Food fight! Parents have egg on their face in this one
I thought out-0f-control food fights were the stuff of TV movies, but apparently they happen – and too often at Berkmar High School in Lilburn. The persistence of food fights led frustrated administrators to close the school cafeteria this week.
Principal Ken Johnson sent a letter to parents stating, “We have had a number of food-throwing incidents in the cafeteria in the last few weeks, and as a result, students will be served lunch in their 5th-period classrooms until this Friday. All students will have the option to receive a balanced meal, just as they do when we serve lunch in the cafeteria, only with a reduced number of choices.”
Johnson noted that staff members monitor lunch periods and have identified and disciplined a few students for throwing food.
This is a parent problem, not a school problem. If you have raised a kid self-centered and arrogant enough to ignore teachers and cafeteria staff and throw food to the point the cafeteria has to be closed, I think you and your children need family therapy soon. Someone call Dr. Phil.
No school should have to shut down its cafeteria because a few lunkheads think it’s funny to throw food. (As the granddaughter of an Italian immigrant grocer who never gave up on a single green bean – it went into a family stew if it was too bruised to sell — I also hate to see food wasted.)
Come on parents. Let’s do our job and discipline our kids. This is embarrassing.
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141 comments Add your comment
Knows Better
February 25th, 2010
1:19 pm
This means that teachers have had to spend their 20 minute lunches baby-sitting a class full of teenagers, handing out lunches, collecting $, etc. Instead if punishing the culprits let’s punish all the kids AND the faculty AND the cafeteria workers. School officials need to take back control from the kids. This will never happen, especially in Gwinnett.
Southron Man
February 25th, 2010
1:21 pm
I wonder what the demographics of said school are? No matter; my three angels are in private school.
Jennifer
February 25th, 2010
1:25 pm
There must be more to this story than meets the eye. Sounds like a power struggle is going on and the school is out of control.
Just Sayin'
February 25th, 2010
1:27 pm
Southron Man – what in the world does the demographics and your “angels” have to do with anything regarding the topic?? Just askin’…
This is definately a parent problem. But unfortunately arrogance breeds arrogance and the culprits will probably never be justly punished. They’ll just have their cellphone taken away for a week. What? No texting?? *Gasp and swoon!*
Get a backbone parents! It’s easier to punish them NOW instead of waiting to bail them out of jail later. Little misfits.
Just Sayin'
February 25th, 2010
1:28 pm
1,000 pardons – I meant “definitely”. Fingers are typing faster than I can proof read!
Ole Guy
February 25th, 2010
1:31 pm
Principal Johnson, according to the report, has identified AND disciplined a few students for throwing food. This ole dinasaur would just love to become educated as to exactly what the “modern” means of discipline might be…I know Ole Mr. Carpenter (RIP) would have turned a few paddles into splinters.
Hey, It's Enrico Pallazzo!
February 25th, 2010
1:42 pm
Can’t we find a way to blame the teachers for this? After all it happened at school. Everyone knows that everything bad that happens at school is the teachers’ fault. Everything good that happens at school is because of the hard work of the adminstrators and central office. (heavy on the sarcasm)
Joy in Teaching
February 25th, 2010
2:16 pm
I’ve had classes of students eat in my room before due to early release days. (Brown bags all around.) It was horrid.
Overall, the kids were nice and all, but there were ALWAYS spills to contend with. Plus, I couldn’t just get a few minutes to myself as they were always wanting to “tell” on each other, go somewhere (The answer was always “no”), or spilling things.
I feel sorry for the poor teachers at this school for having such a spineless administration.
retired
February 25th, 2010
2:35 pm
You hit the nail on the head Maureen. My kids would be so sorry if the school had ever called me on this one. There is no excuse. Maybe the school should charge these kids caught throwing food to pay the cost ofcleaning up or have them clean the lunch room for weeks…
V for Vendetta
February 25th, 2010
2:38 pm
This is absolutely pathetic, but it’s more common than you might think. Demographics are not the issue here; however, I do think socioeconomic status plays a role. I have a friend who did some sub work at Meadowcreek–not too far from Berkmar–and she said that the condition of the cafeteria in the morning after the bell rang was nothing short of horrific. She would describe food trays discarded on the ground, milk and juice containers strewn about, and bits of edible items squashed all over the place. All provided by your tax dollars, no less. (Meadowcreek has an ENORMOUS population of free/reduced lunch students–so does Berkmar.)
During lunch, she mentioned several times that students had started food fights and were running around unchecked by administration (or teachers). After lunch was over, the cafeteria was left in a similar state of destruction.
I find this disgusting for several reasons:
First, although race is not an issue, socioeconomic standing IS. I don’t care what your financial situation is; teach your kids some RESPECT. I’m sick of poverty being used as an excuse to act however you damn well please.
Second, as I mentioned above, most of the kids are on free/reduced lunch. It is TAXPAYER money that is getting wasted and thrown about. These students (and their idiot parents) have no regard for the service they are being provided FREE OF CHARGE–by the rest of us. It is completely intolerable and just one of many reasons I firmly believe this abhorrent program should be scrapped. I can buy peanut butter, jelly, and bread at Kroger for less than $5. These people have $5, just check out their kids’ shoes . . .
I can’t believe people aren’t making a bigger deal out of this story. In my opinion, it’s a perfect example of the kind of garbage (pun intended) we teachers have to deal with on a daily basis.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. We’ve allowed it to get this bad.
“If you’re looking for someone to blame, you need only look in a mirror.” -V
catlady
February 25th, 2010
2:47 pm
Good points, Ms. Downey, Knows Better, and others. Teachers should not have to babysit these thugs. Put the offending students OUT of school, then expell them. Let them throw food at home. We don’t have to pay tax money to “educate” pigs!
ABC
February 25th, 2010
2:50 pm
“V” makes a good point here. These kids have obviously not been taught a damn bit of manners. And I am thinking that it is precisely because the lunch is free that they feel no compulsions about wasting it.
Will T
February 25th, 2010
2:50 pm
Wow! Maureen, initially I was extremely impressed that this post did not start out blaming teachers (as so many do). Yet, it quickly became an issue of race and SOCIOECONOMICS! This has absolutely nothing to do with either. I must say, I wonder if it had been a DeKalb School what the spin would have been – I shutter at the mere thought! It is exactly a matter of parents not doing their jobs!
It is unfortunate the well-behaved students must be punished along with everyone else, but I do applaud the administration for at least standing up and trying to manage the situation. Most problems in schools are easy to trace back to parents. Too often we attempt to deflect the blame onto the teachers. Please, all of us, please wake up – the schools and teachers are similarly like bank accounts and can only work with what is deposited!
irisheyes
February 25th, 2010
2:50 pm
V, while I agree with you somewhat about the F/R lunch, I teach elementary, and I know that there are many of our kids that would never get anything if we didn’t provide them lunch and breakfast. However, I think that after this, the students (all of them) should be given peanut butter and jelly, an apple, and milk for the rest of the year. (And turn off all of the vending machines.) You act like this, there are consequences. Maybe in the fall, the upperclassmen will remember what happened and start acting right. After a couple of years, I bet that school will have the best manners anyone ever saw. (And they DO know how to act. When I monitor lunch every other day, I spend lots of time talking to the kids about manners.)
Ole Guy
February 25th, 2010
2:55 pm
Ya know, it would appear that there were, in all likelihood, some added expenses which were the direct result of this student chicanery. Clean-up costs, mess staff overtime in delivering chow/retrieving trash, etc, would be an expense for which those responsible for these damn kids should be held liable (read that to mean parents). If this same behavior were to take place in any restaurant, all involved would surely face a helluva lot worse. Of course, in all probability, this won’t happen…WHY? Because educational leadership has become conditioned to fear, YES FEAR STUDENTS and PARENTS.
Perhaps Mr Johnson will display some intestinal fortutude in presenting the parents of these damn kids with a bill. Of course, the easy way would be to simply allow the tax payers to absorb this bill.
MR JOHNSON, I BELIEVE THE BALL IS IN YOUR COURT!
Chris
February 25th, 2010
2:59 pm
You know the ones doing this were thugs. Never fails. Always causing problems.
Sick&Tired
February 25th, 2010
3:02 pm
Definitely not a race thing or free lunch issue! I can’t image the things swepted under the rug that happens at non-minority majority schools. Yes, I can, my daughter attends one of those schools. Oh, the storeis I hear about.
