Destiny Middle School

Oct 2nd, 2018

Jul 20th, 2018

Jun 21st, 2018

Jun 3rd, 2018

I feel that we as teachers have really had enough, and that someone needs to finally speak up. I am a dedicated teacher and I am writing to shed light on the educational disaster that is Destiny Charter Middle School. Destiny has some serious disciple problems which make this a miserable place to work at. It’s not a particularly new, or radical, idea that schools need to be orderly places. Great teaching and learning takes focus and concentration; constant disruption and anxiety due to chronic violence are the enemies of that. What is new or at least newly controversial is the notion that that we need to prioritize the needs of the vast majority of children the ones who come to school wanting to learn. Yet the needs of these students are often overlooked in today’s debates, as some advocates focus narrowly on the consequences for disruptive kids. To be sure, we should worry about the “school to prison pipeline,” and shouldn’t suspend or expel students any more frequently than necessary. But we also shouldn’t allow degenerate behaviors and disruptive students to hold our classrooms hostage. That’s true for all charter schools, public schools or otherwise. For ages, excellent schools have found smart ways to create order that need not require large doses of punitive sanctions. It’s part art, part science, and comes in many flavors, but generally amounts to creating a climate of respect for students and teachers alike; setting clear behavioral expectations schoolwide and enforcing them consistently; and using a set of graduated consequences for misbehavior that work to correct problems before they get out of hand. None of this is rocket science, and I understand that it’s not easy, and unfortunately since Destiny’s inception in 2015-16 it has struggled mightily with creating such a positive climate. I know colleagues who left the profession because of discipline problems at our school and some current teachers who themselves had considered leaving for the same reason. It’s not too strong to say that disruption is classrooms throughout Destiney is a cancer. It depresses achievement and makes schools unpleasant, unsafe and unconducive to learning. If you really want to change one thing at Destiny-start with discipline: SIMPLE nothing else, just DISCIPLINE. Follow through from sixth grade on up to eighth grade. Be consistent, give consequences. Teachers should not be repeating rules to the same students over and over again. If you would listen to experienced teachers who have good discipline, it works and learning is going on. No fancy programs, no bells and whistles, just the teacher in charge. Stop moving students from school to school. This just dilutes other schools! Administration at Destiny is hiding the problems-NOT solving them! The same students that we saw get away with the “little infractions” over and over, and over again, are the same students that end up in the paper under “local arrests”. We are not here to be popular or please parents, we are here to teach children. Things like cursing, littering and tardies may seem small to you, but to a classroom teacher they are the small things that lead to larger problems like disrespect. If you don’t back us up on these issues, the students know it and lose respect for us. Don’t give in half way through the year, or keep changing things. Follow through. Back your teachers up! You have taken our “power” away. No Discipline=No Teaching-Period! Administration wants to save one child by not removing them from the classroom or campus because they don’t want THAT child to miss out on learning, but you are doing a TOTAL injustice to the average and above average students who want to learn and know how to behave. The others are NOT learning because teachers are spending our time repeatedly correcting, constantly documenting, meeting one on one, and conferencing with the one child who chooses not to behave.
Jun 27th, 2018