Franklin Schargel’s Blog

A new report issued by the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics has found that colleges are increasing spending on sports faster than on academics. Spending on instruction, research and public service declined or stayed flat at most colleges and universities rapidly increased their spending on sports, according to the report released by the American Association of University

The report is believed to be the first that also compares educational spending and athletic spending, over time, at Division II and III schools and at community colleges. Using data from the United States Department of Education, the N.C.A.A., and its own surveys, the association paints a sobering picture in its report, titled “Losing Focus,” of a sector in which the growth in educational spending trails far behind that of athletic spending “” especially at community colleges and Division II and III institutions.

From 2004 to 2011, community colleges’ inflation-adjusted educational spending “” on instruction, public service and academic support “” declined, while their athletic spending increased 35 percent per athlete, the report said. Overall spending per student grew 2.6 percent.

Inflation-adjusted athletic spending also increased, by 24.8 percent, at public four-year colleges in all divisions in those years, while spending on instruction and academic support remained nearly flat, and public service and research expenditures declined, the report said. Their overall spending per student grew 1.6 percent.

The report also said that the ranks of administrators and adjunct professors are growing many times faster than full-time tenured, or tenure-track faculty. Faculty salaries increased 2.4 percent last year, on average, while top administrators received large raises.

Sports play a role in schools.  They build leadership, school morale and a number of other things. But the question is whether the mission of schools, all schools, not just colleges should be focused on sports and not academics.  I have been in a number of schools across the United States, Canada, South America and Europe and have seen trophy cases in the lobbies of these schools filled with sports awards.  In a few cases, I have seen trophy cases filled with academic achievement awards. I do not think that the sports trophy cases need to be removed.  Rather I believe that the academic achievement cases need to be added. 

“What gets recognized gets rewarded.”

“Children, parents and educators want, need and deserve a safe learning environment.”

 These are the opening lines to my new book, “Creating Safe Schools: A Guide to School Leaders, Teachers, Counselors and Parents”.  The events that occurred in Murrysville, PA, a small (20,219) suburb of Pittsburgh reminds us of the tragic events of Columbine, Colorado 15 years ago, this month.

Parents send their children to school with the expectation that the children will return home safely. The killings in Columbine and Sandy Hook have changed the realty that school violence can take place anywhere. It has spread across the oceans to Asia, Europe and South America.  No community ““ rich or poor, nner-city, suburban or rural, white or minority, rich or poor is immune.

Please visit my copyright-free website, (www.schargel.com)  and take whatever you need whether it is the “Bullying White Paper or the Suicide Prevention material.

According to George Will:

• A Tennessee Judge ordered a family to change their child’s name, Messiah, because that name had been “earned by only one person”.
• At a Maryland school, a kindergartener was interrogated for more than 2 hours before notifying his mother because the child had brought an cap gun to school.
• In Michigan, educators forced a family to remove plastic soldiers from a bunch of cupcakes that had been brought to school to celebrate the child’s birthday.
• In Modesto Junior College a student, was told to stop distributing copies of the US Constitution until he had filled out the proper forms for permission to use the designated “free speech area.”
• The British education secretary said children should learn to add, subtract and memorize some of the names of kinds and queens.  The teacher’s union objected because it accused the minister of totalitarianism.
• There is a course at American University in Washington, DC entitled “The 50 Shades Trilogy”.
• High Rollers are adult versions of Big Wheels and are being sold for $600.
• In Washington DC, the Metropolitan Area Transit Authority threatened to arrest Henry Docter for the crime of unregulated gardening.  It seem Mr. Docter had filled 176 empty planter at the Dupont Circle subway station with 1,000 morning glories which the authority proceeded to rip out.
• Canadian relief supplies bound for Oklahoma tornado victims was stopped at the US border until every item could be itemized in alphabetical order and its country of origin noted.
• According to an article by Esther Cepeda, the new Common Core Curriculum calls for students to have 70 percent of their reading to be in nonfiction by the year 2014.  Taking the joy of reading from students.

I hope you had a laugh, as I did and remember Big Brother is really watching.

School officials in Montgomery County rescinded the suspension of a 6-year-old Silver Spring boy who they said pointed his finger like a gun and said, “Pow,” agreeing to clear school records of an incident they had described as a threat “to shoot a student.” The reversal, was laid out in a letter, resolved an appeal filed by the family’s attorney the previous day.

His mother said that he was playing and did not intend harm when he pointed his finger like a gun at a female classmate.

A spokesman for the Montgomery schools added that school officials recognize that “suspending a student is a serious matter,” especially in the early grades. But officials must deal with behavior that affects a school’s sense of safety and security.

