Thread by @educatedandfree

Here's how you know public school is dead:

I had dinner with an old teacher friend the other day. She's noticeably exhausted. She tried not to talk shop, but kept drifting back. Several students popped up repeatedly in her narrative. The stories were all the same, at root. 1/

These kids have storied pasts. Nothing the school tries changes their behavior in any way. They've held multiple interventions following their MTSS (aka RTI, aka PBIS) plan. Multiple pros are involved: counselors, psychs, speech-language paths, teachers, and principals. 2/

Every teacher seems to be following the discipline protocol at the site, given the records in the Student Info System. The paper side is filled out and sent home. This takes a significant chunk of time out of my friend's day, as well as her colleagues. 3/

Parent dutifully signs every behavior report that is sent home. Kids return them to the issuing teacher but, clearly, parents have a "let them eat cake" attitude toward the school. Other than signing forms, the kid's behavior at school is not their problem. 4/

And yet the disruptions to EVERY class continue, costing 30+ other kids incalculable amounts of learning. The behavior slips keep getting sent home. Parents keep signing and returning them. The interventionists intervene and have long quasi-therapeutic sessions with the child. 5/

Right now you're thinking: just kick these brats out. Logical, except the school can't: all of this madness is MANDATED. Suspensions are strongly discouraged by the state, but irrelevant since California has outlawed suspensions for defiance, which means no expulsions either. 6/

One child in a class of 500 gets a huge proportion of support, even though there is no follow-up at home, effectively undermining any intervention on-site, to the detriment of the other students in her classes and the ones who see the impotence and injustice in the system. 7/

If you think the kids don't notice it, you've got another think coming. They see rules don't matter. They see there are no consequences. They watch some students be privileged & babied while others who need help slowly drift out of reach because adults must attend to this one. 8/

This would've once been an extreme case. Now it's commonplace. There are more and more of these kids all over the country because state and federal regulations give "at-risk" students' FEELINGS primacy over the LEARNING of the bulk of the students. 9/

Teachers are so exhausted managing behavior they lower standards for all students. Admin leans on teachers to the same end; they too are at their limit. Neither group can cope with brazen defiance plus complaints from parents upset their well-behaved child doesn't have an A. 10/

It's also a big reason why teachers as a body don't push back harder against lessons from outside actors peddling particular narratives teachers suspect may be harmful to their students. They're tired of fighting. They're exhausted by the chaos of their day-to-day. 11/

And that's how the state creates an environment that places compliance over learning, privileging those who harm education over those who come to learn. 12/

There's only one way to win here, and don't think it's spending a gazillion bucks to get into a "good" neighborhood. Those schools face the same regulations and they're bleeding enrollment, so they accept any bodies -- and increasingly those bodies come with all these issues. 13/

Nope. The answer is to remove your kid from any state-funded institution. Their insane incentive system places the malefactors at the top of the priority list, burying students with the most potential in chaotic (sometimes violent), low-expectations classrooms. 14/

I know you think you're not qualified to help your child take an education, but you are.

You are, have been, and always will be your child's first, best teacher.

You may think you don't have the time or the money -- but sacrifices can be made.

Your kid is worth it. 15/

You can do this. There are people who want to help. People like @kellyske @rebelEducator @Homeschool_LLC @jacob_allee @redheadmom8 and all the people on this list:

Fight. First for your family. Then the band. Then the community. Then the Republic.

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