I had two of those “precious little darlings” hit my vehicle with a ball and their parents didn’t think much of it. Not a food fight, but it shows the lack of consideration for the property of others and it’s reflected in the attitude of their parents.
cryin
February 25th, 2010
3:06 pm
its alot like the economy, if you turn the vending machines off, then paper money is loss.
sugarfoot
February 25th, 2010
3:07 pm
Schools are now just where parents send their children for babysitting. Times have changed, folks.
Maureen Downey
February 25th, 2010
3:07 pm
Will T, I do want to say that I don’t think it makes that much difference that the kids aren’t paying for lunch. I think most middle-class kids don’t think that much about the cost of the lunch as their parents pay it. (I pay for my children’s lunches with one big check each year.)
A co-worker pointed out to me that food fights get a lot of attention in movies, most recently in the one about roller derby. They are made to look like great fun and we never see anyone cleaning up the mess.
Maureen
It's society now
February 25th, 2010
3:07 pm
This is the state of education today and why schools are failing. It has less to do with teachers and curriculum and demographics…it has everything to do with kids who are raised with no mutual respect for others, whether they be peers, teachers, or adults. Religion isn’t the answer, it’s society and our “accountability-for-noone” mentality that we’ve fostered and allowed to run rampant in our communities. When people are no longer emphasizing manners because they are viewed as “old-fashioned” and seek to be friends with kids rather than role models, then kids are given cart blanche to do as they please and, forgive me parents, but these “angels” will become demons when given such personal liberty. Their role models have gone from mom and/or dad in the form of a living, breathing human, to the vapid, ego-centric people seen on TV like the Kardashians and the “Real” Housewives. Wealthy, foul-mouthed succubi and stoned-out, long-haired morons should not be the image that youth are trying morph into. Turn off the TV and get more involved with these kids and changes will be seen.
The pendulum swings both ways…perhaps with this recession blossoming into a depression and with our nation in crisis, the pendulum of accountability will begin swinging in the other direction and we’ll right ourselves again.
Bring back the paddle and respect will follow. When you start hearing “yes, sir” and “no, ma’am” more than you hear words like “entitled” and “yeah, whatever” you’ll start noticing a difference in our society. Read McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men and you’ll begin to understand the effect it’s having on the U.S. Yes, we’re a blended society, a melting pot, but respect transcends culture and should have a place in our country once again. In the meantime, watch the food, fists, and expletives fly.
Liberal Teacher
February 25th, 2010
3:12 pm
Its society now-
You go it but noone wants to say it because that would require too much work…
It's society now
February 25th, 2010
3:16 pm
Visit the Ron Clark Academy sometime. If you strip away the fancy surroundings and the unusual and innovative methodology, one thing in that school prevails…manners and respect. Once you’ve got those in place, you can make the impossible a possibility again.
I threw food in HS
February 25th, 2010
3:20 pm
Look, all you goody goody’s out there who think this is horrible were probably the uncool kids in school. As an adult and parent, I don’t want my kid doing it either, but they are just kids. They will do stupid things just like I did, and just like you did as kids. And if you didn’t do anything stupid, how the heck did you learn anything about life? You can’t read about that.
In my HS, there were food fights about once a year. For those who don’t want to talk about the teachers or administrators, let me tell you this, the teachers and administrators are not around during lunch. They eat in their own classrooms or in the teacher’s lounges, “taking a break from the kids.” PLEASE. In a work situation, cleanliness is everyone’s problem, and while at school, the workers ARE the teachers, admins, and it is their job to teach the children about pride in their school and education. Otherwise, the kids go into groupthink and want to do what everyone else is doing. But by ignoring the kids during lunch, the teachers are telling the students that only the classroom is a clean place, and in the cafeteria, it is a free zone.
I’m glad the principal has egg and mystery-meat hamburger on his face. He should be fired!
Adults, please!
February 25th, 2010
3:22 pm
How did this turn to an administrator vs. teacher blog. Everyone in the school benefits from a safe building. The ADULTS (parents, teachers, administration) need to to work together. When children make bad decisions at school, we all must contribute in the correction of that child. If teachers have to eat with students for 1 week, so be it. If parents have to come up to the school to eat lunch with their child, so be it. If administration need to be more visible and suspend students who are breaking the rules, then so be it!!! As long as the adults are blaming each other, the kids will continue to fall through the cracks.
When did a food fight become a topic on RACE… only in the South!
Ned Puddleman
February 25th, 2010
3:28 pm
Perfect example of a government run school. Instead of punishing the kids that started the food fight, they are punishing everyone else too. Why don’t they punish the cafeteria workers who served the food used in the food fight, the cooks who prepared it, and the farmers who grew it?
pj
February 25th, 2010
3:32 pm
Make the kids clean it up. Direct consequences.
Parent
February 25th, 2010
3:37 pm
Ah ‘Knows Better’, I hate to inform you BUT Berkmar is a Gwinnett County School!
John
February 25th, 2010
3:38 pm
I am glad my kids go to an almost all white private school
Funny how the kids behave there and there are no food fight or other problems.
Alabama Jack
February 25th, 2010
3:38 pm
Shut down the cafeteria and let the little angels starve.
high school teacher
February 25th, 2010
3:43 pm
I have found that the “entitlement” kids are the ones who start food fights – those who have everything handed to them and have no regard for waste or destroying property.
momnteacher
February 25th, 2010
3:43 pm
I threw food in high school: I am a high school teacher, and I am in the cafeteria every single day for lunch (as are my coworkers). Additionally, there is a really big difference between making mistakes and learning from them and essentially being a disrespectful, sloppy pig. I fail to see how having food fights teaches anyone anything about life.
Bad Karma
February 25th, 2010
3:50 pm
Hey just because “Knows Better” doesn’t know where Berkmar is located does not diminish the fact that he/she is an expert on doomer-heads throwing food. Principle did the right thing, teachers did the right thing, most of us laughed when John Belushi yelled “food fight” in Animal House, but in the real world and multiple times that would lead to just what this administration did. Those that want to make a race thing out of this – get a life! Surf the web for a site that matches your base mentality.
jayde21
February 25th, 2010
3:53 pm
Enter your comments here
Parent
February 25th, 2010
3:53 pm
I agree with PJ; and I’ll take it further, require the parents of the students that are starting this mess to help with the clean-up and if they refuse suspend the big monsters. If the ring leaders are suspended enough or their parents are made to help with the clean up each time in order to prevent their kids from being suspended, I guarantee you that there will be a notable change in those children’s behavior because those parents will get sick and tried and start beating their little asses!
Mom in Gwinnett Cty
February 25th, 2010
3:55 pm
I can not even believe what I have just read. First of all, I completely agree with “V”. Parents today do NOT teach their kids respect! That is why we are running into all these types of problems today. Parents just want to drop and go….not turning around to PAY ATTENTION to what their kids are doing, be it in school, at home or in the community. PARENTS – GET OFF YOUR FAT, LAZY A– AND TEACH YOUR KIDS RESPECT!!!! It is NOT up to the teachers to be the parent figure to YOUR kid. YOU are the one that brought them into this world, and it is YOUR responsibility to raise them!
In Wonder
February 25th, 2010
3:57 pm
Wake up people. We are seeing the affects of complete lack of respect for school by students and their parents. These kids know what they can get away with and since they know they can, will. There are NO consiquences to any behaviour – so their behaviour can be that of wild animals… their parents will always have their back and there is always a threat of a lawsuit. How can we be productive if all we do all day is worry about that?! We will just keep going behind and more teachers will take that blame.
Oh, and just because you had a food fight in HS or it happens once a year does NOT make it right! It is still WRONG! Make the kids clean the mess. Maybe they will think twice… keep them busy – out of trouble or making more babies. What is wrong with that!? They think they are adults outside of school… hold them that flame.
jayde21
February 25th, 2010
4:02 pm
Food fights? It’s a damn recession! With all this talk of cost-cutting and whatnot, those involved ought to be punished. There are stupid things that kids do while growing up and then there are STUPID things they do based out of arrogance, apathy and a lack of respect for people and property. It has nothing to do with race or class, though I agree with V that being poor should not be touted as an excuse for a lack of respect and morals, nor should it be accepted as a valid excuse. Hold the kids and their parents responsible.
