New Haven Independent

Posted by: greg | August 27, 2009 9:01 AM

What has really done for the schools system?
he's been here for 16 years, and I don't things have improved much.

Posted by: Whatsername | August 27, 2009 9:55 AM

Well, at least Mayo understands the underlying causes of behavior issues. But youth with behavior issues (which, ultimately, come from other issues, such as abuse, neglect, poor parenting due to parents working long hours or just not interested) need real interventions. The problem is that this issue has become larger than what a school can handle--many times children and youth may need evaluation, a case manager getting involved to support the families and other resources. While I don't have any numbers, I wonder if a real initiative to support youth with behavior issues would improve classroom achievement. I think for this initiative to work, the needs of children/youth and their families must be examined. I know schools are not the panacea to all of society's ills, but if it were possible for outside agencies to handle referrals from schools (so that schools don't have to fund/provide the services themselves), we might get somewhere. Unfortunately, the NHPS is not great at working with other agencies, even while they have worked to create business partnerships that are beneficial. I WANT this initiative to work--I've seen too many kids in this city failed by NHPS, but I'm not entirely optimistic.

Posted by: robn | August 27, 2009 1:01 PM

Schooling is no substitute for parenting.

48 states (including CT) have laws holding parents civilly responsible for youth crime and misbehavior. Why can't CT recognize the deep problems in cities and up the ante for negligent parents?

http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/pubs/reform/ch2_d.html

Posted by: City Hall Watch | August 27, 2009 1:13 PM

If the behavior problems are a function of poverty, and these behavior problems are not only holding back the troubled kid, but also hurting the education of many, many more, why is the city doing so little to create jobs and opportunity that will help turn this around? Instead, they launch another program that addresses the symptons and not the underlying problem. In the end, you waste your money on treatments that make you feel good for a minute and then it's back to business as usual.

Posted by: Hood Rebel | August 27, 2009 2:01 PM

It's good to see a more balanced approach to school discipline problems, especially in the middle and high school levels where math and language arts classes are just under an hour for each session.

From a parent's perspective, when my child told me that 25 students could barely get through a language arts lesson because of consistent disruption of 2 or 3 bad behaving students all I want to have happen is that those bad behaving kids are removed from the classroom or the building so that my child can learn.

The school's number one job is to educate children in a safe and orderly environment. As a parent, I do not want my child suffering the consequences of an apparently growing population of chronically bad behaving students. It seems to me that these kids might need some other type of intervention from agencies outside of the school system.

I wonder if the district has identified what percent of it's student population make up this growing chronic group of disruptors.

Posted by: East Rockette | August 27, 2009 3:21 PM

Whoah, convergence! Perhaps the NHPS would care to help subsidize the Kazdin clinic at Yale in exchange for world-class help with troubled kids? Win-win for all involved.

Posted by: mary rosario | August 27, 2009 4:21 PM

This is a great solution to take children out and work with them.It will help in the classroom and also the child.I believe this is a good plan and I am glad to hear it.It is our job to support positive changes in our school system to better the children of New Haven.

Posted by: Norton Street | August 27, 2009 5:16 PM

Children need to be disciplined at home and taught in the community before they even come into a school. The actual learning that takes place inside of K-12 schools is minuscule relative to what people actually learn through their physical and social environment. Therefore, the problems cannot be fixed in the school but rather at the neighborhood level. That means low-skill job creation for largely under educated populations in this city; it also means filling in the patches of our mutilated urban landscape with traditional housing and adequate local retail.

Jobs are most important, they give purpose to anyone who is unemployed. Eventually when violent and property crime lessen, it will be more viable for private investors to put money back into our communities, that in turn builds up our streets with homes and small businesses. With a completed neighborhood comes prosperity.

Posted by: kamb | August 27, 2009 8:09 PM

We need Crazy Joe from the movie Lean On Me, to straighten out these out of control kids!

Posted by: Alan Friedman | August 28, 2009 1:14 AM

Bring back corporal punishment. It's worked for Catholic schools. If these troubled kids (and why is it our problem why he is troubled, Mayo?) are terrified that the teacher will grab a ruler and cane him in front of the class, he will hold his tongue and stay in his seat.

Posted by: New and Improved | August 28, 2009 6:56 AM

Isn't this an election year. Seems like all these initiatives spring up right before an election. Wow!! These guys are slick.

Posted by: teachergal | August 28, 2009 12:01 PM

Maybe NH should create more schools like Urban Youth (a nhps that services students with social/emotional problems) in order to support the social/emotional needs of students who cannot handle mainstream school. Assign teachers that have shown expertise in handling troubled youth in these schools. Students can return to their school when and if they get their acts together.

Now one might say, what about their civil rights....well what about the rights of the majority of students who come to school prepared to learn. One might say, what about their rights?
What about the rights of teachers who plan wonderful lessons that cannot be executed due to the constant interruptions of individual students who do not possess respect or the ability to follow simple rules.

Unfortunately, their has been a drastic increase in students who do not possess the social skills necessary to learn in a classroom with many other students. You can hire consultants, write lofty standards/goals, but the fact remains, until problems are dealt with and kids w/ problems think they don't have to follow rules, learning is not going to occur.

Robyn, you're right, parenting should be addressing these problems but the fact is, parenting is many times lacking. Many of my most troubled kids have parents that are in jail, on drugs, or absent for one reason or another. Many of our students are being raised by grandparents who are doing their best in an ever changing world.

Every school needs a team of behaviorists and maybe then we could see some changes and all students could make academic/social advances to prepare them for the real world.

Posted by: robn | August 29, 2009 10:17 AM

TEACHERGAL,

I recognize the effects of social ills on parenting but if we acquiesce to these effects as an unalterable given, we're left treating the symptom and not the disease. The disease not being social ills but individual responsibility and accountability. There is no more significant responsibility than rearing a child and when you do, you forfeit at least 18 years of autonomy. This is only a penalty if one sees it that way and we need to change that perception and hold parents to a higher standard WRT the way their parenting skills and, by extension, their childrens' behavior affects the education and development of other children.