Climate in some OKC schools appalling

"I’ve read school climate surveys and listened to teachers for decades," writes longtime Oklahoma teacher John Thompson. "However, I’ve never read anything like the AFT’s November 2019 survey" of Oklahoma City Public Schools teachers. Among survey respondents, Thompson notes, 88 percent reported "disruptions of the learning environment, with 50 percent reporting distractions due to wireless devices, 43 percent reporting bullying, and 19 percent reporting 'assault and battery against school personnel.'"

I too waded through the 45 pages of comments from teachers. Below are some of them.

• "I have three socially emotionally disturbed children in my class who I have to keep away from my other 24 kindergartners so they do not punch, trip, or spit on them. I don't feel that I have taught anything this year because of these students."
• "The f word and cussing in general is used by students throughout the building. I am called names, there is rampant sexual harassment and bullying. Students are put into ISS then returned to class, days before their time is up. Behavior problems are allowed to roam the halls after being removed from class, because they are given special jobs by administrators. Students use this time to harass classes, teachers, and other students. Students are returned to class, during class, after admin has talked to them and the student walks in cussing, refusing to work, and further disrupting class. Dress code and other school rules are not enforced for students. ... I, for one, do not plan to be there much longer. I am an 18-year veteran teacher with many honors. I am incredibly concerned about the sexual harassment going on and truly worried that things will escalate. I have also been threatened many times, by numerous students. This school is truly out of control!"
• "Incorrigible students whose goal is to disrupt classes on a daily basis are allowed to continue without fear of consequences. ... I have taught for over 20 years and I have never seen it this bad. I would like to teach another 10 years but now I'm thinking about retirement. Feeling unappreciated and frustrated."
• "The stories I hear from friend-teachers at other schools are horrifying. It's amazing more hasn't made the news."
• "Fights have escalated. Children routinely disparage teachers and staff with a complete disregard for the rules. I have personally been threatened. ... By Friday I am too stressed, exhausted, and sick of being verbally abused by students that I feel helpless and I just pray for the end of the school day. If these conditions do not improve, I plan on leaving the district."
• "[M]ost behavior is more akin to a 'death by a thousand cuts' variety in that no particular behavior is such that a parent call is warranted, nor a referral. But over time, and across multiple and at times various students throughout each day and the week, the behavior becomes very disruptive in total. ...  It's a no-win situation to where the most workable solution is to just 'take it' each day from the students, keep them in class, forgo calling parents so as to have time to do all the other things I need to do."
• "Student behavior is atrocious, admin support is absent."
• "Students are disrespectful and use inappropriate language daily."
• "Some gang activity has increased at my school site."
• "I cannot put down assault and battery against students or school personnel because then 'the police would have to be notified.' It is to be listed as disruptive behavior or abusive language, profanity or behavior (repeat offense). However, there have been physical altercations/fighting between students and between students and school personnel. The students involved usually get an in-school suspension because there is a limit of out-of-school suspensions a child can receive."
• "If I wanted to work all day without a break, a time to use the restroom, or time to even plan for the day, I would go work at a prison system. Oh, wait ..."
• "Behavior at John Marshal Middle School continues to worsen, and has not improved since the beginning of the year. I've been injured twice this year and am constantly watching my back due to students running out of control, conflicts and fights in hallways, and students throwing objects at me in my classroom. ... I love teaching but I don't need an environment where it becomes increasingly difficult if not impossible to teach because of the total lack of any discipline or respect for teachers."
• "Very poor climate with teachers leaving like a revolving door."
• "Fights occur every day and when I page the office, no one answers. If someone happens to answer, I have waited 20 minutes or never for help to arrive."
• "It's hard to teach when you have several students who can't sit down in their chairs, run around the classroom screaming, tearing up the classroom, or not following any directions from the teacher because they don't want to."
• "The children here run and control the school starting from morning to the afternoon."
• "Student behavior is on the decline. Students have figured out our administration is not really disciplining our students. ... When teachers are regularly cussed at by students, it is hard for teachers to feel like anybody cares. The climate in our building is not very positive."
• "Students do what they want, when they want. ... [Two students]  placed hand sanitizer into a straw I was using and I consumed it. I told the parents I was pursuing charges against the students."