Parent
February 25th, 2010
4:04 pm
ABC it’s apparent that you don’t have a damn clue; I can almost guarantee you that the children receiving free lunches are must more grateful than the children whose parents bend over backwards giving them their every desires. Those ‘priviledge’ children tend to be the ones who DON’T appreciate what they have.
atlpinto
February 25th, 2010
4:04 pm
Ummm … Middle School teachers already spend 20 mins eating lunch and baby-sitting their kids. Nothing new to me.
Todd
February 25th, 2010
4:05 pm
Is there a revolution coming? A food fight in my era (and it wasn’t that long ago) would have resulted in at the very least, detention, if not suspension for a number of days. I hope and pray that a revolution IS coming. It is time to stop pampering the kids AND the parents and take control of the educational system again. If the parents are not going to discipline the children in a way that drives the message home, then the school should and MUST take the initiative. If the parents’ don’t like it…tough!!! Do it at home and it won’t have to be done in school. Folks, we are raising a generation of apathy. The children don’t care, because the parents are either too tired from working feverishly to ensure that their precious offspring has everything that they could every want because [they] had to do without when [they] were children OR the parents are just do damned lazy to take control. The manners and social acceptability of the children of today is alarmingly poor. If the only way to your child’s brain is through their butt, then that’s the path you take. If your child learns from sitting and talking, then go there. Find something that works for your child, don’t give up just because “time out” isn’t working. Swat that ass!! Maybe a few times of that will drive the point home. It is the parents and only the parents that have crippled our schools and our society as they don’t want anyone telling their child how to act even if that child is disrespectful or disobedient. Get off it, folks. If your child behaves that way around me, then I will say something to him or her…obviously your parenting skills are lacking or you have not found the best way of getting your child’s attention. Punish the bad ones, not everyone!
Dr. John Trotter
February 25th, 2010
4:05 pm
Perpetual Food Fights At Gwinnett’s Berkmar High School!
By Dr. John Trotter
This is pitiful. As an administrator, you simply suspend the students for a couple of weeks. This usually always does the trick. Mommy and Daddy don’t want to have to deal with little Bobby for two weeks. If the student has been in a lot of trouble, move to expel him or her for the rest of the semester or year. You can’t imagine the world of good that this does for the rest of the student body. But, to give up and throw your hand in the air and punish the rest of the students because a few miscreants want to act like fools, this is asinine! Oh well, it just illustrates what we have been saying for years…the schools, especially the large urban schools, are out of control. The administrators are spineless. Jellyfish. And you want to base a teacher’s pay on how little miscreant Bobby does on a standardized test? Stupidity reigns in today’s public schooling process. The politicians, the state policy-makers, the school boards, and the administrators are complete bozos when it comes to running a school. You simply get rid of the troublemakers. You cannot run an effective school when the troublemakers are having food fights in the lunchroom and playing cops and robbers in the classrooms. Some thugs (misnamed “students”) are intent on one thing each day: causing as much chaos and disruption as they can cause in the school environment. As difficult as this is to believe for some, this is a fact, Jack. By the way, Berkmar High is another school which MACE has had to picket in the past. As I now write, the MACE Picket Squad is picketing the principal at Atlanta’s Douglass High School. (c) MACE, February 25, 2010.
ACC 12 Booster
February 25th, 2010
4:09 pm
When I was in high school in Indianapolis back in the mid 1990’s a food fight broke out in the cafeteria where the dropouts who were gangbangers and had been in alternative school at one time had all comeback to school before Christmas just to ambush the principal by attacking her with gobs of food as well as start a food fight with a rival gang. Inside the cafeteria the kids were throwing food, outside the cafeteria the alternative school kids and gangbangers were throwing bricks at each other and any administrator that they could catch in their sights. During my four years at this school some aspiring arsonists also attempted to burn down the administration building twice in my sophomore year alone and in my junior year the school had to be locked down and patrolled by the city and state police because rival gangs had attempted to overrun the school in a period in which one administrator was beaten and hospitalized with a broken leg and another repeatedly had her house and her car broken into. During this week-long lockdown the city police kept at least two cars and a patty wagon on campus at all times during the school day to deal with the heavy amount of arrests that resulted from the 30-40 fights that were breaking out each schoolday.
In addition to that, in my eighth grade year before I went there, the school had to be locked down and patrolled heavily by the city and state police because of rioting in which racial tensions were overflowing and rival gangs were also trying to overrun the school. Unfortunately that was nothing unusual for an urban high school in the midwest as many schools had that same problem keeping order as my high school had a long history of race and gang problems and kids with emotional problems starting trouble. Another school, in the suburbs, about 10 miles away from my school was also torched during that time as arsonists tried to twice burn down a new gym at that school in back-to-back years. I’m not saying that excuses what went on at Berkmar, but it seems mild in comparison to what happens in other parts of the country, I guess.
Get a grip PEOPLE
February 25th, 2010
4:12 pm
First, of all it’s nice to read that racist ignorant people still exist in this world. Socioeconomic status is not to blame. Kids being kids and not using good judgment are to blame. It’s sad that all the kids had to suffer and be punished because of a handful of unruly students. An excessive free/reduced lunch ratio in a school does not make it a bad school. Obviously, the ones reading this article only reads about bad things reported about Berkmar. Last, year I clearly remember an article being posted boasting about Berkmar being nominated for one of the top 1500 schools by Newsweek. They were one of a handful of Gwinnett County schools that were nominated and they ranked in the top 400 academically. Oh, I didn’t see the private school that the “Angels” attend or the predominately white school the other blogger mentioned. Bad things happen everywhere and only a few make the newspaper. So, start doing research before condemning an entire school and their population rich or poor. Oh, and for the true Southerners a great football team and attendance at the football games does not indicate the school is good. So, we are all entitled to our opinions but some people write from their racist background and not from a realistic standpoint. Oh, I’m almost positive that the most of us who are fairly well off were not born that way so stop degrading those people who are barely making it financially.
Really??
February 25th, 2010
4:21 pm
The administration at Berkmar is amazing. If these administrators did not do what they do everyday and have the kids on lock-down, the school would be in a much worse situation. There are tons of administrators AND teachers watching every lunch everyday. The problem is that it is hard to catch the individuals who throw food as it is many of them. If you have a suggestion on how to do that, please inform everyone. Mr. Johnson has the biggest balls for standing up to the situation especially when he knows there will be backlash like this. The program seems to be established to stop a problem before it starts. Food fights happen everywhere and obviously Berkmar will not stand for it at all. So, I think it is a good idea to nip the “problem” in the butt before it becomes a real problem. Get the details on the good things this school has to offer and there are some amazing ones due to the administration being so strict before you judge.
Maureen Downey
February 25th, 2010
4:23 pm
@Really?? I don’t think the issue is the principal – at least not to me. I think the issue is the behavior of the students and the need to go to such drastic measures. I applaud the principal. It does not sound like this was a single incident.
Maureen
Sally
February 25th, 2010
4:24 pm
I am an elementary teacher and YES the parents are the problem. I used to love my job. I wanted to be a teacher since I was in third grade. Now I hate it. Students are out of control! Parents will not believe that their little angels did anything wrong. I am shouted out, cursed, and totally ignored everyday. The worst offenders refuse to believe their child is in the wrong even if other students tell the parents what their child did.
Kayree
February 25th, 2010
4:28 pm
Bottom line…total lack of RESPECT. Respect for themselves (students), respect for teachers, respect for the cafeteria workers who prepare the food. Maureen is correct that this is a complete lack of “home training”..where you should first encounter respect is in your own home. Why weren’t the culprits or brats made to clean the entire lunchroom from top to bottom?
jayde21
February 25th, 2010
4:28 pm
It’s a damn recession! Every other day I hear and read about cost-cutting and budgets and lay-offs, now these kids want to waste food?Food fights are NOT learning experiences! Kids today (not all, but a sizable majority) have no respect for people, property, rules or themselves. Not all parents are self-absorbed lousy lay-abouts who taken no interest nor show any value for a good education, but as shown, there’s a sizable majority also. Kids are supposed to be taught morals, respect and friggin’ common sense at home! I agree with V in that poverty should not be used as an excuse for bad behavior, nor should it be accepted as such. It’s the teachers job to teach, not to be damn baby-sitters to high school kids who ought to know better. As Todd said ‘Swat that ass!’ I remember the days of belts and switches. When the the threat of a phone call or worse, a parent-teacher conference struck fear in to my heart. The behavior and it’s rampant acceptance is far beyond ridiculous! Parents who aren’t doing their damn job should be held accountable right alongside their kids. Kids won’t change if their parents are setting bad examples for them or aren’t showing any interest in them at all.
