Baby-sitting, bureaucracy carry the day

It is a travesty that the American people do not appreciate one of the greatest assets they can have at no direct cost. Maybe that is why it goes unappreciated.

In reality, public education is not free. Doesn't everyone, including people who have no children, pay taxes for these students to get an education? Isn't anyone curious to know how their taxes are being spent by the Clark County School District?

Let's start at the top and work down. We have the superintendent and all of his staff housed in a multimillion-dollar complex on West Sahara Avenue. The teachers lovingly refer to it as the Taj Mahal.

There are six regions in the district, and each region has a superintendent, two assistant superintendents, numerous specialists and a plethora of staffing to make sure their jobs get done, all housed in their own building.

In the high schools there is a principal and anywhere from two to six assistant principals, two to four deans and four to eight counselors, each housed in a private office with various support staff, and all on a higher pay scale than a classroom teacher.

Then there are the variety of offices throughout the district that are in place to "aid" teachers in policies and instruction, which in all honesty are not properly being used by the teachers unless a stipend is offered to attend the classes or the class can be used for certification renewal.

One office that is well-used is the truancy office. Its job is to locate the children who are truant from school on a regular basis.

One must keep in mind that these are the same students who, in the school of my employ, threw fecal matter at one another during passing periods, and when finished with that fun, smeared the stuff all over the bathroom walls for the custodians to clean up. These are not elementary children -- these are high school students.

Because of these behaviors, and the large amount of vandalism -- ripping sinks and toilets off the wall, tagging the bathrooms -- these students have been reduced to being assigned bathroom passes, and they are allowed only three per quarter. The teacher signs the pass that allows them to use the restroom, the student then goes to the dean's office, signs in, then proceeds to the one and only facility he/she is allowed to use on campus so the vandalism can be traced if it happens. They then return to the dean's office, sign again and return to class, hopefully without causing too much distraction to other students sitting in classrooms. These are the same students who have put teachers on the firing line because they are not passing the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam.

Where are the hall monitors? Well, there is only one, and that person was probably busy doing his job on the other side of the campus. The teachers monitor the halls, as always, but they have to stand by the classroom door so an eye can be kept on the students already in the room. The students know where the blind spots are and use them to their advantage.

These things have happened on a campus where there is full support staff for the number of students. What is going to happen to the campuses when they are operating on reduced support staff? The deans, assistant principals and principal will keep their jobs, while the support staff is reduced. Will the administration be out monitoring the restrooms and hallways? Only if there isn't a more pressing matter to be dealt with in their offices.

These students, as well as thousands more, deface school property and books on a daily basis. In the high schools, 40 to 45 students are crammed into classrooms that were designed for 30 students, and with budget cuts there will likely be 45 to 50 students crammed into a room designed for 30. I have been in these rooms -- the student desks are so close together a person must turn sideways to get in.

Students are asked to leave their backpacks at the front of the room because there isn't room for them and their backpacks at the desk. There aren't enough lockers for the students to each have one, so they must carry all their textbooks and everything else in a backpack.

Does your child ever have anything stolen while at school? And yet a teacher who doesn't have enough room to walk around a room is expected to not only teach your child but to also monitor the defacing of school property. The Clark County School District has gone from teaching students to being a behavioral management program for students.

At the same time, we don't give our children enough credit. They are very smart. They learn at a very young age to play the system. They know that they do not have to do any work in school, because even if they do nothing and don't learn a thing, they will be passed on to the next grade.

The United States has forgotten that a person will gain more self-respect and a sense of accomplishment by achieving goals through his own hard work. Instead, we spoon-feed these children, coddle them and pass them on when they have not learned a thing. We hire administrators and specialists to help figure out why there are behavioral problems and why students aren't learning what they are supposed to learn at the grade level they have reached.

Countless millions are spent on special programs that teachers are supposed to use in their classrooms because a teacher somewhere, at some time, has had brilliant success with it.

Never mind that not all students react to the same stimuli in the same manner. We test and test and test. America will be the only country in the world whose children can't read, write or do math but are experts at taking tests.

The education system in America is extremely flawed, and instead of pointing fingers and placing blame on teachers, as has become the norm, why don't we take the necessary steps to fix the education system?

Millions of dollars need not be spent on trips to other parts of the country or world and an overabundance of administrators and consultants. Common sense and hard work would be more than enough.

Remove the politics and bureaucracy from education and just let teachers do what they are trained to do -- help children learn. Of course, the parents will have to become involved to instruct children on acceptable behavior and will have to work harder at being better role models. Parents will have to learn that they cannot call the school when their son or daughter has been suspended and tell the administration that the child must be allowed in school because it is an inconvenience to them that the child is at home.

It is my responsibility as an educator to share with your child the knowledge I possess and provide your child with the tools he or she needs to be successful in my class, and, I hope, outside of class. But unless you and your child take the initiative to use this information and practice it, learning will not occur. Learning is a two-way street. I can present the information, but your child has to practice and use the information -- and you as a parent have to become actively involved for learning to occur.

Joan Parks is a teacher at Eldorado High School.