Friday, February 3, 2017

Baltimore Whistleblower Teacher Says 'All Systems Down' in City Schools

 Longtime educator gives an inside view of deplorable conditions and poor learning environment as city officials prepare to layoff nearly 1000 employees to address budget deficit crisis













this is terrible and Stephen Janis 0:06 reporting for the real news network in 0:07 Baltimore City Maryland the crumbling 0:09 Baltimore City school system faces yet 0:11 another setback school CEO Sonia Sonia 0:14 lisa says the 129 million dollar deficit 0:17 is due to declining enrollment and 0:19 generous future contracts the red ink is 0:21 pumped and cutbacks with layoffs plan 0:23 for over 1,000 employees including 0:25 features but questions about money 0:27 usually land here at North Avenue it's 0:29 the whole of the city school bureaucracy 0:31 with something isn't just bloated but 0:33 wasteful as part of our ongoing 0:34 investigation into the details of how 0:36 the city does and does not work we have 0:39 an exclusive interview with a city 0:40 teacher who peels back the curtain on 0:42 spending and reveals just how bad city 0:44 schools are before the cuts and he also 0:47 offered solutions on how to serve 0:48 teachers and students better we disguise 0:51 his identity in order to protect him 0:52 from retaliation that's even more money 0:54 that were generated by the casinos that 0:56 was supposed to be a lot of to the 0:57 school budget what happened to them 0:59 well as an excellent article by Luke 1:01 water from the Baltimore some point out 1:03 of the 1.7 billion dollars that has been 1:05 taken by casinos of a very little of it 1:06 is gone to fun increases in funding for 1:09 school which is where the money was 1:10 promised which shows the city is always 1:12 in a rock and a hard place we have 1:13 casinos but the the city is actually 1:16 experienced budget cuts since the 1:18 casinos have an open so it has more 1:20 government city you put on top of that 1:21 the tax breaks of the test which 1:23 technically reduce the city's overall 1:25 test value and thus reduce the amount of 1:27 money to the school get some skates 1:29 state based on funny mechanism and the 1:31 school system is actually suffering even 1:33 more now Mary Catherine Pugh just agree 1:35 to the consent decree that she was going 1:37 to a lot of fair amount of money for the 1:39 Baltimore City Police Department 1:40 what does this mean for school well this 1:42 again shows how baltimore continues to 1:45 fund policing but you know schools are 1:46 always secondary I mean the biggest part 1:48 of the city budget goes to police 1:51 fundings about 500 million the fraction 1:54 that 200-something million goes through 1:55 teachers recently the mayor said she was 1:58 a lot of 3 million dollars to hire 100 2:01 more police officers to patrol positions 2:03 meanwhile they're going to cut hundred 2:04 twenty million dollars from from school 2:06 that is not today it's gonna cut is that 2:08 the school has a deficit that they can't 2:09 pay for so it's a school system was fun 2:11 is 2:12 to the police department it wouldn't be 2:13 a budget deficit so clearly we're still 2:16 in that dilemma we're paying more in the 2:17 police and we already teach and now it's 2:19 good to our interview with our 2:20 whistleblower i'm gonna give you a 2:22 typical bigger than the bell will ring 2:23 many kids will come to class will be in 2:26 the hallway supposed to be staff and 2:29 administrative staff to deal with that 2:30 kids are still in the hallway are by 2:33 first second period glory small part i'm 2:37 in my room in the hallway there's no arm 2:41 censorship of anyway which are you know 2:46 what I here all day here 2:48 shit bitch motherfucker nigger all day 2:51 every day and every combination of that 2:53 all they be able to talk to the teacher 2:55 that way to the kids there's no 2:58 consequences for that arm so truth is a 3:01 big problem in and outside of the school 3:03 no discipline no consequences arm and we 3:08 haven't even gotten to academically with 3:10 the kids are so they trusted the I ready 3:12 to ask this year 3:13 ninety-seven percent of the sort of the 3:17 seniors we're reading on a knot on 12 3:21 grade level nineteen percent only three 3:24 percent of the kids reading our 12th 3:25 grade level any average grade level was 3:27 about 50 grade experience but they are 3:30 in all fairness they are over tested i 3:32 think it might play four weeks of 3:34 testing this year so we have these 3:36 testing arm windows which they're 3:39 supposed to carry on his tests but they 3:41 had all the kind of pretest you have in 3:43 every class in the beginning when you 3:45 come in and some teachers can see where 3:47 you are but they have already testing 3:49 can have HSA testing in october they 3:52 have agency testing again in December 3:54 the PARCC testing begin here also they 3:57 have Park testing again in the right 3:59 after the holiday with HSA testing again 4:01 then they have part testing and I 4:04 already testing and PSA testing or 4:06 whatever you just come down the pipeline 4:08 again in the in the end of the year 4:10 which basically destroyed the fort order 4:12 so it's testing testing testing testing 4:15 testing all the time and there's other 4:17 tests to this 4:18 and I just so that's a big problem also 