We write this letter in response to the many negative attacks directed towards New Bedford High School.
First, let us start by saying that the majority of students do find success at New Bedford High School. New Bedford High School has students attending upwards of 120 colleges and universities. Many folks point at the negatives, but N.B.H.S. has much to offer; a highly qualified faculty, an excellent A.P. program, a diverse school population, and an extremely competitive Division 1 sports program. Additionally, N.B.H.S. has an award-winning marching band, top of the line theatre productions, clubs, JROTC program, after school activities, and a cutting edge Engineering Academy that will open in the fall of 2012.
Most recently it has come to light that we have a high failure rate in the Freshman Academy at New Bedford High School. This is no secret to those that work with Freshman students. For quite some time students have been promoted to N.B.H.S. by middle school principals despite failing all, or a significant number of classes. In our Freshman Academy meetings parents have stated, “I don’t know how he/she got here because they failed all of their classes last year.” We believe the solution is to create a “Bridge school.” This school would ensure students arrive at the high school with the necessary skills and attitude that are required to be successful.
In our school we deal with many socio-economic problems. We believe these problems create an atmosphere in which attending school is not a priority. We have far too many students that have 25 or more absences. As you might expect, it is very difficult to teach a student who is absent regularly. No matter what think tank or consultant is hired to improve education in New Bedford, nothing will change until our kids match the attendance rate of suburban schools. In addition, this low attendance rate which fluctuates between 85 to 88% places an additional burden on the school. Low attendance is a burden on teachers, administrators, attendance officers, and clerical staff due to the hundreds of additional hours spent tending to the paperwork, make up work, phone calls, and court visits that poor attendance creates. These are hours that should be spent focusing on providing students with a quality education. Coupled with this are parents that are indifferent to the importance of attendance. Many parents do not buy into the 95% attendance policy.
The next issue is discipline. We have a number of students that come to school with the sole intention of disrupting the educational process and/or walking around school all day. Although the administration at N.B.H.S. has worked extremely hard to remove the students that are chronic offenders, there are still a number of students who have to be placed into in-house suspension (ASA) rooms and or be suspended on a daily basis because they refuse to conform to school rules. Unfortunately, due to the law it is very difficult for our administrators to remove habitual discipline problem students, unlike Voc-Tech or a Charter School, which can remove them much faster. Many hours and resources are spent on 14, 15, and 16 year old students who have divorced themselves from school and like any divorce it is nearly impossible to get them back on track. These disruptive students would be better served at an alternative educational setting with a heavy focus on counseling.
The third major issue is a lack of parental involvement. On March 8th we had our second semester Open House at N.B.H.S. Of the 120 students we had only 12 parent(s) in attendance. We find this mind boggling, especially considering that the 9th grade is one of the most vulnerable times in a child’s life. How can a teacher or a school account for 90% of parents that choose to not show an interest in their child’s education? Furthermore many of our colleagues reported even worse attendance, and when teachers try to contact a parent to follow up, the phone number is frequently incorrect or out of service.
The fourth major issue is inadequate technology and materials. The teachers at N.B.H.S. are dealing with a crippling high school infrastructure and have been placed at an extreme disadvantage compared to many other high schools in the Commonwealth. For far too long there has not been an investment in technology and materials at N.B.H.S. due to budget shortfalls and the millions of dollars being siphoned off by the Charter School. In addition, many teachers deal with limited wireless access, outdated/broken classroom computers, and minimal overhead data projectors. This restricts a teacher from innovative technology based lessons that are incorporated into most 21st century educator lessons. A significant investment in updating N.B.H.S. technology needs to be made immediately.
We feel the community and local politicians need to support New Bedford High School, rather than tearing it down with negative attacks, including the constant “blame game” that goes on. The bottom line is that all parties need to work together, respectfully and honestly to give the children of New Bedford the best education possible. Hopefully this letter from two teachers on the front line will help enlighten the New Bedford citizenry to what N.B.H.S. has to offer, the challenges we face every day, as well as to provide a few solutions. In closing, we feel the N.B.H.S. faculty has high standards and will continue to work diligently to prepare students for the rigors of mandated state testing, and the skills needed to obtain a college education.
Nicholas J. Salmon III
Tan House
New Bedford High School
Joseph F. Twomey
Gold House
New Bedford High School
33 comments:
Well said, gentlemen! One would now hope your insights, which are right on, do not fall on the normal deaf ears!
