The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

Back when I was in the corporate world, I once had a boss who insisted that there were no problems or obstacles, just "opportunities for improvement" and "challenges." Well, as we all know, there are plenty of "opportunities for improvement" in the public school system. Despite such a target-rich environment, I'll restrict myself to one that caught my eye today.

The wrong people are in charge of the class rooms.

Teacher rattles table in class, student calls 911

ATHERTON, Calif. – A California school teacher was placed on paid administrative leave after he rattled a table to get the attention of his math students, startling an eighth-grade girl who used her cell phone to call police.

Rattled a table. Didn't pound on it, didn't yell, didn't throw things, didn't slap or hit anyone. Just rattled a friggin' table to get the attention of a room full of 8th-graders.

Have you ever tried to get the attention of a bunch of teenagers? Sometimes even an airhorn or steamwhistle doesn't work, much less rattling a friggin' table.

Atherton police Sgt. Tim Lynch tells the Palo Alto Daily News that officers went to Selby Lane School Tuesday afternoon because of reports a teacher was causing a disturbance.

Officers found a calm teacher with class in session.

Read that last sentence again "Officers found a calm teacher with class in session." Keep that in mind.

The sergeant says the teacher's table-rattling startled a student and she used her cell phone to call 911. He says other students in the class weren't bothered by the teacher's actions.

Redwood City School District deputy superintendent John Baker says the teacher was placed on leave because there was a police response.

Let me guess. The Redwood City School District has a bunch of zero-tolerance policies. Forget common sense, forget judgment or context or any other reasonable, mature evaluation process. Let's just make up a bunch of black and white rules. That way no one in the administration will ever have to make a decision. 

So now we have a teacher suspended - with pay, no less - and with a permanent record in his file that the police were called in response to his classroom behavior. We also have a school full of teenagers who now know that if they have an issue with a particular teacher all they need to do is call 911 and that teacher gets suspended, no matter what.

"Officers found a calm teacher with class in session."

Yep, that definitely sounds like grounds for suspending the teacher.

And we wonder why our public schools are in trouble...