4:21 so how does it how does it limit your 4:23 ability to teach me your ways to do your 4:25 ability to teach what I mean it'sit's 4:27 she first was a huge destruction in your 4:30 day and the kids are in and out of class 4:32 after that lends them be more truly 4:35 cannot be an excuse to wear around some 4:38 more just and I just gave you on the 4:40 reading well if you're all your testing 4:42 is reading comprehension so you know 4:46 that's left time for instruction the 4:47 kids are lacking reading skills that are 4:49 being tested for the reading skills 4:50 which we already know their lack of 4:52 course we know they're not going to 4:54 perform a hub jazz the kids are you know 4:57 and which is unfair and you can't use 4:59 other types of metrics because the state 5:02 of the city as invested in these you 5:05 know these products of princeton review 5:06 and stuff like that you know you call 5:08 this morning from all over the country 5:10 to to give you details 5:13 tell us about the physical environment 5:14 there's about rest rat feces and every 5:17 one arm from like not been taking 5:21 pictures just wouldn't believe the other 5:25 species everywhere so you know if you 5:27 clean your desk or if you come the next 5:28 day will be well species on your desk 5:32 again 5:33 oh I haven't had an open window in my 5:36 room for four years that particular 5:38 school man and I've been beautiful rooms 5:41 are so he probably will be no heat to 5:47 numerous days throughout the year or 5:49 will be blistering hot they were closed 5:50 school 5:51 oh so you're always cold in the 5:55 wintertime and of course the kids will 5:58 perform at all 5:59 no it's not like that there are lots of 6:02 kids truly an unsupervised and a lot of 6:06 our kids are very very challenged or 6:08 even example 2 3rd 4th week of school 6:11 are added come in we've been put out of 6:14 school I find out later a couple years 6:16 before his behavior the first day of my 6:19 class for five weeks into school 6:22 I'm here and she didn't have a uniform 6:24 after have to stop you on below or 6:27 uniform and the first responders are 6:30 fucking shoot you in the face for asking 6:33 for uniform and you know a couple of the 6:36 other kids were walking down the hallway 6:37 and they just kind of student his way 6:39 into my back to mark anything this back 6:42 them up like you don't want to mess with 6:44 that particular teacher said that he 6:46 actually wrote a month administrator got 6:51 him here and on the administration was 6:52 talking to the kids parents and try to 6:55 attack me together in my room mr. have 6:57 to tackle the boy I'm do away with only 7:00 recharging to try to fight me while 7:02 teaching class don't last of going where 7:05 they won't were worried don't seem the 7:08 wii u for me it's like yeah so it's very 7:10 hostile arm there's no line between 7:15 adult student arm they're entering into 7:18 groups are not supposed to be on 7:20 supervised will be in the teachers 7:21 lounge or teachers officer and was 7:24 computer always tell where they're not 7:26 supposed to be so we'll be opening how 7:29 you have those four outlets in offices 7:32 will be like open outlets with the 7:35 wiring sticking out of there's notices 7:38 in the main office about workers were 7:41 coming into work in school 7:42 careful about the lateness bestest but 7:45 if you look around the school there's 7:46 pipes that the wrappings off there's 7:49 holes tiles it's best to stuff the one 7:52 of the administrators offices the floor 7:56 on it was best style that had mold and 7:59 people were starting to have she was 8:01 already having respiratory problems some 8:02 of the other students finding that bad 8:04 up in vegetables we replace that another 8:07 story but in having that suits your the 8:09 proper equipment to bring the best out 8:11 of the air you get the idea of the the 8:14 world i was in my first on 89 years 8:18 teaching of a woman died of cancer that 8:21 we made three or four times the asbestos 8:23 level to the EPA adjusted and I call the 8:26 EPA made the principal very upset i want 8:29 to get tested again 8:30 very high level of specificity so 8:32 teachers and students are being exposed 8:34 to that kind of thing I guess have 8:36 recovered 20 years by come down with 8:38 asbestosis you'll know why write it but 8:40 yeah I mean it's that bad you can't 8:43 drink the water 8:44 you know the go to clean air and water 8:46 act 173 so you've got to be able to look 8:49 left and right in school and water is 8:51 free and readily available 8:53 you'd be lucky if you can find the water 8:55 jugs in our school because you can't 8:57 drink any of the water there are signs 8:59 that you can't drink the water but you 9:00 wash your hands with it and I'm thinking 9:02 you know pretty educated final swallow 9:05 it but I can absorb it through my skin I 9:07 guess that's that's okay to the lake 9:10 water right so there's no water readily 9:12 available because you're constantly 9:13 looking for water thirsty you get there 9:16 the custom be going there's no water in 9:18 the jug jug humidity place to go search 9:21 for water and of course that runs into 9:23 do you have a pass your class too much 9:25 is going to get distracted with other 9:28 kids in the hallway cause other 9:30 encounters that we have people to cover 9:32 