I live near Charleston, South Carolina. The big story in Charleston right now is a local middle school where teachers are complaining that school administrators aren't listening to their complaints. The story was picked up in the upstate of South Carolina (here) and in North Carolina. There is a lot more to the story than what is portrayed in the initial news reports. The Charleston Post and Courier has been publishing follow up stories, but registration is required, so I didn't link to them. Basically, the school principal has responded that the teachers need to learn how to control these inner city children. The same thing is being said by the superintendent, that these students are difficult but that it's not their fault.

I'm torn on this one. Yes, students cannot be held responsible for their actions (although this is a middle school so these students are beginning to enter the realm of responsibility). Yes, teachers need to be responsible for the safety and operation of their classroom. However, the school administration does need to be responsive to teachers who ask for help. Office referrals should be followed up on. Teachers should be supported, not ostracized. Administration needs to be very careful to help staff, not support an uprising against "bad" teachers.

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I weighed myself and was surprised to see that I lost a couple of pounds. The graph should start to look better now that I'm keeping up with it. I wonder what will happen when we roll into May.