Case Study: L. F. Palmer Elementary School

Communication within the Westside School District No. 5 between the school district and the communities and families that it serves is a very dynamic process. I talked with district administrators, community members, researched pertinent information in the Arkansas State University library, and various governmental online sources and found very helpful information to include in this sociological inventory. Westside Consolidated School District No. 5 is a consolidation of primarily three school districts Bono, Cash and Egypt located in Craighead County, Arkansas in 1966 (Westside, 2017). The district also includes parts of Walnut Ridge and Alicia in Lawrence County and parts of Jonesboro in Craighead County. The district has three school buildings housing students from pre-Kindergarten through twelfth grade. The elementary school is the school for

I teach in the Westside Consolidated Number Five School District in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The school district is a consolidation of three small rural town school districts Bono, Egypt, and Cash, Arkansas in 1968. I met with my mentor Mr. Scott Gaunt the school district superintendent on January 18, 2017 between meetings with district leaders and countywide superintendents. We met and discussed the community relations plan and identified the two most important issues for our district as identified in the poll by the Phi Delta Kappan and the Gallop poll. The issues were the lack of financial support for the school district to provide an adequate education for students and the testing and regulations imposed on school districts that lower educational time for students while in school.

Leaguetown Independent School District is currently facing a conflict of whether having later start times would perhaps help the improvement of academic performance of Leaguetown Middle School and high school students. Superintendent Judith Owens has proposed a new schedule that would set later start times. A group of Leaguetown Middle School parents has organized to oppose the proposal.

On Wednesday, April 12, 2017, I, Officer McDaniel #147, while at James Coble Middle School, located at 1200 Ballweg Rd, Arlington, TX, I was approached by Assistant Principal Myers, Laura, W/F, DOB 02/16/1968, in reference to a cell phone screen that was broke by another student.

Rancho Minerva Middle School (RMMS) is located in the rural area within the Vista Unified School District (VUSD). A major issue occurring at RMMS is corresponding to sixth to eighth grade male students being recipients of ineffective punishments as a result of their disruptive behavior. Students’ disruptive behavior refers to those who engage in altercations, disrupt teachers during instruction time, and become involved in substance use. The ramifications for students with disruptive behaviors are followed by disciplinary approaches such as expulsions, suspensions, Saturday school, and after school detention. Such approach has resulted in students achieving lower academics which can also increase the chances of engaging in risky behavior outside the school. According to RMMS School Accountability Report Card (SARC), in the 2014-2015 school year, RMMS reported 10.4% suspensions which demonstrated to be higher than the previous years. Additional factors that have had an effect on suspension rates are the limited in house services provided to this particular population at RMMS. Though RMMS does not have an appointed mental health provider or personnel to assist with mental health support on site, students are granted the opportunity to be referred to outside providers/therapist for counseling services. However, this has been a major limitation for our

Saginaw Public School District, located in Saginaw Michigan is the urban school district of Saginaw, Michigan. The district has approximately 7,500 students and operates 15 schools which include, 10 elementary schools, 1 middle school and 3 high schools. Over the past 10 years there has been a drastic decrease in student enrollment. The main cause of the decrease in enrollment include Michigan’s failing economy. The closing of automobile factories has resulted in a huge decrease in the city of Saginaw’s populations. During the past 10 years there has also been closing of many schools in the Saginaw Public School District. The district is also operating in a deficit and has been required by the state of Michigan to decide a plan to eliminate

I strongly disagree with the decision of my school board, Dickenson County School Board, for making the decision to extend the school day an hour and a half. I believe that this decision will not help the students or staff who are affected by this decision. Extending the school day is a horrible decision because we go to school long enough as it is, also students and staff cannot do the activities after school that they enjoy. Lastly, addition to more time at school will cause students to stress more than they already do. I believe the school board should listen to the people who will be affected by this decision before a massive mistake is made.

County Prep high school has always had my interest. With all it has to offer, I’ve decided to make it my high school of choice for several reasons. There are things like the extracurricular activities they offer, the amount of AP courses they have. They are also offering vocational programs and LEAP courses. County Prep gives me the resources I will need to

Gulf Shores Middle School- On October, 22, 2015, the eighth grade students were taken, as a field trip, to Playhouse in the Park, to go and watch plays of Edgar Allan Poe poems for the mystery and suspense unit. The students were taken to see The Tell-Tale Heart, Ligeia, The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether, The Cask of Amontillado performed by the kind people at Playhouse at the Park. They did this because they’re in the mystery and suspense unit, and they have been reading Edgar Allan Poe works, such as The Tell-Tell Heart. After the plays the students were expected to create think and answer questions about what differences were in the plays, and the original pieces of writing.

Greetings! As a rising 8th grade student at Sun Valley Middle School in Indian Trail, I would like to describe the problems I have continued to view within the school system and provide ideas on how to fix them. First, I feel the curriculum should be altered.One could observe that a rife of the knowledge we learn in school will either be forgotten entirely later in our lives, must be relearned as a result of how long ago it was taught, or most commonly, the knowledge rattles around in our heads and lacks use.Take for example, the formula for calculating electric current. The vast majority people will not find themselves needing to calculate the wattage of an electrical appliance unless they are an engineer or electrician. Even if you were to have a job in either of those positions, you certainly would not be

Haverstraw Elementary School is located in Rockland County, New York. Rockland County is a middle class neighborhood in a well mixed residential and commercial area. The surrounding neighborhoods include West Haverstraw, Thiells, Garnerville, and Stony Point. Haverstraw New York has a wide range of demographics and according to statistics has a population of about 12,060 people with the median age being 32 years old. In Haverstraw 49.44% of the population is Caucasian,30.65% Hispanic, 17.96% African American, and 1.95% are Asian. Only 36% of the town speaks English and 58% speaks Spanish. The median cost for a home is 270,000 and the median income is 50,000. The population by education level is as follows: High School or less 35%, High School

I loved the approach taken by Ms. Barbara Gruener at Westwood Elementary located in Texas. In any number-step program, e.g. 5 step, 10 step, or 12 step, they always say that admitting to fault or acknowledging the problem is the first step. Barbara was fully aware of the daily struggles within Westwood’s community (“Character.org,” n.d.). To begin to solve the deep-rooted problem, she discreetly sought out help (“Character.org,” n.d). Since the faculty was divided, it was difficult to get them involved and create unity at the school. Westwood Elementary bases their learning on the concepts of performance character. I chose performance character because of the disruptive student behavior and the lack of sufficient grades held by each student. Barbara Gruener was determined to help each member of Westwood Elementary.

Imagine the chaos that could come from students being able to write about whatever they want in the school newspaper. Things that could hurt other people's feelings by writing about them or creating stories that bring students to argue about their opinions. Students should be limited on what they can say in a school newspaper because it invades people's privacy, creates conflict, and affects kids education.

The way the situation with the closing of the school was handled was extremely unprofessional and left teachers, students and parents feeling a sense of betrayal and frustration. The entire thing was much unorganized. Freeman-Brown Preparatory School did not communicate with parents of the students attending this school. The faculty had no knowledge of what was really going on; they were not aware of how bad the situation really was and that they were also going to lose their jobs. Freeman-Brown chose to keep everyone of out what was going on financially in the school. The financial issues affected everyone mainly the shareholders, they should have made them away of what was happening with registrations, finances, location and enrollment, with

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