all the hallways but always are clear 9:36 we have plenty of extra administrators 9:38 are not allowed to discipline anybody 9:41 has been literally get permission for 9:43 the avenue to do anything posted 9:46 suspension or anything like that they 9:48 can even had in-school suspension that 9:50 only can be up to 45 minutes because 9:52 you're keeping a child from adventure 9:54 education as they don't want black boys 9:58 do have or minorities in general 10:01 especially black nails to have 10:02 hydrangeas suspension official report 10:05 last week had black kids are suspended 10:08 for five times as much as what 10:10 so of course to keep this down is 10:11 whether we put all the violence in 10:13 schools we don't want to be known as 10:14 dangerous schools and Michael dangerous 10:16 city in the world you would think that 10:19 your common sense will tell you people 10:21 supposed to be rough know what is it 10:23 right now at this point you think that's 10:25 critical about what was going on 10:27 specific 10:28 really grateful that people need to know 10:29 they don't know i think that they need 10:31 to understand all systems are down 10:34 there's this huge amount of graft and 10:35 corruption of the kids are being 10:38 neglected to civil rights being charged 10:40 upon teachers staff are very stressful 10:44 hostile environment are there is no 10:49 discipline the code of conduct is a 10:52 travesty are the balls not enforce 10:56 people are not safe 10:58 I mean I could go on and on and on it's 10:59 just in and I wish it was just one 11:01 school you close out but it's the whole 11:04 system the whole system is that way and 11:07 you can pick up any random teacher and 11:10 bring them in here and they were 11:12 comfortable sharing with you they would 11:14 say the same things i'm saying so I'm 11:16 not special in that regard at all 11:18 yeah you said that you were saved by 11:21 school in some way or did Emmett area 11:22 can you tell me that well no I was 11:25 younger I was in the system you work and 11:28 I couldn't read in like a lot of these 11:32 kids I was tested very lofty was 11:34 reported at one point above retarded 11:37 especially the I cheat a straight which 11:40 that we start now 11:41 oh that's exactly read so that people 11:45 can hear will act out in some way 11:47 because you're she's seeing some 11:48 terrible home and make them special and 11:51 was kind of what was happening with me 11:53 are their locations woefully deficient 11:55 blah blah blah but they worked with me 11:59 on my reading and i went from either not 12:02 being read to 12:03 I think the first book i completed the 12:05 Shogun just like you know 10 inches 12:08 taking the pen creek so that it doesn't 12:10 excited and they and they worked with 12:12 you right so I was a kid that was kind 12:15 of part of the street been displaced you 12:18 know and and public school had activity 12:21 that was there from every morning simply 12:24 12 hours a day 12:25 by the time I got done with 12:26 extracurriculars and sports so I might 12:29 have going to soccer practice and then 12:31 I'm but it has been evening 12:34 so it kept me busy so where the 12:37 consequences this stuff isn't addressed 12:39 with last year this time the consequence 12:43 was the city bird you can't 12:45 disenfranchised people that you know the 12:48 kids might be woefully deficient 12:49 academically but they're not stupid they 12:53 can see what's going on and I think 12:54 you're going to see more what you saw 12:56 last year with the right you have people 12:57 who are are they want to do well we know 13:02 what the dead end I mean for years like 13:04 it you're telling me I'm not gonna make 13:05 it past 15 they don't have the skill 13:07 sets are they already have their own 13:11 issues you know obviously the the home 13:14 is just broken up in this country that 13:16 was coming up you know single-parent 13:18 families were the more the exception of 13:21 the North now the opposite the kids both 13:23 pair they don't tell anybody it's almost 13:26 like a stigma they have your parents for 13:29 people in your family that loves you you 13:31 know that you're taking care of because 13:33 everybody's got to be miserable your 13:34 misery loves company is coming that's 13:36 kind of the attitude buy less stuff so 13:38 I'm gonna make sure everybody around 13:39 means life is messed up 13:41 oh so I think that we created this 13:43 underclass of the majority of the 13:46 population remember any % e welfare 13:49 white people with long way people not 13:51 just a minority thing administration is 13:53 there to support us not to you know 13:56 people were shorter like big brother and 13:59 try to determine if you misstep in some 14:00 way and try to you know the weed out 14:03 those are the consequences of teachers 14:04 being terrible blame kill the society of 14:07 our failure 14:08 yeah I make the economist semester 14:09 making a kid just for from September to 14:13 December the in january i'm at this 14:15 measure class and somehow when they get 14:17 to me like that went great 14:19 it's my fault but your own life right so 14:23 it's like it's you know i'm going to see 14:25 the kids because mainly because you 14:26 truly somebody very few encounters with 14:29 kids somehow I'm responsible for 14:31 everything that occurred this kid's life 