What has happened to educational priorities at PR Leyva?

How did the attention and direction of our educational process at PR Leyva get so off-track? There is so much focus on ridiculous, inconsequential things (PDAs, dress code, eyeliner!) that the major problems get swept under the rug! What about bullying, fighting, drugs, etc.? It's almost as if the staff and faculty would rather focus on the "small stuff" so they don't have to look at the important problems facing our students. The complete lack of focus and dedication displayed by many of the staff/teachers at the middle school level is despicable.
PR Leyva has had how many principals in the past five years? And the current principal is so wrapped up in her paranoid search of participants in a "conspiracy" against her that she can't even focus on educating our children. I'd say the little jerks that started the "revolt" have accomplished exactly what they intended to do ... distract and irritate the principal to the point that she's lost control of her objectives. While she's suspending student after student for "disrespecting" her, she's lost sight of everything else that is going on in the school. It's pretty sad when a small group of middle school students can completely unhinge a principal by simply sending a few text messages and wearing leg warmers on their arms!

I think Ms. Wheeler is a great principal! By starting with the "small stuff", she is creating a learning environment that is not conducive to fighting, bullying, etc.

You are obviously not a student at PR Leyva. The bullying is worse than it's ever been and the educational environment is worse than it's ever been. Morale is terrible amongst the teachers AND the students.

PR Leyva... There a joke. Yea, Mr. PR Leyva, I had him in school in my day... He was lazy, overpayed and let the bullys get away things. Defend yourself around him and YOU went to the office, while the bullys got away free and clear.

If anything I'd name the bathrooms for Mr. PR Leyva...

It was called Mid High, and it was no more or less than a prison, And that was back in my day.

That school is hasnt changed, the buildings have a heavy and oppresive feeling and it infects everything and everyone there.

(I'm excluding Ms Wheeler. I'm not sure if shes the teacher/person I knew)

The school has always been a bullying haven. In other schools students can find ways to avoid or get away from the bullies. Not at PR Leyva, everything is locked down, barbwired and disfunctional. Most of that problem started with the teachers. They did'nt listen, they did'nt care, and they did'nt look for the cayse of the problems. They wanted a paycheck and the work day over. My worst fights were in that school. My friends and I were jumped in the bathrooms, the school yard and around the school area. I cant see that much has changed.

Expect to see a knife fight or a shooting.
Don't fire the principal, start with the teachers and demand change.

Omeomi, thank you thank you thank you! I'm so glad to know I'm not alone! Wheeler is getting out of control over there. She has no regard for students' Constitutional rights. She bans books based on their covers, literally. She lies to parents about who was present during what incident. I have tried writing to Central Office, the School Board, and the State PED, to no avail. I'm trying to get the ACLU to continue its follow-up with me. I may actually sue her and Leyva and the district for allowing a hostile learning environment after I made numerous complaints. If you have concerns or you think you might have a legitimate complaint, send it to all of the above. The it won't seem like one malcontented cricket is chirping just to hear the sound of her own song.

BTW, Frisky, did you know that it is unlikely that a 6th-grader can bully an 8th-grader, due to the difference in age and maturity? That's what Wheeler told me when my daughter got in a fight with a little girl who had been calling her an GD MF-ing whore who must die, for more than a week. But that didn't make it into the file, or get put into writing anywhere, until we went for our "terroristic threat assessment" with the school shrink. No one asked. It was assumed that the older girl, my girl, was the aggressor. That's patent age discrimination, and it's included in my complaint to the ACLU.

Wow! I want you to know I am pleased with the changes I am seeing at the Junior High! Mrs. Wheeler has excellent control and great leadership! I am proud of her for sticking to policy and leading change.

Mr. Leyva was a phenomenal teacher! He prepared students well for college. He was an excellent leader in the after school program!

I am pleased to see change is happening at PR.

EXCELLENT CONTROL?!?!? Over whom? Certainly not the students, teachers, nor herself. She is completely "over her head" in this job and needs to go back to dealing with grade school kids. Obviously she doesn't understand that you can't be a militant and still relate to kids this age ... they just rebel. Yes, realistic rules and goals need to be set and students must understand the consequences of failing to follow the rules/meet the goals, but you cannot dictate to, belittle, or threaten pre-teens/teens and expect them to respect you or listen to you!

Phenomal Woman, I have no desire to file a lawsuit or pursue any other legal means with the principal at PR Leyva (or anyone else, for that matter.)(I think frivolous lawsuits are a HUGE problem in this country!) I've not witnessed her "lying" (as you mentioned in your letter) nor doing anything illegal. She's not a bad person, she's just fighting a losing battle in this position (and I'm sure she's feeling the strain.) I just think she's a poor choice and an ineffective administrator for a school that deals with such a diverse population of students within a very difficult age group. It's going to take a special person ~ one with tons of experience and tons of patience ~ to straighten out the situation at PR.(You couldn't pay me enough to work at the middle school level!)

little kids need "patience", not smart-assed middle schoolers. They need a firm hand.

The problem is the frigging parents who won't discipline their offspring. Right after they renamed that school, it became kind of like East Side High in that movie about principal "Crazy Joe". They have to live up to the rebellious, non compliance attitude. They should rename the school for starters, and make the parents responsible for their heathen kids actions. Or maybe it will take a parent kicking the sh*t out of the bullies to get any action.

Spica wrote:

The problem is the frigging parents who won't discipline their offspring. They have to live up to the rebellious, non compliance attitude.

The locals need to hire a PI and let them gather information on the school trouble makers.