• "The district has adopted a 'well, I sure didn't see that ________ behavior.' I wrote 3 students up for assault on another student and they were not worked. One AP said that they hadn't even been submitted. Students have control of the school. It is a massive, chaotic arena that has students cussing us out, running up and down the halls, failing to return from a pass. A student hits a teacher and they are left in the same school."
• "I have witnessed an increase in violent behaviors and disrespect. ... I have never seen an entire Kindergarten grade level so out of control before in my life."
• "5th and 6th grade students are completely out of control."
• "I have seen the police called out for students. I have seen teachers assaulted and cursed out on 100's of occasions." 
• "I brought my son to my school and I am so worried about his safety. ... If the parents knew all things going on in this school they would be so upset."
• "There seems to be little done as far as discipline and behavior at our school. We had an administrator tell a teacher today if the student asks for another snack and we tell him no and he throws a fit, instead of him destroying the classroom like he did (throwing stuff all over, tipping desks over and throwing her personal stuff everywhere as well as classroom stuff) she is to go ahead and give him another snack to prevent it. This particular student has demonstrated this behavior close to 10 times already this school year and nothing has been done about it. I personally had a student get mad at me because I wouldn't let him throw a fit and had him sit away out of the activity kick me in the leg, then I wrote him up with a referral, he was back in my class the next day."
• "If there's a fight or a fire, we will have a student trampled. I am shocked someone hasn't called the fire marshall. ... I feel safe right now, but I'm not coming back to this site (RMS), regardless of admin." 
• "Ross Middle School is out of control. Administration does nothing. The students fight, curse teachers and admin. out daily, disrespectful, will get in teachers' faces, hit teachers and other students, smoke any and everything in the bathrooms, will not follow directive of any adult (teacher, assistant, admin.) etc. No need in writing referrals because nothing is done. They are blown off like us."
• "The student behavior has completely dictated the poor results at our school here at MGR middle school. Students run the school and there is a lack of discipline and it shows. Students are basically rewarded for poor behavior, by allowing them out of class to help with school projects."
• "There are at 2 to 4 students in every class that have terrible behavior. They verbally abuse teachers and scare good students, as well as disturb the educational process. Punishing is not harsh enough to handle defiant students in the classroom."
• "Behaviors have increased! Students are out of control! There are absolutely no consequences for bad behavior!" 
• "The students have no appropriate consequences. This is a joke! I don`t blame the principals. The fundamentals of respect do not exist with over 50% of the students. The other well-behaved students now act like the other. What can we do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 
• "We are seeing more behavior problems in the classroom and school-wide, more fights, more profanity, more disrespectful behavior."
• "[It is] terrible to have so many middle school students crammed into a tiny cafeteria. I question what is the actual number of people allowed by fire code."
• "There are many students with discipline problems placed in my room. ... I have a student who is dangerous to himself and others in the room. He had a meltdown and was throwing chairs and manipulatives at the teachers and other students. Asking the principal to come and help was like pulling teeth, she didn't want to help. Parents are not involved or supportive -- shadowing is useless. I'm tired of tiptoeing around parents because the district is afraid of lawsuits."
• "Also, discipline issues are at an all-time high! ... My school (not my classroom in particular) has a lot of repeat offenders. Some of their infractions include, but are not limited to; repetitive abusive language to a teacher, threatening a teacher, walking out of classrooms without permission, multiple fights almost daily, and the list goes on and on."
• "We deal with a lot more vulgarity and violent behaviors."
• "Students are not being held accountable. Example: A student has been given 5 referrals for ditching and on the 5th referral, still only served one day of ISI. It is the inconsistency of the administration that is creating a lot of the problems within our school environment."
• "The principals are too worried about being liked by the students. They let certain students slide and not follow policies (cell phone, language, etc) and prefer to be friends with the students. If I was a student I would love to be in trouble at our school. It looks fun. If a teacher corrects a student's behavior, the principal will tell the student, 'I'm on your side, you're right.' Teachers are not backed up, we are enforcing admin set rules, but then getting overruled. We are losing authority and respect rapidly. ... I am very sad for our students."
• "Every day there are threats of violence, cursing, taunting, refusal to stay in seats or quiet down long enough to teach literally anything. It's a mad-house at times where student, staff, and my own safety is at risk. ... Some days I literally get maybe 5-10 minutes out of a 50-60 minute class of actual instruction time. I've had a hole kicked in my wall, a chair almost thrown at a student standing 1 foot away from me, constant hygiene issues (chronic, room smells foul), and have even had staff close my door (with just myself and a handful of students) while they deal with behavioral issues in the hall. This does not make me feel comfortable or safe. While I feel I would be capable of handling any violence that a student might enact, my career, reputation, and sanity is put at risk when this happens."