Teachers Underpaid
February 25th, 2010
4:32 pm
It has to be the teachers fault somehow, right??????
julia
February 25th, 2010
4:34 pm
You guys think this is an issue, go read momiana, there is a woman that proudly announces her lovely family farts and burps at the dinner table…
BC
February 25th, 2010
4:37 pm
Get rid of Time Out and Let’s go back to Dad’s Belt Across your Butt. Sounds like these children, and they are still children, need it big time!!!
Maureen Downey
February 25th, 2010
4:38 pm
@julia, That can’t be Theresa. I used to sit near her here at the AJC and she never burped. Maureen
julia
February 25th, 2010
4:39 pm
parents want to be the BFF instead of a parent
julia
February 25th, 2010
4:40 pm
Maureen, Theresa posted the blog but but mother was Jessie’s Girl…. we all were horrified.
Name (required)
February 25th, 2010
4:41 pm
They should consider themselves lucky. With the zero-tolerance crap going on all over the country, they should consider themselves lucky they don’t have National Guard troops monitoring their lunches and disobedient students marched off in handcuffs and charged with domestic mealtime terrorism.
Amanda
February 25th, 2010
4:48 pm
Just shows how spoiled kids are. Wasting food is nothing to them – let’s ship them to Haiti . Acting inappropriately is no big deal – mom and dead will defend us. Authority means nothing – same kids probably don’t respect their parents so why should they respect the school or their classmates. Let some of these morons throw food in an employee cafeteria at their work place and see how they would feel to be fired and not get unemployment for being fired with cause. Time to grow up!
ACC 12 Booster
February 25th, 2010
4:51 pm
Teachers should get ALOT of credit. If a teacher continues to show up and do their job in the face of a consistent threat of violence or possible bodily harm. In almost all school districts teachers, administrators and staff are told not to intervene in fights, but most do anyway because who could just stand there and watch while a student is literally almost getting killed during a fight. I had alot of great teachers especially when I got to high school that continued to show up and do the best that they could to keep kids’ attention and teach despite all of the numerous challenges which says alot about the character of most of the people who do that job. Seeing firsthand what teachers have to deal with from crazy parents to crazy students to all of the numerous out-of-school distractions that teachers have to compete with to keep childrens’ attention on schoolwork, I can honestly say that teachers DON’T GET PAID ANYWHERE NEAR ENOUGH MONEY for the loads of crap that they have to deal daily, especially teachers in public schools, or urban public schools.
Sarah
February 25th, 2010
4:56 pm
I go to Berkmar High School, I’m a sophomore, and I had lunch during these food fights. The food fights come from the same area of the lunch room everyday. So personally, it is just a group of stupid kids who like to throw food. For all the comments about the socioeconomic involvement in these fights…umm does it look like high schoolers really care? Race had nothing to do with it as well. Our school is one of the most diverse in the county (speaking as a white girl, I love this school. I’d hate to go to a school full of cookie cutter white brats) Our school has not always had food fights, just these past couple weeks. One thing that did happen last Friday was a physical fight in the cafeteria that sent one student to the hospital (he is now 70% blind in his left eye and has broken ribs) and one in jail for attempted murder. So yes, the food fights lead to tension and outbursts of violent acts. So the principal made a good decision in putting us on class lunches. It will only last a week though, and then the principal will talk with a group of student representatives in discussing how to prevent future problems.
Our school is fine, not a really big deal. So yeah, stop making a big deal out of it. You weren’t there and you don’t go to the school. Rich or poor, we have amazing students that go to this school.
-Sarah Stalsworth
Maureen Downey
February 25th, 2010
5:20 pm
Sarah, Thanks for the information. And I admire your willingness to use your name – something most adult posters here will not do. I think the tenor of many debates would change if people had to stand by their statements.
Maureen Downey
Philosopher
February 25th, 2010
5:25 pm
Oh, for Pete’s sake…can we overreact, or what?! Are these kids throwing food or shooting each other?! It is never the fault of all the kids or of all the parents. I’ve had kids in public school for 25 years and it’s the same over and over…punish and blame everyone a for what a few do. Sick of it!!! The kids who are throwing food should be removed, disciplined and suspended if necessary and THEY should be cleaning up every last bit of the mess.. SOMEBODY ought to have some control over the situation and SOME adult ought to be watching. But STOP with the every-single-chance-you get, ripping up parents!! I am SICK of it. I don’t care what you jaded, burnt outs say, MOST parents are responsible, caring, and try their best to raise their kids right. I say fire ALL teachers and bring in some with some love of the profession, some understanding of age-specific behaviors and with plans for communication and discipline other than to beat the hell out of the kid or throw up their hands and scream about parents if they are not allowed to!!!! FED UP!!
catlady
February 25th, 2010
5:36 pm
At my elementary school when kids throw food, it is almost always kids on free lunch because 70% of the kids are on free lunch.
Ms.Downey, i think it is particularly damning that this thing is a regular occurence. So the principal’s way of “handling” the problem has been ineffective, to say the least.
I agree that it is time for the pendulum to swing back. It wouldn’t take too much expelling students to get the message across, and improve the schools both by getting rid of troublemakers and by parents making it clear to their kids that they have higher expectations of their behavior. At any rate, taxpayers and parents of well-behaved kids have the power to DEMAND better from their administrators and the lawmakers.
We have seen that people can rise to higher standards/expectations. These miscreants ARE human. Expect them to act like it.
catlady
February 25th, 2010
5:40 pm
Poor Sarah seems to have no idea that the behavior she describes is NOT normal.
Philosopher
February 25th, 2010
5:42 pm
Maureen, I object to your assumption that the parents should have egg on their faces here. Yes, they should be angry with their kids…but one can raise 2 kids, try their best, and one will act out while the other is an angel. Kids do things with their peers that are not right and are diametrically opposed to how they are raised. Only parents who truly didn’t try to teach their kids manners (are you going to be judge of that?), or who object to disciplinary action against their INVOLVED child should have egg on their faces in this case. Yhe KIDS are responsible for their own actions and the parents are responsible for disciplining them.
catlady
February 25th, 2010
5:48 pm
My daughter was in high school in Athens about 15 years ago. She was taking an AP class and took a tape recorder to tape the review sessions. She was listening to the tape, and as I passed through the room I heard this terrible screaming and cussing and the sound of something slamming against something else in the background. I asked her what on Earth it was, and SHE HAD NOT REALLY NOTICED IT! When she thought about it, she remember that someone in the class next door had gone ballistic and had a fit and cussed the teacher and had thrown a desk against the wall in the hall. IT WAS SUCH A TYPICAL SITUATION IT HAD NOT SEEMED WORTH BEING CONCERNED ABOUT IT! It was at that point I knew the place was as much a zoo as I had observed on my visits there, and that good students just took for granted that that was how it was.
Philosopher
February 25th, 2010
6:00 pm
Sorry- THE kids
Knows Better
February 25th, 2010
6:19 pm
Parent and Bad Karma what did I say that would lead you to believe that I don’t know where Berkmar is? I work in Lilburn. I am extremely familiar with the area and the school. There are some great kids that go there and there are some truly wonderful teachers that teach there. Unfortunately there is also an unattractive element that is not always dealt with in a strict enough manner by the administration.
Will T
February 25th, 2010
6:26 pm
@Sarah – You are my hero! Thank you for clearing this up for most of the people with the negative and distorted postings here. This can and does happen in many places and, as Maureen stated to me in her earlier response, it usually goes unnoticed except in the movies. I certaninly hope that the principal inclides you as one of the student leaders.
@Maureen – I didn’t understand your response to me. Probably because I was not being critical toward you. I follow the blog and usually I won’t post becsue of the tenor of most of the posters. They always want to seem to turn everything into a racial discussion. Obviously, this and most of the blog postings have nothing to do with race.
julia
February 25th, 2010
6:31 pm
Knows Better that goes to every cotton picken school out there.. even the hoity toity private schools.
Marie
February 25th, 2010
6:41 pm
I’m a junior at Berkmar High School and I’m very disappointed in the few students that caused an entire school’s name to be sullied. Berkmar is a wonderful school and simply because of a few mistakes we’re being attacked. Berkmar won the CollegeBoard Inspiration Award for 2008, won the Readers Rally for 2010, made it to state in Wrestling, won best chorus in Gwinnett County, and is going to state for Basketball. Barely anyone has recognized any of these great accomplishments. Instead everyone pays attention to the few mistakes and inflates them. I love Berkmar it is a wonderful school with a great AP program and wonderful teachers. Mr.Johnson (the principle) was so disappointed that a few students basically screwed us all over that today he had a meeting with the leaders of the school.