She explained the school’s position on who made the gun sound. “The teacher heard him say it, and Rodney admitted it before he denied it and then equivocated about whether he said it or not,” she wrote. “Regardless of who said “˜Pow,’ there is no doubt that the student had been warned and counseled about the behavior.”

School officials have become hypersensitive about school safety since the horrible Sandy Hook incident.  But knee-jerk reactions need to be tempered with rational, thoughtful reactions.

My new book addresses this issue, “Creating Safe Schools: A Guide for School Leaders, Teachers, Counselors and Parents” will be published by Routledge on April 3, 2014.  It can be pre-ordered on their website, www.routledge. com or from Amazon.

Sent to me by my friend, Mark Gavoor, former VP Colgate/Palmolive:

Who is this sign supposed to deter?  Sensible, law abiding people, the 99.99% (totally my guesstimate) of us would never consider carrying any weapon into a public building like a school.  How about the .01% of criminals, evildoers, or deranged men that we keep reading about not only carrying weapons into schools but then shooting people indiscriminately.   Would such a sign deter them?  Would someone at the end of their rope, intent on doing harm, and armed to the teeth stop in his tracks by this sign and mutter: “heck I was unaware.  I guess I will just turn around and go home.”  Of course they wouldn’t.

A report from the Pew Research Center indicates that 9 percent of Americans with cellphones have used them to send a “sexual suggestive nude or nearly nude” picture or video while 20 percent have received an image (?),  That is a significant increase since the last survey in 2012 when only6 percent of cellphone users had texted and 15 percent had received a sext.

The numbers indicate that at least 44 percent of 18-to 24- year old Americans are participating in sexting.

What does this indicate?  Are we entering an age where people are using technology to titillate.  Last year, California made it misdemeanor crime to forward a sext without the consent of another person. A  Steubenville, Ohio football player was convicted in juvenile court of raping a 16-year-old girl but also of distributing images of the assault , his text message doubled his sentence.

There is a section on sexting in  my new book, “Creating Safe Schools: A Guide for School Leaders, Teachers, Counselors and Parents” will be published by Routledge on April 3, 2014.  It can be pre-ordered on their website, www.routledge. com or from Amazon.

The Obama administration has issued guidelines that recommend public school officials use law enforcement only as a last resort for disciplining students, a response to a rise in zero-tolerance policies that have disproportionately increased the number of arrests, suspensions and expulsions of minority students for even minor, nonviolent offenses.

The secretary of education, Arne Duncan, and the attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., released a 35-page document that outlined approaches “” including counseling for students, coaching for teachers and disciplinary officers, and sessions to teach social and emotional skills “” that could reduce the time students spend out of school as punishment.

“The widespread use of suspensions and expulsions has tremendous costs,” Mr. Duncan wrote in a letter to school officials. “Students who are suspended or expelled from school may be unsupervised during daytime hours and cannot benefit from great teaching, positive peer interactions, and adult mentorship offered in class and in school.”

Data collected by the Education Department shows that minorities “” particularly black males and students with disabilities face the harshest discipline in schools.

According to the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, African-Americans without disabilities are more than three times as likely as their white peers to be suspended or expelled from school. And an analysis of the federal data by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that in 10 states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware and Illinois, more than a quarter of black students with disabilities were suspended in the 2009-10 school year.

In addition, students who are eligible for special education services make up nearly a quarter of those who have been arrested at school, despite representing only 12 percent of the nation’s students.

Some school districts, including Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and Broward County, Fla. have begun to focus more on preventing problem behavior.

While I support the effort, changing school cultures from punishment to prevention will take time and will entail spending scare resources on training. Zero tolerance laws do not work because they take students who need the instruction and prevent them from attending class. Also, as long as student test scores drive the “improvement” process, getting rid of troubled students and not having them take high stakes tests are an incentive to schools to punish troublemakers.

My new book addresses this issue, “Creating Safe Schools: A Guide for School Leaders, Teachers, Counselors and Parents” will be published by Routledge on April 3, 2014.  It can be preordered on their website, www.routledge. com or from Amazon.

April has been the second most violent school month. Aurora Colorado School District is where the shooting at the movie theatre took place.  The superintendent of the Aurora School District has sent this to his teachers.  If a violent incident has taken place either in the community or in a school, what follows might be a good way to address the problem.

SAMPLE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. KEY TOPICS TO COVER AND SAMPLE TALKING POINTS Grades K-5

MESSAGE FROM SUPERINTENDENT BARRY:This is a list of suggested topics that we ask you to discuss with students and sample talking points that demonstrate the conversation we would like you have with students at the beginning of the first day of classes. Please adapt the samples to reflect your own voice and style.