Then the school can go directly to the parents and have the county hold them accountable...

At that point the Law can step in if needed and the parents can either fix the problem or go to jail.

Parents in Jail means no money for bills, no rent, no car, no food.

See how long that lasts...

Control is entirely the problem. Kids can't wear all black -- but she can? Kids get three days detention for a spit-for-distance contest? Kids aren't allowed to read a Bible to themselves between classes? Kids can't wear arm-warmers without getting a referral, for God's sake? I have no interest in a lawsuit either, but I'm sick and bloody tired of the district giving absolute power to the principals and forgetting who they're supposed to be serving.

I have been readings phenomenalwoman's complaints about PR for quite sometime now. She might indeed have a legitimant complaint. Hmmmmmm, kids wearing all black, so you got one of those children (not Silver and Black, wearing Silver and Black is way cool, JUST WIN BABY!).
I have posted to you earlier that children do not have constitutional freedoms as do adults, and this seems to be a sticking point with you. It just might be good for your child to learn to adjust to a an enviroment that he or she is not comfortable in. In any case,if your grievances are not be suitably taken care of, why not take up a civil suit with either the Principal or the child doing the bulling.

I'll tell you what I tell my kids when they complain about my strict rules--kids don't have rights in my house!

Spica... Friggin? Sh*t?... you are EXACTLY the type of parent that seems to be the genesis of many of the problems! I suppose you've taught your kids to talk that way and kick the sh*t out of people, huh? What a fine example....

Spica wrote:

The problem is the frigging parents who won't discipline their offspring. Right after they renamed that school, it became kind of like East Side High in that movie about principal "Crazy Joe". They have to live up to the rebellious, non compliance attitude. They should rename the school for starters, and make the parents responsible for their heathen kids actions. Or maybe it will take a parent kicking the sh*t out of the bullies to get any action.

Dating myself here but back when we had corporal punishment (SWATS) there was less of the problem... at least with the borderline students.

It DOES help to have the Bullies know that the parents are involved... It makes them think twice and play it cagey. They know they can have the cops called on them, and they know the parents know whats going on.

Granted you dont want parents fighting the bullies, but then teacher, principal and parents of all involved means the bullies days are numbered. Say 3-5 adults confronting the bullies and laying down the law and punishing them will stop some of this problem.

Hopefully before some one really gets hurt.

"children do not have constitutional freedoms as do adults"

Bull. The 14th Amendment protects school children just like it does everyone else, at least according to the case law I've read. EVERY person who is accused of a crime -- not a school policy violation but a bona fide criminal act -- is entitled to be read the Miranda and to have counsel present during questioning by law enforcement (i.e. the actual POLICE OFFICERS -- not school distict employees -- who are in place in the schools). Minor children are entitled to have the CUSTODIAL guardian present in those instances. And "in loco parentis" does not apply in cases where there is a confict of interest, like when a school official is trying to act as both accuser and advocate. That's like the prosecutor and the defense attorney being the same person. My daughter stood accused of a fourth-degree felony and NO ONE called me until after the recommendation that she be charged was written up (which didn't go anywhere once I pointed out that she was never advised of her rights). She could have potentially been locked up in juvie for five years...and she was not read her rights by the deputy, EVER, and she was not given proper counsel and she was not allowed to have her custodial guardian present. I don't know why no one but me finds that disturbing.

And I'm sorry if I offend anyone, but I don't just hand over my authority over my children to others on the basis of the title of Principal. If that works for others, good I guess, but I don't know those people. On another thread about sex abuse, someone said, what were the parents thinking, letting their kids be with that person if he wasn't a family member, didn't they realize the danger? Well, I don't have any family in CMS. But because it's The School, I should just blindly toss my kids in and let those people run roughshod over them? Sorry again, but that just doesn't track for me.

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AT SCHOOL
Students do not set aside their constitutional rights when they walk into school. However, those rights are balanced against school administrators' disciplinary authority and the civic responsibilities of students. Children facing suspension from school must be given hearings, but those hearings need not amount to formal trials.

The rules regarding search and seizure also apply differently to schoolchildren. School officials are free to search a student if there is evidence that the student committed a crime or violated a school rule, and if the search is reasonable at the outset and reasonably limited in scope.

The juvenile justice system is cited by some experts as an area where the protections granted to children lag behind those provided to adults. For example, children may be detained in situations where adults would not be.

One 1993 study of constitutional decisions concluded that from the 1960s to the early 1990s, the U.S. Supreme Court was increasingly less supportive of expanding children's claims to constitutional rights.

I never said she was improperly searched. I said she was improperly questioned. And there was no "hearing." There was a decision made of which I was notified after the fact. There was no person there whose sole interest was representing and protecting the rights of my daughter. She was legally entitled to representation and the presence of a custodial guardian and she was denied those rights. Period. And if ti's happening to my kid, you can bet it's happening to others' kids too.

I do have the right to advocate for my child, whether she's in the right or in the wrong, regardless of geographical location. I defy any School Official to tell me I don't.

phenomenalwoman wrote:

I do have the right to advocate for my child, whether she's in the right or in the wrong, regardless of geographical location. I defy any School Official to tell me I don't.

Agreed, I had a similar situation at the High School where I explained my specific reasons for not accepting their punishment. I was told tough, It's happening... I pick up the phone and called my Parent who told the then Asst. Principal if he layed a hand on me I had full blessing to defend myself in anyway I saw fit.

Needless to say, the Asst. Principal backed down and I spent time in Detention.

I did my time, but there are Still Somethings I will not permit.