• "Student misbehavior is at an all-time high at this building while student Lexile level is at an all-time low."
• "We now have a huge increase in discipline referrals and behavior issues. Principals are discouraged from suspending."
• "The amount of students that are allowed to disrespect staff is increasing. Administration does not hold the students accountable to ensure the 'numbers' are still high. The amount of energy all staff members have to use just to address dress code and cell phone use that Administration does not back is amazing! Why have rules? I mean they refuse to go to ISS, lunch detention and nothing happens because again, that might affect numbers. This district and the administration needs to come back into the schools they are assigned and stand with staff and enforce the rules which is a minimum part of their job. Staff stress is high and what has the upper Administration done to help?"
• "We are having way too many observations by district personnel. Our principal, vice principal, and instructional coach are all observing us which is to be expected. The ILD comes in and also observes us and now we will be having other district personnel coming in as well, 5 at a time apparently. It is getting to be harassment. Every teacher is stressed beyond belief and many have considered giving up teaching or going to Epic. Enough is enough!"
• "There are chronic discipline problems that are allowed to continue to occur and we are told to keep them in our classroom so they don't ditch class, but the disruption they cause is such that it makes instruction near to impossible. I spend more time trying to deal with student misbehavior that in other OKCPS schools is swiftly and effectively dealt with, so that students who want to learn suffer because I end up not being able to teach as much as I need."
• "Students are so disrespectful, it is hard to get through a single lesson."
• "As a parent whose child is going into kindergarten next year, my child will not be attending an OKCPS school based off what I have seen."
• "Behavior issues are rampant and issues are not addressed. Children get to go to the office and play."
• "We have a very unstable environment at our school. Students will not allow the teachers to teach."
• "This year has been the most difficult of all my years in schools in 3 states. Even with all of the changes, transfers, increase in caseloads and all the other changes brought by P2G, nothing compares to the ever-worsening behavior of the students who all know the teachers and administrators are completely powerless to deal with them and their behavior. Very little academic time actually focuses on academics because of behaviors that teachers are trying to manage. I have seen teachers and principals cry this year more than I have in 20 years. I can foresee many, many, many good teachers and leaders changing careers or retiring simply because they are no longer able to manage trying to work without the most basic of materials such as books and no way of dealing with kids who will not behave. I've heard teachers speaking of health issues that have been created just this year from the stress of teaching: high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, insomnia."
• "Behavior issues are not addressed. It is extremely frustrating to have students with chronic discipline problems continue to exhibit the same behaviors because they know there are zero consequences. This leads me to not write referrals because it is a waste of my time when nothing is done about it anyway."
• "The students disregard the code of conduct as much as the administrators do."
• "The incoming 6th graders have been terrible. We have had 6th grades challenge teachers to a fight. We have had a large number of 6th-grade referrals due to fighting, challenging teachers, and refusing to follow the rules."
• "The 5th and 6th graders that have joined us are disrespectful, refuse to follow directions, and are violent. We have had more fights from the younger kids than the older. They hit others at the slightest provocation. I have heard more profanity from the younger kids than the older. I only see the general ed kids before school, after school, and sometimes during passing. When I do get a minute to leave my room, I can hear them screaming at the teachers, refusing to do what they are asked and they are destroying property. They refuse to clean up their breakfast and lunch mess. There are several teachers that are thinking of leaving the district because of the student behavior."
• "Too many students are defiant and administration refuses to hold them accountable. Staff is in danger and there probably will be an incident due to the lax in discipline and/or refusal to discipline to help increase numbers or to just hide and make things look 'good.'"
• "Violence in the school is a huge problem. I wish I could gripe about cell phones turning students into zombies, but I'm too busy breaking up fights."
• "I am a teacher in the district but also a grandmother raising a grandson going to school in the district. He is in 5th grade and being bullied every day. ... It is to the point the child is getting physically sick thinking about going to school. ... I am to the point of pulling him out of the district altogether and homeschooling him. I am afraid I have lost all faith in the decisions of this district."