Well said Gentlemen... Now if only the Standard Times has the gonads to print you letter and tell the real story... expect a phone call from Charis so she can twist it to suit their agenda
Great letter.
I agree with many of these points. At Normandin, teachers are not so secretly pressured to pass kids who don't deserve it. As for discipline, I'm not surprised the high school has a problem. When these kids can get away with whatever they want, as is the case at Normandin, shouldn't we expect them to bring that behavior to NBHS?
I thank you for your letter. It is about time the truth be stated! As a middle school teacher, we also deal with students that chronically disrupt classes and appear to have no respect for school policies and rules. We also receive students that have been promoted and they lack the basic reading, writing, and math skills.
We request students be kept back due to failing all classes and not being able to self manage but Dr. Bonneau believes they deserve a "second chance" so....they fail all classes in 6th grade, attend summer school for five weeks and go to 7th. They fail in 7th she allows them to vp to summer school and they go to 8th. Guess what happens in 8th? They have learned that they can fail classes, not complete classwork or homework, fail tests and quizzes, and disrupt instruction for others and they get a "second chance." Can a student learn an entire years worth of curriculum in five weeks? How about the entire years curriculum for two or more subjects? I say they cannot and it is obvious by looking at the freshman attending NBHS. However, it is Dr. Bonneau's way and will continue as long as she has the power to continue this negative trend.
These teachers are absolutely correct with their statements. When I was teaching at the high school, it was the same repeat offenders with the same nonsense daily and with more than one teacher. I knew some of the location numbers by heart, sad state of affairs. Throughout the 10 years I processed the conduct cards in the Green House, I saw how the punishment didn't fit the crime. These kids wheeled and dealed to get out of serving their detention, Saturday detentions, and walked out of ASA. Parents needed to be, along with their child, held accountable. As far as Open House goes, the percentage of the parent who fail to come is today the same it was when I was teacher 90% no show and only 10% who cared. Same old same old.
Discipline must be strictly enforced no matter what. One may have difficulty learning, however, that is NOT and excuse for NOT behaving like a decent human being! NO EXCUSES! Remember, all those wonderful people in jail were once in our classrooms.
Despite all this current negative talk, our students are still, and I stress the word still, being accepted into Ivy League colleges as well as other top notch college throughout the United States. These problems have been in existence for decades and now it is all coming home to roost. I personally think, if everyone works together in a positive way, that we are heading on the right path but change takes time.
Go into the schools unannounced and see for yourself.
My 8th grade team has about 10 kids that are failing and should be retained. We're talking about 3 or 4 F's in core academic classes. I'm sure that all of them will be at New Bedford High School next year.
I wonder if the person who posted about the ten failing kids is from Normandin? My guess would be yes. It is just the way things are. The teachers are told they have an input in students ability to go to summer school. The truth is, they don't every failing student is given a million chances to pass even if they CHOSE not to work all year. They get another chance, summer school. Didn't they have 180 days worth of chances? Weren't they given four quarters worth of chances? Sorry NBHS but the discipline issues and failing grades will continue. Just come visit Normandin for a day. But it must be an unannounced visit because if Bonneau knows people are coming she makes sure things look good on the outside.
I hear Bonneau's future at Normandin might be in doubt. Staff and students deserve a safe school where discipline is handled firmly and where education can really happen. How long have we heard that bad grades are the teachers fault? I also hear the nepotism problem at the school is going to get ugly.
8 excellent comments and then one more comment back to rumourville. Let's focus people.
The 8th grade team with 10 kids failing is at Roosevelt.
Normandin and Roosevelt leadership needs to change. Roosevelt is bad, but Normandin sounds much worse, based on what I hear from my friends there.
Dr. Francis is fighting for her professional life here, and I don't know whether removing Bonneau has really occured to her. Of course it should. There is no easier way to change the culture of a failing school than bringing in fresh leadership that respects teachers. But as I said, Dr. Francis mightbe so overwhelmed that she's lost sight of the simple changes that would have the greatest impact.
As a fellow NBHS instructor whose classroom is in the same area as Mr. Salmon and Mr. Twomey, I can say that I strongly agree with their sentiments. Students can get information from the Internet on their IPads and cell phones, that we have no access to. I have a wonderful "in-focus" projector in my closet, but cannot use it to its full advantage because I have no Internet access, wired or wireless; not to mention that my classroom computer (circa 1993) is like Jacob Marley, as "dead as a doornail"....
I taught in the computer lab in evening school for many years, but the frustrations of dealing with broken computers, no ink for the printer, and the general overall lack of maintenance or even concern about these issues contributed to my decision to resign this position. You can only fight an uphill battle so long.