These leaders were club officers, sports captains, and the top students of each class. Along with Mr.Johnson and one of the board members of the Gwinnett County Public school board we all sat down and talked about the issue at hand. We came up with great ideas to not just stop meaningless food fights, but increase overall school involvement and encourage the students to understand what a great school Berkmar is. People are so negative towards Berkmar the some of the school’s own students believe the negativity, because we as leaders of the school have not broadcasted our achievements well enough. But through the positive encouragement of Mr.Johnson and the board member (her name is lost to me) we have been encouraged to work even harder as representatives of our school.
Fights happen everywhere and little things like food fights happen just as frequently. It surprises that everyone seems to forget that. Although I think the food fight was the most self-centered thing teenagers could do; it happens. The fact that racially ignorant people still exist is just as pathetic. Berkmar’s diversity makes Berkmar, Berkmar. I can’t imagine myself going anywhere else and especially not somewhere with students taught idiotic racist views.
student
February 25th, 2010
6:50 pm
what do ya people care about wat goes on in this skol? actin like ya werent teens once(unless ur that old and dont remeber) cn ya just mind ur own bussiness? and let us be?!?!?
student
February 25th, 2010
6:52 pm
okay ya cn say watever ya want 2 say bt this “comments” are not goin 2 change us so SHUT UP and mind ur own buisness!!
Marie
February 25th, 2010
7:06 pm
student
Is one of the examples of the few that makes us get a certain image.
Could you try and type probably? At least try to make some sense….Ever thought that maybe change is good? And we’re a public school or business is “public”.
Marie
February 25th, 2010
7:07 pm
Heh meant properly excuses
Old School
February 25th, 2010
7:36 pm
It is very interesting that when trouble arises at a school and the principal gathers a group of students to discuss the problem and develop possible solutions, it is always the good kids who have never instigated or participated the kinds of actions being discussed. Why not a random cross-section? Why not a group that includes some of the guilty or at least some of their friends?
Over the years I’ve found that getting the troublemaker to talk to me and help me figure out a way to end the problem or at least change the circumstances that provoke him or her to the wrong action really works most of the time. I’ve had to refer only a handful of students to the administration over the past 36 years and many of those were simply chronic tardies.
I realize my approach might not work on a school-wide scale but maybe someone could try. Make the problem kids part of the solution.
Old School
February 25th, 2010
7:39 pm
By the way, I’m also for having the police pick up troublemakers and drop them off at their parents’ workplaces. A couple of times doing that and the boss will likely “suggest” the parents start applying a little discipline.
Limbaugh is Fat
February 25th, 2010
7:43 pm
Sorry my name probably offends you, Maureen, since you most likely have sexual fantasies about Limbaugh, but half of these posts reveal Georgia’s primary issues–people in this state hate the poor and disadvantaged. If you have never been poor, then you have no idea what the home life of these kids is like. Most likely, rules are not strictly enforced and “family night” is nonexistent. Yes, it’s easy to point at the poor and blame them for society’s problems, but these problems continue to exist. So now what, geniuses? Not everyone is raised like Beaver Cleaver. Sorry I talked about your boyfriend, Maureen. You could do better.
Fire the entire staff
February 25th, 2010
7:51 pm
Where is Arne Duncan? He can solve this in a Chcago minute… Fire the entire teaching staff!
Or every teacher needs to work an extra hour per day and 2 Saturdays per month on cafeteria etiquette—-The teachers are the single most important people in a child’s education.
Parents: do not get involved. The teacher will take care of this or we will fire them…
OK–Let’s see the “data” on food fights…
Philosopher
February 25th, 2010
8:51 pm
adolescent sarcasm will solve no problems.
d
February 25th, 2010
9:00 pm
The same thing happened at GIVE West a few years ago — cafeteria shut down because of behavior. Didn’t hear anyone complaining when it happened there.
Maureen Downey
February 25th, 2010
9:03 pm
Willl T, I understood what you were saying. I was adding to your observations as I agree that race is too present here. A co-worker and I were talking about this and he noted that race was an issue in his former state, Arizona, in many blog postings, but that it did not come up in every issue as it does here. He noted that race comes up in sports blogs all the time here and rarely did so in Arizona.
Maureen
North GA H.S. Math Teacher
February 25th, 2010
9:16 pm
5% of the students causing trouble for the entire school. Remove the cronic troublemakers and focus on the students who want an education. The 400 strikes and your out program just doesn’t work. If they can’t follow the rules and work to receive their free education, then remove them and do not allow them to receive any public assistance.
Competitive
February 25th, 2010
10:18 pm
To make a larger point, it is ridiculous when people howl about the innocent majority being punished for the actions of a minority of students. In all aspects of life, the actions of the delinquent few punish the innocent.
The message we all, teachers, parents, etc., need to teach is that you can’t sit by idly while people commit egregious acts against society. We have to try to lead people to do the right things, and be willing to testify against those who still choose to do wrong.
The “don’t snitch” concept plays a major role in this. I taught at Sweetwater Middle for 8 years, a feeder school to Berkmar. I know many of these kids and have had many discussions with them about the proper way to react to those who you see breaking the rules, especially in situations that could cause injury to others. Almost unanimously, they believe it is wrong to identify and provide evidence against others, even if that person has hurt or killed another. These beliefs are shared across all racial, cultural, achievement, and socioeconomic lines.
There are plenty of students who know exactly who did what, but they are unwilling to stand up to those people as a witness. Therefore, the educators have no choice but to punish the group. Stand up and retake your school, or suffer from the punishments inflicted by both the delinquents and the authorities in the school.
Will T
February 25th, 2010
10:31 pm
@Maureen – whew, I was worried! Thank you for the clarification. I do appreciate the work you try to do here. Everyone is talking about the kids, but the racial comments in these blogs truly deflect from meaningful conversations. I wish the posters would grow up and begin totake the same level of responsibility they want the “socio-economically deprived and racially disadvantaged” kids to.
lstudentl
February 25th, 2010
10:56 pm
As noted earlier by Marie, it’s quite depressing the Berkmar is being attacked and recognized for these mistakes. Mistakes made by a few students. It’s disappointing that instead of being recognized for the great academic achievements (also stated earlier by Marie), Berkmar is being recognized by the few mistakes in the last couple of weeks. I do agree what happened was horrible, food fights and a student getting seriously hurt during lunch, and the school actions in prevent these mistakes from ever happening (ex: the bag lunches, I personally mind it). Though those food fights and fight were caused by a few students, a few student’s decisions now represent our school. Students that put themselves (no offense to the student who got hurt, but I have heard the true story of what caused the fight) in dangerous situations and made horrible decisions. These student’s don’t even make 5% of our school, and now Berkmar is being recognized by these students who made horrible, dangerous (not only to them but to everyone around them) decisions. It’s very disappointing how Berkmar, a great school with one of the best AP courses, is being recognized and judged by these few mistakes.
In my opinion: The school should not be blamed, the school has done everything to keep Berkmar safe. Even after these accidents, I still do feel safe and comfortable returning to the school for the rest of the days left in the school year. The students should be blamed for their own stupid decisions, the school and parents should not be the scapegoat to these student’s mistakes. Although parents do play a role in a child’s life, the students should be blamed for their own mistakes. These students are not children anymore, they make their own decisions. Their parents have raised them, and now it’s for them to make their decisions in life. We are high school students, we should know better now. (I now understand why there is middle school. The passage to understanding and learning how to make our own decisions) Although still under supervision of adults, high schools understand how to make their own decisions and the effects of them. As students graduate from high school they have officially entered the real world. Not where they learn to make their own decisions, but where their decisions now play an even more major role than before. Student’s don’t have their parents following them everywhere (last thing I want. haha), because they aren’t children anymore, thus the decisions they make are based on their own individual thought. I do respect were you are coming from Maureen, but as stated earlier, parents and the school should not be the scapegoat to the students’ horrible and disastrous decisions.