14:33 in every action that is happened 14:35 I think that you know you get into these 14:36 situations where the administrators are 14:39 possibly do not want to make a decision 14:41 to micromanage and so of course the 14:44 pecking order to come down the teachers 14:46 because they are being squeezed they 14:48 can't solve anything and not allowed to 14:51 have solutions any of the talented 14:53 principles under any CEOs get fired the 14:57 moment battle they can't be micromanaged 14:59 so they'll say be creative to all these 15:03 things blah blah blah blah but then when 15:07 they do the fire during you a newsreel 15:10 reporter on CNN 15:12 maybe what you doing at school lets you 15:13 know teachers do require the kids will 15:16 come out of juvenile detention and 15:18 they'll say school just like jail 15:19 Matthew come to school every day and 15:22 you're wanted every kid in the school 15:25 diabetic and their-their wanted with a 15:28 metal detector everyday their belongings 15:31 are searched and they are basically 15:34 friston wanted every day that we started 15:38 a very their search and wanted to school 15:41 if you're creating these people who are 15:43 ignorant of the world around them like 15:46 the skill sets to work you might think 15:48 about schools not college its work 15:51 preparing interactive citizens to be 15:55 part of the democracy in other words 15:58 they're in charge they need to vote in 16:01 Google jury duty you'd pay taxes don't 16:04 like something to be able to City 16:05 Council petitioner's counsel make your 16:08 voice heard and run for office to 16:09 support the body or right do something 16:11 about the surrounding the neighborhood 16:13 but what happened to the county there's 16:14 no heat 16:15 you're not in school they fix the heat 16:17 you come back to school 16:19 you know that last year when they had 16:21 that big thing about the 16:22 air-conditioning beginning of the year 16:23 we were dying in the world that one week 16:26 he had the mystery heat and dr. Thornton 16:29 who got fired then God are we knew you 16:32 would not last was terrible 16:34 no offense was terrible oh he said 16:37 nothing 16:38 we have a they have a you know just 92 16:40 degrees or 120 degrees by eleven o'clock 16:43 or something close the school just like 16:46 it agrees it's going to be 90 degree 16:48 right so we have no heat but all that 16:51 story came out about the county schools 16:53 without air conditioning unit up work 16:56 not a peep about baltimore city until 16:58 like eight months later old city by the 17:01 way doesn't have that you think about 17:02 the county much viruses you watch all 17:05 the buildings that dilapidated the kids 17:08 were used with the teachers were useless 17:10 if you have the power to make some 17:12 changes you can wave a lot and you could 17:14 actually get the mayor to do something 17:17 for you or you could change something 17:18 north avenue 17:19 what would you want to see change what 17:21 policy with you want to put in place who 17:23 would you want to see in charge so the 17:25 first thing is without discipline you 17:28 have no control 17:29 so if you're not going to force the wall 17:31 back to force the rules you have to make 17:33 sure the school where it's safe 17:35 you can forget me everything you're 17:36 trying to do and so that's the first 17:39 thing the other thing is i would have 17:40 real food spend money keep people in 17:43 their cooking food we know there's a 17:45 direct correlation kids behavior for a 17:47 lot of kids like me well educated that 17:48 was probably the best meal ideas every 17:50 day so these kids are eating well and 17:53 think what they are eating is poisonous 17:55 and toxic you got to change the food are 17:58 you also have to have convinced schools 18:03 like the extensions important social 18:04 work we should be a whole no health 18:07 facility in their school should be able 18:10 to the wider community shouldn't just be 18:11 babysitting kids during the day should 18:14 be adult classes the facility should be 18:15 able to be used by the community should 18:17 be administrative judge in the evening 18:19 that's the morning to make sure that the 18:21 school and people's money they're 18:24 spending this money that they they have 18:26 taken use the pool we can use the gym 18:27 they can read people to organize those 18:30 things it should be 18:31 community center that's what you're 18:33 paying for why you decided to come 18:35 forward and riding on cock but you know 18:37 for years we were always told that if we 18:40 share any information with the Press 18:44 reporters whatever you get fired which I 18:47 thought was interesting 17 that anywhere 18:49 but you were always very wary of you 18:52 know talking to people with something 18:54 was going on in school system shares 18:56 retaliation from way but it's just at 18:59 the point now where I really don't care 19:01 uh and people need to know what's going 19:06 on and the people do know i think either 19:09 you know don't want to do with it 19:11 because these issues are so pervasive 19:13 arm or you know they are intimidating 19:18 they go a different direction 19:31 this is program and Stephen Janis 19:32 reporting for the real news network in 19:34 Baltimore City Maryland







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