Systemic failures damage NBHS ... by Bruce C. Ditata

The S-T’s most recent harangue against  Lou St. John and the New Bedford Educators Association, again, begs the question about the underpinnings of systemic failure at NB High School.

“The Climate of Fear” at the heart of these failures, inevitably, starts at the top. Not once has the S-T ever insinuated that the safety of staff and students at NBHS resides in the policies and practices of administration.

If, in fact, the overriding concern at any school is to enforce anti-bullying, anti- violence and proper comportment of any kind – and it must be- the leaders of the school must immerse themselves in the process from the first day staff and students arrive for orientation. Discipline in schools  begins at the top on day number one.

 Teachers are on the front lines every day observing their students at lockers, during passing times, at lunch, within the classroom and are the day to day catalysts for limit-setting. But the greatest responsibility is in the hands of administration which must insinuate itself into meting out firm, fair and consistent consequences in response to violators. Teachers are powerless if not supported by supervisors.

Teachers know these ground rules implicitly. They know the “safety” of their classroom is compromised when perpetrators of bad conduct are not properly disciplined.

Students are clinical about these ground rules, too. Students know the  palpable “fear” of an unsafe classroom where the bullies and the disruptors reign supreme- when the central office fails to support the efforts of teachers who attempt to make classrooms laboratories of learning, not chaos.

Lack of safety in the school environment- in classrooms, halls, cafeteria- begets the “Climate of Fear” that Mr. St.John and the teachers are describing. Once the staff is no longer in charge and behaviors are out of control, as appears to be the situation at NBHS, no curriculum or pedagogy will reverse the trend. Only a staunch administration setting limits can do it.

And, apparently, the S-T does not understand this or is unwilling to acknowledge the basic tenet of school success based upon its statement that, “The greater fear, of course, has bubbled to the surface, and it involves job security, not personal safety. That narrative has been a non-starter for the New Bedford Educators Association as well, once the facts and context are revealed.”

From the beginning the narrative from union leader St. John is that the scapegoating of teachers for what is, essentially, a systemic failure of administrative oversight, is wrong. When classrooms are unsafe because of the neglect of administration to enforce discipline, when the well-behaving, motivated students in the same classroom are being denied a proper education, then it is time to steer away from misplacing responsibility.

No influx of “ motivated, qualified teachers elsewhere in the district … attracted to the challenge of recovering success for New Bedford High School” and no turnover plan that fires 29% of the teachers “ designed to put motivated, certified teachers into the game,” will change the environment that, currently exists at NBHS.

It is a “Climate of Fear” at NBHS. Make no mistake about that it. NBHS is an institution adrift where the teachers and students are not being supported by a systemic failure of administration to support teachers by enforcing limits for behavior. Proper, consistent limit-setting will create an environment for academic success across the board for all demographics- poor, English Language Learners, Special Education- for all students who follow the rules and do their best every day.

Sincerely yours:

Bruce C. Ditata,