• "Our administration is great and really helps, but the morale and mental health of teachers in our building has declined drastically from day one."
• "I spend a majority of my teaching time dealing with unruly students and lack adequate time to get the lessons across. This is due mainly to the referrals not being worked in a timely manner and little to no consequences for behavior. I have a referral waiting to be worked from September where a student threatened to knock me out."
• "The behavior at my school is atrocious. We have students who are physically/verbally abusive to students and staff. We have students who will not follow any rules or procedures. Every class at my school has at least 1 or 2 students who keep the whole class from learning. These disruptive students are basically running the school."
• "Students are out of control. Administrators are telling us to call parents and assign afterschool and Saturday detention. We can't do this unless the parents agree. I cant reach parents. They don't accept my calls, don't return my calls, or do not have working numbers. ... Discipline is a joke! These students are running wild and they are no consequences. These students know they have no real consequences and behave accordingly. I'm at a middle school with 5th grade students. This is a horrible situation. The classes are overcrowded and the disruptive kids are robbing the other kids of an education. I am in hell! This is my last year in this mess."
• "The discipline problems make it almost impossible to teach."
• "All students receive breakfast and come to the classroom to eat. It is a big mess most days. Milk has been spilt, syrup gets on the tables, cereal goes on the floor. When students are late they take up instructional time to eat. I am not able to set up my classroom due to the fact that the tables are used for breakfast. We have to clean up all of the mess and are not able to teach until that is done."
• "In regards to the student behavior, I teach at the juvenile detention center."
• "The students are rude and disruptive ... The school is not allowed to suspend the students. They finally suspended one but because she brought a stun gun and mace to school. We have more fights than ever before."
• "We have a deaf student at our school who is not being served appropriately. He has not been taught basic sign language for whatever reason and has lots of behavior problems due to his inability to communicate with anyone in our building. No one in our building knows how to sign or teach signing. I don't know how anyone can expect him to learn in an environment where he does not get the services he needs to succeed! He is doomed to fail because our district will not place him properly."
• "I'm an instructional coach and some teachers are dealing with out-of-control student behaviors all day long. So many children are missing out on their learning!"
• "Student behavior is out of control in the hallways and in some classrooms. Some teachers have been physically and punishment that the student received was a conference about acting appropriately."
• "Student behavior is horrible at our school. Students' behavior is not getting better. Discipline is not making any difference."
• "Our middle school students are highly out of control. Some students are highly disrespectful, they are rude to staff and each other, and they do not follow the rules and procedures, putting other students and staff at risk! A number of students run in the hall and are always loud and shouting. Often students refuse to clear the hallways and enter class when the passing period has finished. Their eye rolls and 'sorry' are worthless at changing attitudes in the long term. ... Our students have been allowed to get away with their misbehavior all year and previously, and when nothing is done, it escalates. This is driving away great teachers!!! Our administrators have to get tough with these students who are highly out of control.
• "In my opinion, climate in this school has declined this year as compared to last year. Dress code isn't as enforced as it was last year. Teachers aren't checking; and students are granted reprieve on dress code even when a teacher addresses the code. Hats, hoods, sagging pants, open-toes shoes and mid-drift-exposing shirts are commonplace and often go unaddressed. Dress code for teachers and staff isn't addressed either which isn't setting an example for students. Cell phone usage during class has created an unbearable situation. ... So much teacher time is spent addressing disciplinary issues that planning assignments and actually teaching the assignments are taking a backseat to all of the other issues. Morale among teachers and staff is low."
• "I am fairly sure I will be leaving the district at the end of this year if at all possible. I am very sad since I have taught in the district 30 years and thought I would retire from OKCPS. ... I am in a school where children fight constantly and I am drained at the end of every day."
• "There are so many discipline problems the instructional time has declined."
• "The atmosphere in our building between teachers is full of fear and animosity. The students are very keen to that and feed off of it. Behavior has increased in violence and frequency. Increased amount of students running out of classrooms and buildings."
• "Teachers are unable to teach effectively. Discipline is a joke. Students who misbehave are rewarded for a few days of minimally good behavior. Teachers at my school have been kicked, slapped or hit by students."
• "Student disrespect is a constant problem, and I never know if admin get annoyed when I send kids to them."
• "This school has major behavior problem."
• "The behavior is amazingly disrespectful and incredibly rude, behavior that I have never seen in my 12 years being involved with my school."