(In advance, sorry for any grammatical errors found in my comment. Haha)
Elizabeth
February 26th, 2010
8:21 am
It is amazing to me that so many people think this is no big deal. It is because it is an example of what teachers go through every day. My child would never have been involved in food fight or any other kind of fight because she knows what would happen when I got the telephone call. Food fights are serious business, people, because they mean that people are
1. out of control and
2. behaving in a way that could cause harm or injury to others ( more about this in a minute)
3. refusing to follow rules and standards set by adults
I was a teacher in a high school in which a food fight occurred. A child on crutches trying to get her lunch slipped and fell on some slippery food and hit her head on the floor hard enough to bleed and to have the paramedics called. Another student was hit in the eye with a fork and narrowly missed serious damange.
It is difficult in a large lunchrom to immediately single out the culprits. And whoever said that students refuse to tell on each other is correct. In order to regain control , the administrators had students eat in classrooms for a week. It worked. Parents of self-centered littl darlings conplained that it was “not fair” to the ones who were innocent. I agree. It was not. But life is not always fair.School discipline sometimes has to encompass the whole student body in order to be effective. Parents ad others who complain that the innocent are being punished need to understand that in a large group situation that will happen sometimes.GET OVER IT. You are part of the problem. Unfair things happen every day. You are not teaching your child the realities of life if you try to make everything fair because it can’t be.
I have never had a duty free lunch so I can have my 20 minutes in a classroom as well as in the noisy cafeteria. And any student who spills, cleans it up.
I commend the administration for taking a hard line on this. They must maintain control.
And as for students who think they are not going to change– fine, don’t. But you need to leave school and get a job. Have a food fight in your place of employment and see how long you have a job. Rules made by adults are your rules until you are old enough to be on your own. You do not have to like these rules or agree with them. But as long as you are under adult supervision, you must obey them or suffer the consequences. Your lack of respect is why teachers are discouraged and feel they have no control over their working environment. Let’s see how long it takes people to blame teachers for this. After all, everything else is our fault.
jim d
February 26th, 2010
8:33 am
Just an observation.
When you cage an animal they become defiant and hard to handle. Teens are animals in a cage called school!
Meme
February 26th, 2010
8:47 am
Wow! In all my years as a middle-school teacher, I have never seen a food fight. Yes, I have seen kids throw food in anger and fun but they were taken away by teachers and made to help clean the lunchroom. I really think the fight with one kid going to the hospital and another to jail had something to do with the closure.
Sarah H
February 26th, 2010
8:50 am
Some of the parents who complain that it wasn’t their child are only fooling themselves. I would bet dollars to donuts that their precious darlings were right in the middle of the fight.
V for Vendetta
February 26th, 2010
9:10 am
Students of Berkmar and defenders of Berkmar,
I’m surprised that so many people are willing to dismiss this behavior. I’m not going to lie: When I was in high school, I was involved in several food-throwing incidents. However, they were playful nonsense that mostly consisted of lobbing ketchup packets or pieces of a sandwich. We were punished by having to clean and wipe down everything we had hit with our projectiles. Needless to say, it didn’t happen often at my school. (I also feared the consequences were my parents to find out that I was written up for something so stupid as throwing food.)
The thing that baffles me is that people are seemingly skimming over the fact that these food fights were so bad that they had to SHUT DOWN the cafeteria. To the students who posted here, I want to say that I understand your pride in your school. You both sound like high-achievers, and I can empathize with your situation more than you might imagine. The fact still remains that the acts committed by the (reportedly) few students who started the fight were bad enough to cause a school-wide lockdown. That is intolerable and not at all a normal, everyday occurence. Why are we pretending it is?
I disagree completely about this not being a socioeconomic issue. Do schools such as Lassiter, Northview, or Brookwood have school-wide lockdowns because of food fights? I would wager that they don’t.
But don’t bring race into the equation. It devalues the hard work of students of ANY race who choose not to engage in the negative behavior of their respective cultures. (This absolutely includes whites. There are plenty of negative aspects of white culture–e.g., racism, homophobia, and intolerant religious viewpoints.)
Some will call be “classcist.” So be it. I see a lot of poverty in this country, but it’s the poverty of the mind that scares me the most. As I posted on a blog the other day, it is not hard to get books into the hands of children. They sell them in bargain bins at Barnes and Noble, Goodwill stores, and the Salvation Army stores. Some churches even have sponsored book drives for just this reason. I read to my children every single night; it only takes about ten minutes. I’m sure people can find ten minutes in their day to do so.
Let’s stop making excuses. Let’s stop giving or asking for handouts. Let’s stop acting as if behavior such as this is normal.
Ole Guy
February 26th, 2010
9:10 am
Jimmy D, you’re absolutely right; your observation further “shows ta-go-ya” that the very concept of attempting to teach the vast majority of kids these critical thinking skills is moot at best and foolhardy in its very concept. Just like one trains animals to perform in the circus, kids need to be educated to perform in the circus of life. This education needs to start at the very basic core of knowledge, the 3-Rs. As I’ve often indicated, this 3-R background is the platform upon which critical thinking skills reside; without that basic triple-R grounding, one may as well be teaching those circus animals how to form thoughts of critical analysis.
As long as the educational systems continue to delude themselves and the public that kids can jump right into these higher skills, the skills of forming complex thoughts and arriving at real solutions, we’ll continue to simply push circus animals through the 12-year pipeline.
Philosopher
February 26th, 2010
9:21 am
jimd: I agree. And I’d bet any honest adult will admit to having laughed hysterically over Animal House. So let’s just quit with hypocritical “food fight means bad parents, means bad kids, means society has gone to hell, means America has mo morals”… and treat this for what it is…kids acting up as they WILL do, without enough supervision or appropriate discipline… and deal with it. I never saw a food fight in college-did in high school-kids screw up…and then they grow up. But only with appropriate adult discipline and guidance. Suspend them, whatever…but FIRST-make them clean it up!
dnt worry
February 26th, 2010
9:23 am
berkmar is 55% black 35% hispanic6% white 5% asian
Ole Guy
February 26th, 2010
9:37 am
Marie, thank you for your first-hand observations. Unfortunately, as in many group-dynamics, it is the few who manage to cast unfavorable light upon the many. Knowing that our futures will be guided by people like you instills that much confidence in me. Please realize that you, and I certainly hope many like you, are destined to answer the call of the leadership tocsin (consider this, for now, as a research project)…no easy task, but I know you’ll be ready.
Student, by sending to to school so that you just might have a chance in life, I, and every tax payer, am minding our own business. We’re depending on you, Marie, and your entire generation to do a whole lot better than we did; perhaps to make right some of our wrongs. I hope you understand that, Student.
Christie S.
February 26th, 2010
10:08 am
I commend the students who came to this blog and posted their thoughts on the matter. I also support the principal’s decision to close the cafeteria for a week, precisely because of students’ knee-jerk reaction to not name the culprits. Peer pressure works. While the students won’t “rat” each other out, they may be more willing to force their peers to knock off the nonsense before another incident breaks out.
John K
February 26th, 2010
10:12 am
My wife is a teacher at Berkmar so I’ve been hearing quite a bit about this. The staff backs Mr. Johnson’s decision (even though it is difficult for them), and understand that yes, all students are affected, even though a small percentage was the problem.
The vast majority of Berkmar students are good kids, and do well academically (Berkmar has won (or has been a finalist) a number prestigious academic awards and events in recent years). Unfortunately, there is always a handful who make a mess of it for the majority. Mr. Johnson is taking a strong measure to tackle that issue head on and stop it before it gets any worse. The majority of the culprits have been identified and are being dealt with appropriately.
And to clear up something from the first post. The teachers are not handing out lunches and collecting money.
Knows Better
February 26th, 2010
10:19 am
Teachers ARE distributing lunches and taking up money (from those few kids that are not on free/reduced lunch.)
Ole Guy
February 26th, 2010
10:34 am
Thank you, Johnny K…I am sure the reading public anxiously awaits word on just what “appropriate measures” have been instituted upon the culprits. As financial supporters of the public education system, and as “stakeholders” in the systems’ finished products, I am certain we all wish to partake of the public transparency issues. The answers to such questions may yield to additional questions as to whether such repeat events are to be expected.
jim d
February 26th, 2010
10:38 am
just a little fact—5% cause 95% of the problems in a school.
Care to venture a guess on where that 5% fits into the scheme of things?
Philosopher
February 26th, 2010
10:40 am
Betcha in an all white school 5% would cause 95% of the problems…so your point?!
jim d
February 26th, 2010
10:42 am
Oh they do!!
point is that these students should not be in general population or inclusion if you please
jim d
February 26th, 2010
10:43 am
Enter your comments here
Philosopher
February 26th, 2010
10:44 am
OK…in ANY school, 5% cause 95% of the problems…so when you remove that 5% what are you going to do with the 5% that take their place?
jim d
February 26th, 2010
10:47 am
send them packing
It's society now
February 26th, 2010
10:58 am
I threw food in HS…I hope you’ve been sterilized.