The discipline and attendance problems are issues we've been fighting for years; in other local schools the attendance policies are strictly enforced and students HAVE to make up missing credits or do not graduate. This is not the case in New Bedford. On any given day, about 15% of the students are absent, and another 10-15% are either late to school or dismissed early (they can sign themselves out with age of majority).
At least yesterday's S-T headlines allowed us to feel at least partially exonerated from all of the recent attacks on my colleagues and me. It's about time somone dug into the root causes of our issues. When Ms. Bizarro was headmaster, years ago, she brought up the suggestion of a "bridge school" but no one listened to her. I guess they needed the money for "other things."
Mr. Salmon and Mr. Twomey, I salute you for your excellent, eloquent letter. I only hope those in power -- the mayor and the school committee -- take heed before it's too late. Heads up, people!
Rumourville comes from hope that next year Normandin will have a new principal. Yes, its so bad that we talk about rumors with our fingers crossed.
Hi. The letter writers and the teachers from Normandin are all right. It's gotten to the point at Normandin where kids know they will be moved on to the 9th grade even if they have failed several classes. Maybe they will have to go to summer school for four weeks, but that beats having to work from September to June. Meanwhile the hard working kids look around and see the unmotivated ones disrupting classes and getting rewarded with promotion.
Normandin could use 1 of the administrators from Keith. They have a good thing going over there and would really help us out. We need an administrator not afraid of their own shadow regardless of its size.
Ican't blame the promotion problem on Bonneau. That happens everywhere. But not handling discipline is a serious problem. The nepotism issue has to be fixed too. It's just not a happy place, and more teaching and learning would be taking place if she wasn't there.
Agree about Keith.
Mitchell threw us a bone when he said we're not to blame.
The mayor is working directly with the education roundtable. The strategy is simple - divide and conquer.
When the standard times loves someone as passionately as they do Mitchell you know there's a hidden agenda.
"for decades the city's schools have thrown up barriers to success for thousands of students."
Mitchell is doing damage control so that he doesn't lose the votes from teachers. Remember the superintendent isn't in the classroom, YOU ARE!
Mr Mayor, you are losing votes and credibility when you go after the teachers, the union, even the superintendent. Look at the individual schools, where incompetent prinicpals have built their destructive fiefdoms. Want to improve the schools and win back the teachers? Get rid of the bad principals. They have one vote each. We have thousands. You'd be thanked by tons of parents too when their kids schools become caring places of education.
There should be a rule that principals have to teach classes every two years or so, just to remind them what its like. Bonneau hasn't taught in decades. She is so out of touch. She blames teachers for misbehavior and lack of interest. She has no clue that the last generation she taught is nothing like what we face everyday.
I love the comment about principals in the classroom. I would pay to see Bonneau, without any administrative power, trying to teach our kids.
I sympathasize with the letter writers concern about discipline. The middle schools arent helping you. Come to Normandin and see all the kids who are skipping detentions without consequence. The high school gets too much blame. The problems are handed to them because of negligence earlier on.
Right on about the high school getting all the blame. I have former Normandin students who constantly tell me about all the stuff they got away with. They wonder what the problem is when an administrator calls them on it.
Adm. from Keith? No Doe person has ever asked an Adm. about how they manage lunch. Adm.must also know something about teaching and learning!
Excellent letter gentlemen. Hopefully, Mayor Mitchell, school committee, administration, parents and students have read this article and actually do something to make it better.
Do not take our leadership away from Keith, we have a good thing working with discipline here.To change continuity would not be the right decision.
I hate to be a conspiracy theorist, but what does Mitchell -or whomever is really operating from behind the scenes- have to gain by this? I say follow the trail and the truth will be told. BS if they say it's about the kids... it's about getting someone a job and fattening up their pension check
What is being said about the middle schools is soooo true! Roosevelt IS as bad as Normandin...we have an administrator who thinks nothing of lying about anything and everything, who also thinks that every kid deserves a "second" or even "third chance", who pushes several students each year through to the next grade who have failed all of their major subjects, and she also makes back-door deals with Bonneau about students that Bonneau wants to get rid of for disciplinary, academic, and attendance reasons! Students disregard administration and teachers, skip detentions and 7th periods regularly, most parents don't seem to give a damn, and the stress levels among teachers is always at the breaking point. I would like to see some real change in administration at the middle schools -- it is sorely needed.
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