We have three children attending Clarke Elementary. Deterioration of the learning conditions has caused me to focus attention on how the school operates.
Clarke has room clears. This is when an entire classroom is cleared out to accommodate the outburst of one child in an effort to protect the others. Two weeks ago it was stated at an open session of the school board that there have been 23 room clears this year.
Since this meeting two of my three kids have experienced room clears. It was stated that 23 room clears isn’t alarming, not in comparison with other schools.
Mine and the school’s definition of ‘alarming’ is clearly not the same. Twenty-three times is frequent, that’s an average of nearly four-times per month. Other schools have been contacted for perspective. In fact, they too agree, 23 times is alarming, very alarming.
Our administration says these situations have become “an epidemic” and “every school system has this problem.” Simply put, I don’t know why this is relevant; especially when these statements seem to be reasons not to address the problem on a local level.
The implication being that we’ll wait to have the solution handed to us. We should be taking this personally. We should dedicate our minds to solving this ourselves and not waiting. There must be a better approach. The disruptive children clearly need a different approach to their learning. However, the students that are evacuated and lose out on lesson time deserve a less disruptive approach to their classroom experience.
Children that need extra social education aren’t getting the one-on-one time they need. The others are being forced to dodge thrown pencil boxes, are exposed to vulgar language and physical aggression. We need a better plan.
Financing is a reason given that there aren’t more trained adults in each class. Well, we can
get money. When asked about national grants that other schools are using to help their kids we’re told Clarke did not apply. Why? We have people in this county with grant writing talent. If the school cannot do this on their own they should seek help from the public.
Who can help? Our children need help. The Nurtured Hearts Program was discovered by Clarke’s curriculum director and implementation of it is in process. This is great but it’s not enough. The education of Clarke students is suffering.
What can be done? Who will help?