Teachers today aren’t sitting in teacher’s lounges eating their lunch. They are typically having to rapidly ingest their lunch while watching the kids during their ten minute “lunch break”. You obviously haven’t been in a school since the 1980s.
Philosopher
February 26th, 2010
10:59 am
Hmmm-interesting logic.
Philosopher
February 26th, 2010
11:05 am
@It’s society now: that comment to “I threw food”was unnecessary…and out of line-take a chill pill, change your profession and throw some food, for heaven’s sake!
Ole Guy
February 26th, 2010
11:41 am
OK Philo, Jimmy…let’s start hitting a few nails on the head, as it were. In our zeal to remain as politically correct as humanly possible, we have doubled the problem. If that 5% is all Black, the problem should be handled no differently than if the miscreants were White, Asian, Hispanic, or Martian. The problem(s) lie in (what else is new?) fear…the fear that someone’s going to pull the race card and “Oh my goodness, what’ll we do now? Someone’s gonna take away my sensitivity ribbons”. Have we become that weak, that unsure of our standards, both personal and societal? In assuming this “politically safe” ground of yielding to the race card, all we have done is exacerbate the problems of racial inequality which ran rampant in my hs years. In many ways, this “walk on eggshells” approach to social issues has had no small part in the creation and sustainment of the “entitlement” mindset.
Talk about teaching critical thinking skills to kids…perhaps our civic/govt leadership should attend those very classes.
Philosopher
February 26th, 2010
12:40 pm
I don’t care WHAT color they are-they’re still kids and I’m really tired of the racism that is blantant in these posts. We all did stupid things when we were in high school and foodfights were the least egregious of those things. Why take this as an opportunity to point out one’s prejudices? It’s just plain siilly to take a post to point out the obvious-kids shouldn’t have foodfights and when they do, they should be disciplined…nothing more should have been made of it…period!
Philosopher
February 26th, 2010
12:53 pm
Not walking on any eggshells, here- I don’t care what color these kids are- they are kids- period. Food fights…handle it as what it is-kids misbehaving…adults and do NOT take it as an opportunity to express your racist prejudices or hatred for the parents of your students. End of story.
Philosopher
February 26th, 2010
1:04 pm
correc5tion-adults handle it as what it is….
jim d
February 26th, 2010
1:12 pm
I made no mention of race—race is NOT the issue here. to be quite blunt–sped is the problem!
Christie S.
February 26th, 2010
1:21 pm
Jim D., what an asinine statement and how completely derogatory. Special Education is not the issue. If you are referring to EBD students being the sole cause of these type of problems, you are wildly off base. This stupid foodfight was NOT restricted to only “sped[s];” from the reporting, there were several students who engaged in the mayhem.
North GA H.S. Math Teacher
February 26th, 2010
1:25 pm
I’m not thinking racial or sped. I’m thinking terds and some of them need to be flushed. I’m hoping that if we are tough but fair with the current say 5%, then maybe in a few years it will only be 2% or 3%. In other words the troublemakers will learn that school=work and we are serious about work.
Marie
February 26th, 2010
3:07 pm
This is just a comment to V and Old School
Having lunches in the cafeteria was taken away not because the food fights were so severe, but because we have 4 lunch periods. And for about for about 3 days someone would throw something. It wasn’t an all out food fight more like, a cupcake on the desk and spilled milk.
Truthfully the cafeteria looked just as dirty as it normally does from students accidently letting napkins fall and crumbs fall or spilling food.
We actually have thought about gathering the students that are gulity and just random students, but decided to first make ourselves better known and make the changes first. We’re already planning to have a sort of crossing, but want it to come along after we get our messages across and are assured that a good portion of the student body understands the changes we want and what’s expected of Berkmar students.
Marie
February 26th, 2010
3:17 pm
To dnt worry
Just because your incorrect as of 2008 Berkmar is 38% Black 38% Hispanic 10% White, and 10% Asian.
And as I’ve walked around school the leveling seems to have evened out even more to probably 35% Hispanic and Black to 15% White and Asian.
I understand that race can play a role, but that role dims in suburban areas in comparison to urban areas.
jim d
February 26th, 2010
3:52 pm
Christie S,
Check your facts sweetie. the vast majority of discipline problems start here. hate me if you wish–but it does not alter the facts.
Angie
February 26th, 2010
5:41 pm
I am a parent of a Berkmar student and I also teach in an elementary school in the Berkmar cluster. I have been very happy with the education that my daughter has received at this school. She takes mostly AP classes and loves her teachers and classes. When my son was about to begin his high school career, we asked our children if they would rather attend another school and both said no. My daughter, like Sarah, has said that she would hate to go to a cookie cutter all white school. She prefers attending a school that is as diverse as what she will be working with when she gets out in to the real world.
Berkmar is the second most diverse school in the state. Nearby Meadowcreek is the most diverse. They are also Title 1 which means that they have a large amount of free and reduced lunches. This doesn’t make Berkmar any worse of a school or any less safe. I know my daughter feels very safe at school. Administrators and teachers are very visible around the school, especially at lunch and breakfast. With approximately 800 students in the commons at any of the 4 lunches, it is extremely hard to control everyone, especially when the student has no respect for anyone in authority.
Thank you, Sarah and Marie for defending your school so eloquently. Berkmar has won many awards which have totally been ignored by the press. Sarah, you forgot to mention that Berkmar won the state Academic Decathlon for six straight years and was 1st runner up last year. They have one of the toughest and most extensive AP programs in the state and had the only freshman AP Scholar in the state last year. So, for all of you who continue to denigrate the school because of this article, please do your research first. I am proud of this school and totally give the teachers and the administration my full support.
Speaking as an involved parent, I do think more parents should become involved in the school. I have personally seen countless students whose parents can never find the time to come see their child do anything at school. This includes sporting events, band, and/or any fine arts performances. I don’t understand this. Maybe the poor, misguided students who were part of the food fight just wanted attention any way they could get it. This doesn’t make it right but it may be a reason.
For those of you who think you could do a better job than the teachers and administration at Berkmar, maybe you should spend a week or two in a public school. You would get to see exactly the restrictions that are placed on the people who work in a school by the bureaucrats at the capitol.
North GA H.S. Math Teacher
February 26th, 2010
5:45 pm
This is simply a problem with student behavior. This could happen at any high school and Berkmar is probably a great high school. Student behavior has declined over the years for the reasons listed by many above. I don’t think it has anything to do with race, intellectual ability, or socio-economic situation. This is easily corrected if parents would take control of their kids.
Gwinnett HS Educator
February 26th, 2010
6:40 pm
I work in a Gwinnett County HS that has seen a shift in demographics over the past 8-9 years. Economics and race are making a huge impact on our school. In just 8 years our school has dropped from #2 ranking in Gwinnett for SAT scores to second from last. Students at my school feel so entitled and I understand why. They get free lunch, free breakfast, free SATs, free ACTs, free college application fees. They are offered college admissions and scholarships based on the fact that they are black and/or poor. Students wear their poverty like a badge. It is uncool to pay for anything. Students who have failed prerequisite courses are encouraged to take AP classes because they are poor and/or black. This is unfair to the students who really belong in AP. It is unfair to the poor students and black students who actually earned their way into AP classes. Is it fair to have lower expecatations of students just because they are poor and/or black? Why are these students allowed to show blatant disregard for rules and order? Because they are poor and black and we can’t expect them to show respect? Take a walk down our hallways and see students talking on phones, listening to ipods, screaming, cussing, pushing, fighting,…and this is during class time. But hey, they are black and poor. We can’t expect more from them than we can expect from wild animals. THIS is disrespectful-lowering expectations because of race and poverty. Students are not safe in our school. There are violent fights and gang activity on a daily basis. Our school was not like this 8 years ago when we were a middle class white school. I don’t blame the poor kids or the black kids for the decline in academics or behavior. I blame the low expectations we have of them. I think it is reflective of our country as a whole and it is disgraceful.
knows the truth
February 26th, 2010
7:28 pm
To “I threw food in high school”. You don’t have any idea what you are talking about. I work at the school in question and the teachers and administrator are posted in the lunchroom. Posted during the free breakfast (where by the way, there was a fight since the last incident), posted in the halls, posted at the bus lanes, patrolling the grounds. But when over 2000 students are divided into 4 lunch periods that is a mass of kids each lunch.
