Mayor Mike Saves on Gym Equipment

Here's part of an email I received yesterday:

A friend of mine is a teacher with 30 years of service for NYC. She was assaulted by a 6'2" HS student with a cane three weeks ago. The incident occurred at the Bronx Theatre High School, housed at JFK School in the Bronx, formerly named on the "Persistently Dangerous Schools" watchlist.

The school has refused to expel or transfer the student who is now on a brief suspension at Morris High School and will return to the school shortly. Criminal charges (assault in the second degree) have been filed and police are looking for him. Detectives, upon contacting Bronx Theater to find out the student's whereabouts, were told by the school principal that they cannot tell detectives his whereabouts...

She has been diagnosed by a mental health professional given her by Victim Support with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and she is suffering flashbacks and nightmares from this horrible incident.

To add insult to injury, she has just been informed by the Department of Education Medical Leave Bureau that she is not entitled to leave, that she should return to school, and that her pay is going to be docked for all the days she has been out.

I'm wondering whether this is becoming par for the course, given the unspeakable treatment Ms. C. has been subject to.

Another city teacher writes a blog called Bright Minds. I don't imagine she envisioned the mind of someone who would threaten to stab her and then be returned to continue her academic career. The young student's "education" now includes the wisdom imparted by Leadership Academy graduates:

"Now that's not nice. Please don't threaten to stab your teacher. And it's not polite to knock your teacher out in front of the class. Also, it's bad manners to assault teachers with canes. Now go back to class and be good boys and girls".

Where would we be without such role models? With any luck, we'd be in a nearby suburb, where no such nonsense is tolerated.

It's incredible that administrators are so self-serving and idiotic. Protecting staff, like protecting students, counts nowhere near as much as protecting their bonuses. These people don't deserve bonuses. They deserve to share cells with the criminals they protect.

But that's not what happens under a merit pay system.