Benita Rivera on

Chaz' report

The "Numb Nuts" At The DOE Adds More Responsibility & Paperwork To Teachers By Now Requiring Them To Report Child Abuse Directly To ACS.

has caused some interesting comments. Chaz argues teachers are not trained and trained guidance counselors should continue to do the reporting. Jeff Kaufman points out that this is state law and the DOE was violating it and in fact this puts them in compliance, making this additional point:

  I for one think we should mandatorally report. If college football coaches were mandatory reporters perhaps the abuse would have ended 15 years ago at Penn State and Joe Paterno could still be a coach.

Chaz counters with:

Joe Paterno has a private office and a telephone, teachers don't. To dump us with the responsibility and paperwork is unfair to the teachers. Also if we fail to see any abuse then you could be brought up on disciplinary charges by the DOE. Change the law.

Benita Rivera, parent activist (and superb graphic designer) is concerned about the seriousness of contacting ACS for parents who could wrongly have a child removed from the home. I know of cases where a vindictive principal and one case of a vindictive teacher called ACS on a parent for reasons that had nothing to do with the welfare of the children. So be careful - and sure - out there but also remember Penn State.

Of tremendous concern is that this regulation (is it city or state?) puts another boulder in the way of parents and teacher becoming the natural allies they ought to be.  

Bloomberg's model of control, either carried out by the Tweedie birds, Networks, Principals, UFT or the NYPD refuses to recognize the essential factors that racism, classism, cross-cultural misunderstandings and lack of TRUST play in educational outcomes for our children.  As a parent and activist, I can speak authentically of the atmosphere of distrust and fear between school administrators and parents who are all espousing care for the well being of children. 

I agree that teachers should report if they have seen something suspicious, but being responsible for direct contact with ACS is OUTRAGEOUS!  Social workers, guidance counselors and the "trained" team of money-grubbers from the Networks should take the teacher's report, do an emergency assessment, intervene as a team with the parents, and be responsible for contacting ACS if it's warranted. 

I make no excuses for bad parents.  Those that abuse and neglect their offspring are despicable.  Their behavior needs to be spotted as soon as possible so the children are rescued, the family held accountable, and helped.     

The sad fact is, teachers and schools also abuse and neglect.  

Maybe not in the same way parents do, but horrible things DO happen inside schools.  The lasting effect of educational neglect or abuse by teachers--(not in a sexual way because that does seem to get attention) but in the not-so-subtle forms of abuse like bias and prejudice, or constantly screaming, demeaning, exhibiting emotionally destructive language, unfairness, favoritism, etc. is hurtful, especially to majority poor and children of color who may not have the support systems they need to overcome it from a teacher / authority figure.  What happens to too many of kids in our NYC schools is almost as terrible to their futures as is coming from abusive homes. 

A few years back, I was informed that my 10th grade son was constantly late for school even though he was leaving the house on time.  I found out that he was delaying going there because of the demoralizing atmosphere-- and the fact that he felt his teachers HATED him.  He said they made snarky remarks if he answered wrong and made unwanted comments about him bringing a cooked lunch from home (he has food allergies).  They made inappropriate mention of my attendance at SLT meetings, and they did not like that he spoke up in defense of some of his “slower” classmates when made fun of by teachers as a way to show their power.  The principal was guilty of replacing iPods when stolen, just to keep peace with her favored students.  She rewarded bad behavior by taking kids out to lunch with her or giving them special tasks in school where they could earn money, but the good kids got no recognition.  When I heard these complaints from my 14 year old-- what could I do about it?  No teacher would admit that they were guilty of such horrible behavior.  As if my job as a single mom wasn't hard enough, what was allowed to go on in that school actually made my parenting work even harder. It took a ton of effort to get my son to go to school on time, do well once there, and get out by graduating-- by any means necessary—which included offers of bribery gifts and extra privileges on my part.    

Grieving a complaint to the DoE or the police is not so easy a thing for a parent who recognizes teacher abuse or school neglect.  And all things being equal, since there is ACS to call on parents, there should also be a “trigger” agency to call on teachers and the schools.  But no teacher would want that—just as we parents don’t want teachers calling ACS on us!      

Contacting ACS is a wickedly powerful tool in the wrong hands.  All too often it can be used as a weapon against “problem” parents who are strongly opposed to a school's policies, or may be having trouble with their kid's teacher.   It’s wrong on so many levels to make teachers spy on parents as part of their job, especially since so many are cultural foreigners in the communities where they work.  The Anglo standard of "good parenting" does not one-size-fit all.  I have come across many parents in my community of color who are afraid to discipline their own children because of ACS.  As early as kindergarten, children are talking back to their parents after being told in school what their parents can't do.  Little angry munchkins are actually threatening to tell on Mommie or Daddy so that the teacher will call ACS on them.  What may look or sound like neglect or abuse in the home may be nothing of the sort, yet once ACS is called-- the parent can lose their job because of court dates and social service investigations, all to find nothing.  That just makes matters worse-- both at home, and between parents and teachers. 

Fear and humiliation are tactical weapons of the system of educational control we live under.  But they are NO WAY to change the status quo of bad parent/teacher relationships and terrible learning outcomes.  Yet ACS is to Parents what the Rubber Room was to Teachers. 

Surely, TOGETHER, all of us smart and caring adults can up with a better method of protecting children, their homes and educations from abuse and neglect than making teachers and parents any more distrustful of one another.

If anyone is willing to work with The Mothers' Agenda NY on a better solution for protecting children than what the DoE is forcing on teachers, please contact us thru our website:  www.wearethemany.org

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.