This is not about funding..and not about bad teachers. Problem is way bigger than that.
www.stltoday.com
Dozens of Ferguson-Florissant School District administrators subbed in McCluer High classrooms Thursday for absent teachers following reports of safety issues on campus.
“We had 37 teachers absent today due to a combination of teachers out for conference attendance, illnesses, and other unforeseen absences,” Ferguson-Florissant Superintendent Joseph Davis wrote Thursday in a letter to families.
There are 92 teachers at McCluer according to its website.
On Friday, the 1,200-student high school was provided with “additional administrator support,” Davis wrote. There were 11 teachers out on Friday, including four unplanned absences, according to a district spokeswoman.
Staff at the school have raised concerns since last fall about student behaviors including violence and drug use. At the monthly school board meeting Wednesday, a teachers’ union representative said staff members have been injured by “unruly and disrespectful students.” Another staff member wrote a letter to the board saying she planned to quit because the marijuana smoke in the hallways aggravates her asthma.
Principal Cedric Gerald declined to answer board members’ questions Wednesday about the teachers’ concerns including implementation of the new “McCluer Safety Plan” to increase security.
The plan “was developed and put in place to address safety concerns that were raised earlier this school year,” reads a statement released Friday by Ferguson-Florissant. “The District is continuing to work to address concerns and to make the necessary changes to ensure we are providing a supportive and safe learning environment for both students and staff. Many changes have been made to address the concerns including adding additional staff; increased social emotional and mental health supports for students and revisions to the Student Expectation Code to better address student behaviors.”
At the school board’s November meeting, English teacher Erica Pegues called for remote or hybrid learning until the plan could be implemented because of a “toxic and unsafe school environment.”
At the same meeting, the principal said a student dropped off her baby in the office when she came to school that morning.
“I spent the first two hours of my day trying to figure out what to do with a 7-month-old,” Gerald told the school board. “It’s not something you read about in the paper, but I sat in my office chair putting a baby to sleep.”
The Ferguson-Florissant district came under fire last year after Davis, the superintendent, sent 40 suspended McCluer High students to virtual learning without due process, according to state education officials.
A substitute teacher at McCluer said he has witnessed drug use, gambling, violence and sexual misconduct in the hallways and bathrooms this year, calling the school “an unsafe space where staff is burning out and learning is increasingly difficult.”
“Passing periods have become a powder keg where anything can happen,” Pedro Rios told the board. “Students regularly curse at teachers and it is not uncommon for teachers to be threatened.”
Rios said the disciplinary process burdens teachers with documenting infractions and calling parents four times before administrators become involved.
“We signed up to educate, not police,” Rios said. “These are not the conditions or the future I want for our community or for our children.”
Teachers leave classrooms after safety concerns at McCluer High in Florissant
Close to half the school’s teachers called out Thursday after complaints of violence, drug use and inadequate security.
Dozens of Ferguson-Florissant School District administrators subbed in McCluer High classrooms Thursday for absent teachers following reports of safety issues on campus.
“We had 37 teachers absent today due to a combination of teachers out for conference attendance, illnesses, and other unforeseen absences,” Ferguson-Florissant Superintendent Joseph Davis wrote Thursday in a letter to families.
There are 92 teachers at McCluer according to its website.
On Friday, the 1,200-student high school was provided with “additional administrator support,” Davis wrote. There were 11 teachers out on Friday, including four unplanned absences, according to a district spokeswoman.
Staff at the school have raised concerns since last fall about student behaviors including violence and drug use. At the monthly school board meeting Wednesday, a teachers’ union representative said staff members have been injured by “unruly and disrespectful students.” Another staff member wrote a letter to the board saying she planned to quit because the marijuana smoke in the hallways aggravates her asthma.
Principal Cedric Gerald declined to answer board members’ questions Wednesday about the teachers’ concerns including implementation of the new “McCluer Safety Plan” to increase security.
The plan “was developed and put in place to address safety concerns that were raised earlier this school year,” reads a statement released Friday by Ferguson-Florissant. “The District is continuing to work to address concerns and to make the necessary changes to ensure we are providing a supportive and safe learning environment for both students and staff. Many changes have been made to address the concerns including adding additional staff; increased social emotional and mental health supports for students and revisions to the Student Expectation Code to better address student behaviors.”
At the school board’s November meeting, English teacher Erica Pegues called for remote or hybrid learning until the plan could be implemented because of a “toxic and unsafe school environment.”
At the same meeting, the principal said a student dropped off her baby in the office when she came to school that morning.
“I spent the first two hours of my day trying to figure out what to do with a 7-month-old,” Gerald told the school board. “It’s not something you read about in the paper, but I sat in my office chair putting a baby to sleep.”
The Ferguson-Florissant district came under fire last year after Davis, the superintendent, sent 40 suspended McCluer High students to virtual learning without due process, according to state education officials.
A substitute teacher at McCluer said he has witnessed drug use, gambling, violence and sexual misconduct in the hallways and bathrooms this year, calling the school “an unsafe space where staff is burning out and learning is increasingly difficult.”
“Passing periods have become a powder keg where anything can happen,” Pedro Rios told the board. “Students regularly curse at teachers and it is not uncommon for teachers to be threatened.”
Rios said the disciplinary process burdens teachers with documenting infractions and calling parents four times before administrators become involved.
“We signed up to educate, not police,” Rios said. “These are not the conditions or the future I want for our community or for our children.”
