WWYD: You Saw the Video and It's Your 1st Grader Getting Treated This Way

At Success Academy School, a Stumble in Math and a Teacher’s Anger on Video

In the video, a first-grade class sits cross-legged in a circle on a brightly colored rug. One of the girls has been asked to explain to the class how she solved a math problem, but she has gotten confused.

She begins to count: “One… two…” Then she pauses and looks at the teacher.

The teacher takes the girl’s paper and rips it in half. “Go to the calm-down chair and sit,” she orders the girl, her voice rising sharply.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/13/nyregion/success-academy-teacher-rips-up-student-paper.html?_r=0

Maybe someone sh%$ in her Wheaties, but I can't even imagine talking to a child like that.

They would make my permanent "to do" list. That woman should not be anywhere near children. 

Obviously this has a political angle given that it's Sucess Academy, but that looks to me like someone who lost their temper in the classroom. That sort of behavior wouldn't be tolerated, even once, between adults in the office, so it certainly shouldn't be tolerated towards children.

I believe teachers should be given latitude to discipline children, but that woman seems to be directing her anger towards every kid in the class. I had teachers like that in public school. As an adult I realize what pathetic, broken losers they were. As a child it was terrifying.

My first grade teacher called kids names (dummy, moron, idiot). She was also a slapper and once punched a kid. Like with her fist. Terrible woman.

Anyhow, I don't think I'd be on board with the woman above teaching my kid. Is this a trick question?

Wow, what a bi#ch.  Problem I have is that these private "academies" are usually in poorer area, thus they are able to abuse children.  Try that in SOMA and see what happens.

Obviously something was going on before the video was started, but I can't imagine what would warrant the teacher's reaction.  It is possible the kid was fooling around and the teacher thought she was still being noncompliant.

First grade.   Holy Crap.   We were singing Kumbaya and banging cymbals together for much of the day.   She is one angry woman in the wrong field.

krugle1 said:

  Try that in SOMA and see what happens.

This is second hand info so I won't name the school, but I was talking to a local parent who said that she and other parents had made a complaint about a lunch lady HITTING kids in the lunch room. She said the principal was sympathetic, but was supposedly unable to get rid of the lunch lady because lunch services are outsourced and not employees of the school system.   

spontaneous said:

krugle1 said:

  Try that in SOMA and see what happens.

This is second hand info so I won't name the school, but I was talking to a local parent who said that she and other parents had made a complaint about a lunch lady HITTING kids in the lunch room. She said the principal was sympathetic, but was supposedly unable to get rid of the lunch lady because lunch services are outsourced and not employees of the school system.   

The principal should be fired if that's truly the final answer. There are so many things wrong and nonsensical with that response that they don't merit pointing out.

Were I the parent in question my response would have been "cool. Just so you know my next stop is the police station." Bet the answer would have changed quick.

Agreed.  Something is clearly missing in that story or that principal needs to be gone yesterday.

Wow. I'm glad we're all so good at evaluating someone's fitness to teach from a one minute video. 

Fortunately no doubt all of our own professional and personal lives could stand up to the kind of microscope this woman is now under. Even our own personal or professional failing could never be as heinous as her emotional outburst. Let's demand her career be ended!

mrincredible said:

Wow. I'm glad we're all so good at evaluating someone's fitness to teach from a one minute video. 

Fortunately no doubt all of our own professional and personal lives could stand up to the kind of microscope this woman is now under. Even our own worst personal or professional failing could never be as heinous as her emotional outburst. Let's demand her career be ended!

No matter, she was sent through some reprogramming and is now back chugging along in the classroom.  Point of the article, however, wasn't just to highlight this one teacher but rather a pattern across other schools as well.

ctrzaska said:

Agreed.  Something is clearly missing in that story or that principal needs to be gone yesterday.

Agreed that there is probably something missing in that story, but it is true that the principals have no direct authority over the lunch aides -- they are outsourced through an agency contracted at the district level (another brilliant move by our former super....).  That said, the principal should be able to intervene if there is actual violence (but again, there is probably more to the story...).

