the main point? Children have no sense of responsablilty. They are not made to respect their elders. My daughter has a guy friend who actually hit his boss for griping him out !! Maybe he needed a good __s chewing. More than most do anymore. I know that if my children ever do disrespect me, my husband is the first to “correct” their attitudes. And vise-versa. But we still have to be careful, because we wouldn’t want “child authorities” to think we have hurt OUR childrens feelings !! Or goodness forbid, invade their “rights”. Our children have one right. To obey us. The rest is a priviledge.
Maybe the solution is to do what ALL of the major and minor industrialized nations are doing: allow only the best and brightest into high school and the other students must go into vocational programs or apprenticeships. Between the ages of 14 and 16, students are given a placement test which determines who continues their high school/college prep status. IF parents want their child to succeed in life by finishing high school, maybe then they will enforce bedtimes, study time and teach their child respect for others and themselves. And, perhaps parents whose children do make it into high school will not sign papers allowing a child of 16-17 to buy a car or work on school nights (sometimes as late a 2am! in disregard of all child labor laws). Then teachers will be allowed to teach, students will value their education, and administrators will not have to fear litigation. AND American schools/students will be at the top of all the surveys of math and science test scores. (At present, USA tests everyone—so those who just make pictures with the dots on their standardized tests are included.) Even Canada has this type of school system!
I have yet to see an administrator post to this. I think the problems in the administration (lack of support for teachers) needs to be made public. The schools are going down the tubes. The sad thing about it is that most of the teachers need their jobs and really do the best that they can. I would last about 5 minutes in a classroom with the students that have the cocky attitudes. These students will be the ones that we are keeping up in jail or on welfare. The whole system is so screwed up!!! I feel that if a student is disruptive and disrespectful in class they should not be given 500 chances. They should be sent home PERMANENTLY until they learn how to act. But of course that is not going to happen!! Someone might get mad and sue the school system.
General Lee, I assume you mean a lower teacher-student ratio.
There are tons of programs already in existence designed to “keep kids interested.“ Some kids truly are interested, and do well. For so many others, however, no program and no amount of money can make them interested, or care about school. The defiance level among young people is difficult to explain.
As I’ve said before, for school leaders to do the right thing (support teachers, punish students, get rid of dangerous students, etc.) money isn’t the issue. Courage is.
Sparkie is on to what I mean about money. Teachers shouldn’t have to have a classroom of 40 kids, much less a hundred. I am not advocating golden bricks, just a higher teacher-student ratio, program and opportunities to keep kids interested-money for counselors and principals and of course the administration to support them.
Sparkie, I hope I haven’t led you to believe that I’m placing any blame for all this on teachers. Trust me, I’m not. Teachers catch all the blame, much like you said. Teachers are told “Control your classrooms!!“, yet administrators won’t punish students who disrupt classes. Teachers don’t have the authority to punish students, and administrators won’t punish them, so who wins?? The students win and they know it.
You’re right!! Schools are in a sad condition now.
I have to respond again on this article. I know several teachers in different school systems and they tell me that no child can fail no matter how little work they do. They can make straight 0’s but they still get promoted to the next grade. You can give the students open book tests and they still make failing grades. They can curse the teacher and nothing is done. The teachers are told, “Control your classroom.“ How do you control 100 students who have absolutely NO respect for anything??? It makes my blood boil
when I hear about parents who threaten to sue the school system because their child was “disciplined.“If the parents would enforce rules at home, we wopuldnt have nearly the problems that we have. This world is in a sad state and I’m afraid it is not going to get any better. I, for one would never take on the profession of teaching because I could not sit back and allow a smart mouthed student to back talk me. We need to all pray for our educators instead of criticizing. It is a very hard job and it takes a special person to do it. I applaud all teachers!!
General Lee, I’d be interested to know how additional money to a school system would make administrators have more courage and do the right thing. What would it be spent for? Schools could be built from gold bricks, all students could have their own laptops and personal tutors, and all teachers could make $5,000,000 per year. None of that matters if teachers are not allowed to teach, or if the students know there’s no discipline, and no policies that will consistently be enforced. I’m not being disrespectful of you, but I believe you’re mistaken in thinking that money could, in any way, correct this. This is not about adding more staff. 10 administrators could be employed and not support teachers and not follow policies. Or 1 or 2 could be employed and support teachers, do the right thing, and not be scared of parents. It’s not about numbers. It’s about doing their job!!
cottonpicker, you are obviously aware of exactly the way things are. I’m not so sure what we’re discussing here is so foreign to people. It’s just that so few people are willing to step and say it. Schools today are so wrapped up in promoting self-esteem, that often times lessons about life are ignored. Some school systems today don’t allow any students to fail regardless of how little work they do. Failing might “hurt their feelings.“ Well, there are a few things in the real world that might peoples’ feelings too. What about a job interview that goes poorly? Is the job given to that candidate to keep his/her feelings from being hurt? That’s silly. Schools today do far more to hurt young people than help.
I’m still waiting for a school administrator to respond to this discussion. PLEASE, JUST ONE. JOIN US HERE, AND TELL THE TRUTH!!!!
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