Are you going to wade into that mass of jumping, throwing, hitting and general wave of humanity to stop the instigators of a food fight or a fist fight? Especially when you can’t touch the students or you face getting arrested, sued, hit or fired if you do so? When you tell a student to stop an action that is against the rules and they tell you “You can’t make me?” I’d like to see anyone who criticizes the teachers or administration last a day in their shoes.
There are many great students in this school but there are a lot that need to be elsewhere. But you can’t get them put out because they get chance after chance to do better. When you have an entitlement mentality that is fostered in today’s school and societal system you are going to have people who think it is someone else’s problem.
For the person who said middle class parents don’t notice the money they pay for their child’s lunch, I don’t know what your salary is but I notice that money going out and I don’t want it waste because someone knocked the food out of my child’s hand as they were running to get away from a food fight.
knows the truth
February 26th, 2010
7:54 pm
And some other points,
1) YES, Berkmar has won quite a few academic awards that haven’t gotten much press.
2) It isn’t a racial thing, it is a attitude issue.
3) Kids won’t rat another out so how do you punish only the troublemakers?
4) A fair is a place you got to eat cotton candy and go on rides, it is not real life, get over it.
5) It seems like all these kids on free/reduced lunch have iPods and the latest shoes, clothes, you name it. Guess we know why they get free food.
AP student
February 28th, 2010
12:28 am
I am a Junior currently enrolled in Berkmar, and I have been there since my Freshmen year (2007), and my time of Berkmar, this was the first year I saw something of this magnitude. Berkmar has been misrepresented out of proportion, and yes it is mostly the immature students, not the teachers or faculty. I have be fortunate to avoid all these problems, and I have been blessed to have some of the best AP teachers that have believed in me and supported, which I know many other students in Berkmar would agree with. Some of my fellow classmates, a term i use loosely, because I do not engage in that behavior, and I personally think, in my bias opinion that if you witness a student be badly injured as the student was last friday (Feb. 19), and you do not step in and help to stabilize the situation, you are just as guilty as the person who inflicted the injuries to him. He is a human being, and he does respond to pain and has emotions like everyone of us. I am deeply sadden that my school is full of immature, irresponsible, and despicable individuals, who see school as nothing more than a meeting place instead as a safe institution for learning. Hopefully things change for the better, I myself have tried to provoke change, but it is hard to do it alone, but I have received support from friends but there are still some who do not grow up or learn.
Chris M.
February 28th, 2010
11:18 am
To the poster that said “I wonder what the demographics of the school are.” Why do you wonder this in relation to this incident? What is the relevance? Let me guess, you are assuming it’s an all minority school because this would “NEVER” happen in a mostly white school (or your precious private school for that matter), right?
Sarah Stalsworth
March 16th, 2010
7:46 pm
@catlady.
For your reply to my comment, the only “not normal” thing about the behavior is that it isn’t done by perfect white angels. We are high schoolers, who do some dumb things. Nothing is considered normal for us, food fights have been going on for a while. Physical fights have to, it may not be right, but it’s normal. Sorry it’s too thuggish for you.
Michael
April 1st, 2010
8:45 pm
“Food Fight Closes School Cafeteria” would NEVER be on the front page of washingtonpost.com unless there were body bags.
Courtney
April 1st, 2010
9:06 pm
Expel all the kids. GCPS now has a policy of just hug the thug. The schools are out of control. We need a new school board that actually cares about discipline.
Courtney
April 1st, 2010
9:07 pm
Chris M. – Well you are right. This DID NOT happen when GCPS were all white. And it woudl never happen at a private school. What is your point?
Michael
April 1st, 2010
9:24 pm
Some of my best food fights as a child were in the Catholic school (white, private school) cafeteria in the 1970’s. Oh wait, that can’t be right, food fights are a 21st century phenomenon?
Ted Striker
April 1st, 2010
10:23 pm
It’s a shame that a small percentage of kids created such a disruption. However it’s also a shame that some folks who show up to comment on blogs at the AJC are just as disruptive and disrespectful as ill-mannered kids. Except as adults, they ought to know when they’re being mean-spirited and divisive.
The offending kids may or may not be mirroring the parents, but they’re actually doing better than some of you in these forums.
SoConfident
April 1st, 2010
10:35 pm
Courtney, your confidence is awe-inspiring. There were NO food fights EVER in an all white school? There are no food fights EVER in private schools? I’d say show me the data, but there most likely isn’t any (although if you have a database of every disciplinary problem in every school ever that includes the student demographics, that’s something I would love to get access to….I’m a geeky stats person). And you know, if we expelled ALL the kids – then we would save billions by not needing a school system. You should run for the school board.
Reality
April 2nd, 2010
12:04 am
Come on everyone, stop with the racist remarks. I teach in a 99% white wealthy suburban high school. There are parent problems there as well, they are just of a different type. Examples….
Little Johnny likes to do his drugs in the gym locker room. His allowance is so large he can afford the “good” drugs. And, its not just Johnny, it is a group of a dozen or so. You can smell that pot down the hall.
Sally cheats on every assignment. She copies from friends, uses cheat sheets, uses her cell phone to look up answers, etc. Teachers turn a blind eye because the administration does nothing when it is reported. The administration does nothing because Sally’s mother and father are lawyers that have threatened to sue repeatedly.
Tommy likes to act out. He is very physical and hits/wrestles with males and even with some females. He even threatens teachers with violence. The teachers try to phone his parents….. mom’s phone is always on voice mail and is full. Dad is always away on business and never can be reached. Yeah, Dad responds to emails, but his reply is to deal with the mother.
White schools (public and private) have parental problems. They are just different.
Jahmar
April 2nd, 2010
12:19 am
Sigh. I pray that our society gets over this whole race issue. EVERYBODY GIVE IT UP ALREADY! JUST GIVE IT UP! It’s all that anybody seems to discuss in the media today. Everything is about race, race, race, race, race. Give it up! It’s annoying and I am sick and tired of this race obsessed society we live in. Dang. For people who hate blacks so much why do you incessantly talk about us? I bet you prejudiced and racist whites do not even see a black person on a daily basis. Let alone have any in your personal lives. No matter how much you think that it is true black people are not a monolith. With all of the whining people on ajc blogs do about welfare and taxes you would think that they would practice as they preach and look at the world as individuals instead of groups. A group with MILLIONS of diverse people all around the United States and the world.
For the two children that attend this high school… you guys make me feel so much better about the future of our society. I know it is wrong to say, but thank God that old people and their backward attitudes eventual die off.
Rant over.
Concerned Parent
April 20th, 2010
10:01 am
As a parent of a child at Berkmar I know that the kids that were involved in the food fight were caucasian and they recieved no punishment because of KEN JOHNSON! He lied as he often does.
just me
May 21st, 2010
7:22 pm
i,m goin to give yall people the real fact about berkmar. yall say its 5% that cause 95% of the problems. NO!!!! its 80% of the students that are bad is hell. i’m a student there i will know. the other 20% is the kids that get the good stuff and brightin berkmar up a lil bit. now out of that 80% of crazy ass kids about 30% of those kids are AP kids. and the way i would know is because sum of them are my friends. ya they are smart but they like to start alot of drama trust me they do. its like every day there its sumthin new going on. and 85% of the fights that happens at the school. The staff does not even no bout them. am not a problem starter at school but i do have my moments there. thats the real deal. no BS.
dnt worry
May 21st, 2010
7:31 pm
marie for your info thats 2008. were in 2010 now up grade baby. they school has lost sum of its hispanic race. and has gain students from west side chi town, new york and detriot. i would no i go there. also i now we gain lots of new students because the 12th grade class increased from 450 to 603. and out of the 300 to 400 new students that moved there. 380 were black. so sorry but u dnt know every this time baby. upgrade please.
dnt worry
May 21st, 2010
7:39 pm
and for concerned parent. they were not caucasian. they were black.
mines
August 10th, 2010
5:50 pm
but berkmar is 7% white
mean
August 15th, 2010
3:26 pm
for southron man. berkmar is 46% black 38% hispanic 9% asian 7% white
mean
August 15th, 2010
3:26 pm
with 3341 student
mean
August 15th, 2010
4:18 pm
and for knows the truth. thers 3341 students. not 2000