The goal of this discussion is to acknowledge in the classroom that something happened in our city so students are not only hearing about it in the halls, cafeterias or playgrounds. Most importantly, the goal is to provide you with the opportunity to display your professional commitment to our students by reminding them that you care, and that you and others are here to support their success. With this conversation, we encourage you to be the teacher that connects with your students and changes their lives.

We developed the following list of topics and sample talking points in conjunction with Dr. David J. Schonfeld and Dr. Dan Nelson of the Center for School Crisis and Bereavement.

TOPIC: WELCOME STUDENTS TO SCHOOL SAMPLE: Students, let me begin by welcoming you to our first day of school. The start of a new school year is often an exciting time, and it will be full of new experiences.

TOPIC: PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH AN OVERVIEW OF YOUR CLASS?SAMPLE: NOTE TO TEACHERS: Please share something you are excited about teaching this year and what students can look forward to learning. Also, please review other class related items that are appropriate at this time.

TOPIC: OPEN THE CONVERSATION OF THE TRAGEDY. SAMPLE: Before we go further, I’d like to take a moment to discuss what happened at the local movie theater a few weeks ago. This tragedy may make the start of this school year challenging for some of us.

TOPIC: PROVIDE STUDENTS WITH INFORMATION ABOUT THE EVENT. NOTE TO TEACHERS: Provide students the level of detail that you believe is appropriate. Below are a few facts.?SAMPLE: As you may know, an individual hurt people who were at a movie theater. This man has already been arrested so we don’t have to worry about him hurting anyone else.

TOPIC: DISCUSS HOW THIS TRAGEDY MAY ADVERSELY IMPACT INDIVIDUALS IN OUR COMMUNITY WHETHER OR NOT THEY WERE DIRECTLY INVOLVED.

NOTE TO TEACHERS: Please address the range of involvement that students may have had with the incident. SAMPLE: If any of you know someone you care about who was at the theater, this can be very upsetting. Even if you don’t know anyone who was directly involved, you may still find yourself at times more scared, sad or confused. NOTE TO TEACHERS: Briefly share how you are doing: I know that at times, I still have concerns/worries/feel sad, etc. This event may also remind you of something sad or scary in your own life or something you are afraid of.

TOPIC: VALIDATE FEELINGS AND LET STUDENTS KNOW THAT YOU CARE. SAMPLE: I want to make sure you all realize that whatever you are feeling, I am here to talk with you.

TOPIC: REASSURE STUDENTS THAT OUR SCHOOL IS SAFE. SAMPLE: Another thing that can happen after a bad event like this is that you may wonder if you are safe. I want to reassure you that everyone working in our school is committed to keeping it safe and you should continue to feel safe in our school. Over the school year, we will have evacuation and lockdown drills to practice safety skills.

TOPIC: CREATE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR DISCUSSION WITH STUDENTS THAT RESPECTS THE PRIVACY OF OTHERS. THE GOAL IS NOT TO PROCESS INDIVIDUAL FEELINGS, BUT TO CREATE THE CHANCE FOR STUDENTS TO DISCUSS HOW THEY MAY BE COPING WIT THIS. MANY STUDENTS WILL NOT HAVE OR WANT TO SHARE ANYTHING.

SAMPLE: Because we care, our school staff decided that this was such a big event that we wanted to talk about this on the first day of school. We want to start by asking you how you are doing. We also want to know what you think we can do to help students deal with this event.

NOTE TO TEACHERS: After eliciting feedback from students, please continue:

TOPIC: REASSURE STUDENTS SAMPLE: Whether or not you shared anything today, please know that I am always open to talking with you today or throughout the school year.

TOPIC: EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF WORKING TOGETHER TO KEEP OUR SCHOOL SAFE. SAMPLE: Although this event did not have anything to do with our school, it is important that we work together during the year to keep our school safe. We want to make sure that you feel welcome and comfortable while at school. Please feel free to talk with any staff member or an adult family member if you have any safety concerns.

TOPIC: LINK BACK TO YOUR CONTENT AREA. NOTE TO TEACHERS: Please adjust this to fit your class/school.

SAMPLE: I’m excited to be your teacher this year/quarter/semester, and I’m sure this will be the best year/class ever.

My new book addresses this issue, “Creating Safe Schools: A Guide for School Leaders, Teachers, Counselors and Parents” will be published by Routledge on April 3, 2014.  It can be pre-ordered on their website, www.routledge. com or from Amazon.