Where Your Children Are Miscellaneous, new york

Who benefits from online classes?

emptyschooldark

New York City entered and remained (and to some degree, still remains) in a strict lockdown earlier this year in an effort to “flatten the curve” of the huge COVID-19 outbreak there. Mayor Bill DeBlasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo have already released plans for the reopening of schools in the fall, which include alternate-day schooling to minimize the number of students in the city’s already-overcrowded buildings. “Make no mistake,” the district website assures parents: “New York City students will still be learning 5 days a week.” Sure, they will.

But in the struggle to transition to online learning during the 2020 Spring Semester, when lockdowns were quickly put into place and schools shuttered for months on end, many students fell behind, making it necessary to attend virtual summer school, which, unsurprisingly enough, they are also failing. Rachel Forsyth, a director at Good Shepherd Services, a nonprofit helping such students attempt to succeed, said, ““For our students who have already been at the margins of education … education is not really happening.” I’d argue that’s the case for more than just those at the “margins of education.”

Many students blame their lack of achievement in summer school courses on their lack of rapport with teachers they’ve never met before. Teachers will say the same, also citing difficulties with communication and the provided curriculum. Technology issues have further complicated the situation.

The problem with stories like these are that they convince many families that the only way to get back to “real,” “effective” learning is to bring teachers and students back to the classroom. But when COVID-19 safety protocols mandate social distancing, mask wearing, contact tracing, and regular disinfections, one wonders how much time is left for learning, especially on top of the already-existing standardized testing, “character education” disguised as indoctrination, and other nonsensical intrusions into the day.

NYC students already behind in class struggling in virtual summer school

 

Where Your Children Are illinois, Miscellaneous

Illinois high school teacher indicted by federal grand jury on child porn charges

image courtesy Facebook

A high school physical education teacher and cross country coach is hopefully rethinking some life choices after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on child pornography possession and distribution charges today.

Investigators discovered 90 videos and 176,000 images on Douglass Mynatt’s iPhone; over half of them depicted girls as young as 6-9 years old in sexually compromising situations. Mynatt, 56, apparently admitted to using his phone to trade child porn through an instant messaging app, which initially alerted authorities to the activity through its association with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It was also confirmed that he accessed these files through his phone, both at home and while at work. The app originally tracked him sending files in January, and after reporting him, disabled his account, but Mynatt, not to be deterred, just created a new one. He was arrested in April and was immediately placed on paid administrative leave at University of Illinois Laboratory High School (“Uni High” to most), a school he’d worked at for a whopping 22 years. He was held by the U.S. Marshals Service until this recent indictment.

In a feature for Uni High’s Facebook page four years ago, Mynatt shared what he liked to do in his spare time (aside from trading child porn, anyway): “If I’m coaching, I don’t usually have free time. When I’m not coaching, I enjoy working in my yard, listening to music, fanatically following University of Tennessee sports… If I weren’t doing any of that, I’d be driving and traveling anywhere. I love to drive.”

Looks like Mynatt, who is married with a young son, isn’t likely to be doing any driving anytime soon. If convicted, he stands to serve at least 5 to 20 years in prison for every count of child pornography distribution, and up to 10 years for each count of child porn possession.

University Laboratory High School in Urbana, Illinois, serves approximately 300 students in grades 8 through 12. It has a primarily white and Asian student body, and parents sing the school’s praises on GreatSchools, with one touting it as “one of the elite public high schools in the nation.”

Just watch out for the pedos.

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Former Urbana University High School Teacher, Girls’ Cross Country Coach on Child Pornography Charges

Uni High teacher, cross-country coach arrested on federal child-porn charges

Former Urbana teacher, coach indicted on child pornography charges

Former Uni teacher indicted on child pornography charges

Uni High – Facebook – “Another teacher highlight Q&A featuring PE teacher, Doug Mynatt!”

