GREENE – Sandy Laliberte and other parents are worried that behavioral problems – spitting, swearing and hitting – among first-graders last year will continue this fall.
Laliberte, who volunteered in a first-grade classroom last year, has threatened to pull her daughter from Greene Central School if the problems persist.
“I’ve never seen this level of disrespect before, or the amount of children who have this kind of disrespect,” Laliberte said.
She estimated that about a dozen of the 38 first-graders, divided into two classes, were unruly at school.
She and other parents have asked for help. On June 29, she told the school board she had serious concerns about her daughter’s academic, emotional and physical well-being. On Aug. 1, the school principal is scheduled to give the school board an update.
Laliberte has asked officials to hire a third teacher for this fall’s second-graders.
Superintendent Thomas Hanson said that’s not going to happen.
“We’re not going to hire a third teacher, given the fact there are many other situations (in which) we could say it might be better to have small groups,” Hanson said.
But the school will gain a literacy specialist, who will spend 60 to 90 minutes a day working with each class, Hanson said. That will provide extra help.
Hanson insists the school has addressed the bad behavior, and there’s been improvement.
“Students may have acted inappropriately,” but there were consequences, Hanson said.
He said he visited classrooms and did not see any physically inappropriate behavior. The school had its hands full with an above-average number of first-graders with behavioral issues, but not to the point of concern for safety, he said.
However, Principal Thomas Martellone wrote in a letter to parents in April that “student behaviors have seriously affected the learning and safety of others while the teachers have been absent and substitutes have covered.”
Despite high levels of intervention, the behavior was so persistent that Martellone issued a warning to parents that they would be called to pick up misbehaving children.
Steps taken
The school also took several steps to improve behavior. Teachers and administrators:
• Segregated some first-graders on the playground during recess. Some had to stay at certain spots, such as the swings or the basketball court, so that teachers could keep a special eye on them.
• Taught kids how to behave in school.
• Sent unruly children to the principal’s office where they worked in isolation. When they were ready to follow rules, they were returned to class.
Once those steps were taken, the situation improved, Hanson said. Several kids had to learn how to act in school. By June, they had a clearer understanding.
“They’re first-graders,” he said. “They’re very young. They are in need of people to set examples and teach them this.”
They’ll stare you down’
Laliberte and other parents disagree there’s been significant improvement. In May, Laliberte saw three kids being hit by classmates within one hour, she said.
The students are intelligent but have no respect, she said. If they stand on a chair and are asked to get down, they’ll say “no,” Laliberte said. “They’ll stare you down, not do what you ask, refuse to comply.” Being sent to the principal’s office is no big deal, she said.
The teachers were excellent, but the students were more then they could handle, she said.
Theresa Godfrey, who volunteered in her son’s first-grade classroom last year, said unruly students there “have been a long-standing issue since kindergarten. My son’s been spit on. He’s been pushed. I’ve witnessed physical violence among students.”
Other first-grade parents agreed that behavioral problems are an issue in their children’s classes. One mother said she’s considered home schooling her child. Still others disagreed, saying they’re not at all worried about their children’s education or safety.
Godfrey, who works as a teaching assistant in Lewiston, said she’s attended school or sports events and has seen the same students misbehaving in front of their parents. Often the parents paid little attention or told their children to stop in a tone that implied there’d be no consequences, she said.
“They just sit there,” Godfrey said.
Children need structure
Part of the problem is that society and families have changed, Superintendent Hanson said.
When his daughter was a girl, she knew a certain level of respect and behavior was expected of her in school or she’d be in trouble with her parents.
“That’s not always the case today,” Hanson said. Parents will often tell their children what’s correct, but if they don’t back that up with enforcement, it can make the behavior worse. No consequences tells children they don’t have to follow what adults say, he said.
That’s why Greene educators have been challenged by the group of students, Hanson said. “They may be lovable, bright, but they’re not always having the same set of expectations reinforced outside the school setting.”
And school officials can’t tell unruly students not to come to school.
“No Child Left Behind says you’re going to take every single kid who comes through that door,” Hanson said. “You’re going to take them to high levels of academic progress. There’s an expectation today you will work with all children.”
When students act out, they’re not “out,” Hanson said. “We’ve got to find some other method to try to make this work.”
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