When my child was in kindergarten at a public school here, there was a screamer, and the teacher was known to pick on certain students to scream at. My kid was one of two students being picked on by her. After giving it a month to try to figure out what was going on (since there was no covert video), I made an appointment with the new superintendent of the district, who figured out a way to move my son into a different classroom. The super had to jump through a couple of hoops, it wasn't as if he just moved him, but fortunately it happened. This teacher had a reputation for being bitter, mean, and screaming. When the principal found out that I'd gone over her head to the superintendent, she freaked out.

Like I said, it is second hand info, it didn't happen to me. The parent I spoke with seemed sincere and wasn't making over the top accusations, and overall was happy with the school, so I didn't get the impression that she had an ax to grind. I didn't ask a ton of questions, so I can't give more details. 

From my years of reading about charter school chains, like Success Academy or KIP, I was not surprised by this video.  This is normal operating procedure.   This teacher is considered a model, and she trains others. Also, I think the school has a special deal where they can certify their own teachers so they don't take unhelpful classes in child development while learning to efficiently run successful test taking camps.

There was an issue with a lunch aide being physically rough with kids in my child's school last year. She was removed the same day that we parents contacted the principal, and didn't return for the rest of the year. Just one anecdote to add.

mrincredible said:
Wow. I'm glad we're all so good at evaluating someone's fitness to teach from a one minute video. 

Fortunately no doubt all of our own professional and personal lives could stand up to the kind of microscope this woman is now under. Even our own personal or professional failing could never be as heinous as her emotional outburst. Let's demand her career be ended!

There is not any possible justification for this behavior. None. Whatsoever. Other people's professional and personal lives are irrelevant. Screaming at a 40 year old colleague is not the same as humiliating a first grader.

weirdbeard said:

ctrzaska said:

Agreed.  Something is clearly missing in that story or that principal needs to be gone yesterday.

Agreed that there is probably something missing in that story, but it is true that the principals have no direct authority over the lunch aides -- they are outsourced through an agency contracted at the district level (another brilliant move by our former super....).  That said, the principal should be able to intervene if there is actual violence (but again, there is probably more to the story...).

Screw the contracted agency, if there is violence call the police. 

mrincredible said:

Wow. I'm glad we're all so good at evaluating someone's fitness to teach from a one minute video. 

Fortunately no doubt all of our own professional and personal lives could stand up to the kind of microscope this woman is now under. Even our own personal or professional failing could never be as heinous as her emotional outburst. Let's demand her career be ended!

The person who filmed the video did so because she believed the woman's interactions with the children was harmful.  It was not a one off.

Someone clearly needs to go to the "calm-down" chair, and it isn't the student.

nan said:

mrincredible said:

Wow. I'm glad we're all so good at evaluating someone's fitness to teach from a one minute video. 

Fortunately no doubt all of our own professional and personal lives could stand up to the kind of microscope this woman is now under. Even our own personal or professional failing could never be as heinous as her emotional outburst. Let's demand her career be ended!

The person who filmed the video did so because she believed the woman's interactions with the children was harmful.  It was not a one off.

Sooooo...

What do we know about the person who took the video and that person's relationship with the teacher in the video?

I believe it was stated somewhere that the video was made by an aid or teaching assistant in the class.

sac said:

I believe it was stated somewhere that the video was made by an aid or teaching assistant in the class.

That's kind of my point. We know that and that's about it. So we have the vague concerns of an unnamed person and a one minute clip of the teacher losing it.  

We don't know if the assistant teacher has any other motives to discredit the teacher in the video. It's the kind of thing that should be settled with due process of some kind.

I agree that her actions went beyond what a teacher should have done in that case. And if this is consistent behavior then there is a major problem. But in the space of a one minute video entirely devoid of verifiable context who are we to say whether she's fit to teach? I believe this could have happened to anyone,  and probably some of her condemners would be hard pressed to not react that way on a frequent basis given the pressures of the classroom.

Perhaps the teacher had also dressed down the assistant the same way she humiliated the child. 

I have been reading negative things about Success Academy for years without much public response, so I was glad when this video seemed to finally get the issue discussed in major venues. I hear the same things go on in other large charter school chains.  

Success Academy's War Against Children

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/success-academys-war-agai_b_9235556.html

It seems like this teaching style is part of the philosophy of the Success Academy. They should be shut down and have any accreditation removed.

Knew someone who left Public to go Charter in Newark.  She lasted three years and left the field.  Crazy hours they are forced to work.

Or was this a training video on what NOT to do in a classroom?