University of Illinois Laboratory High School – GreatSchools

Where Your Children Are connecticut

Connecticut teacher resigns over controversial social media posts

Your political affiliation may vary, just as your response to George Floyd’s murder (and the response to the responses) may vary. But there’s a good chance you want your children to develop similar views and values to your own. But when the average child spends more of their waking hours at school than at home, how do you know they won’t take on the ideologies of their beloved teachers?

Fred Driscoll, 68, a social studies teacher in New London, Connecticut, resigned Wednesday after a 10-month investigation into his social media posts related to the recent nationwide protests regarding race and equality. Driscoll, who was previously on paid administrative leave for 10 months in 2018 after allegations of cultural insensitivity and apparent noose-tying lessons in the classroom, underwent a new investigation Tuesday after he posted on Facebook:

“Wanna stop the riots? Mobilize the septic tank trucks, put pressure on em … hose em down … the end.”

Fred Driscoll via Facebook

In his resignation letter Driscoll outlined his intention to retire from teaching.

He has his defenders and his critics, but the fact remains: if you are expecting every mentor your child comes into contact with at school to promote the same ideas you believe in, or be apolitical, you are sadly mistaken. Children are impressionable, and for better or worse, teachers like Fred Driscoll do have an impact.

New London High School in New London, Connecticut serves approximately 600 students in grades 9-12. It has a lower-than-average graduation rate and average SAT scores over 200 points lower than the state average. Other standardized test scores appear to be dismal. About a quarter of the student body is black. It recently began a large remodeling project estimated to cost approximately $108 million, which will add new art and STEM spaces.

New London teacher resigns over controversial posts about protests

Fate unclear for teacher whose explanation of noose led to uproar

$108 million New London High School construction project nears start

New London High School – GreatSchools

Where Your Children Are kansas

Former high school teacher charged with sexual crimes against six minors

image courtesy Lyon County Jail

“Sure,” proponents of public school will argue, “we have the occasional pedophile in our midst. But they offend once, we catch them, and then they’re never around children ever again! It happens!”

Enter Tyler John Bosiljevac, a former teacher at Emporia High School, in Emporia, Kansas. He was charged last week with illegal sexual activity with several minors spanning many years. Seeing as prior to his termination of employment at the school in February, he had worked within the school district for fourteen years, one wonders how high his victim count actually was.

One student complained to school administrators in February and, lo’ and behold, someone actually took the allegations seriously and dismissed Bosiljevac, who until that point taught social studies. Some of the reasons for termination include “failing to demonstrate sound professional judgement” and “violating board policy” when it comes to student safety and sexual harassment. Luckily, it didn’t end with this man’s firing, as it has at many schools before; someone managed to alert the police.

After “dozens of interviews,” with many other students over the next few months, police had more than enough to arrest the man, leveling eight charges of offenses against a whopping six minors from 2016 to 2020. Charges include such gems as “indecent liberties against a then-14-year-old” and “attempted sexual exploitation against a then-17-year-old.”

In addition to finding his victims at Emporia High School, Bosiljevac also helped direct the 2018 Kansas Future Teacher Academy through Emporia State University. The academy was held during the summer, while school was out and his standard pool of victims was cut off, because a guy has needs, dammit.

Quite possibly the worst part (and there are lots of “worst parts”) of this is that Bosiljevac has a wife and children – the youngest being only 6 years old. In the interests of their privacy (and hopefully their attempts to distance themselves as much as possible from this scumbag), we will not disclose names.

Emporia High School in Emporia, Kansas, serves approximately 1500 students in grades 9-12. While boasting a decent graduation rate and mediocre ACT scores, other standardized test scores are significantly lower than state averages. The student body is primarily white and Hispanic (Bosiljevac himself is white). About half the students qualify as low-income.

Emporia High teacher accused of sending inappropriate messages to students

Former Emporia High School teacher charged with illegal sexual activity with teens

UPDATE: Former Emporia High teacher charged with illegal sexual activity against six teens

Fall 2018 Emporia Teachers College Newsletter

Emporia High School Faculty Directory

Emporia High School – GreatSchools