According to a release from District 209, Proviso Township High School District Superintendent Bob Libka issued the following statement in response to an altercation involving Proviso students in the parking lot of Proviso West following the Proviso East versus Proviso West basketball game last evening:
We have zero tolerance for violence of any sort on school grounds. Period. Per the direction of the school board, this administration will act swiftly and severely to ensure the safety of our students, teachers, and staff, as we have done here. The only good news from this unfortunate incident is that no one was seriously injured.
The 13 PTHS 209 students arrested by Hillside Police have been suspended for ten (10) days. Pending the outcome of the district's internal investigation, some or all of the students involved in the altercation may face additional disciplinary action, including expulsion. We are following the process as provided in the district's handbook.
Further, we are reviewing the events that gave rise to this incident as well as examining our present level of security at school functions such as basketball games to determine if improvements can be made that would enhance our ability to prevent an incident like this from happening again.
Those seeking more information about this matter are encouraged to contact PTHS 209 Communications Coordinator, TaQuoya Kennedy, at (205) 420-8896 or via e-mail at taquoya.kennedy@gmail.com.
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8 comments:
So now the the area knows that we, the entire Proviso community, have a huge problem with discipline! No secret to the teachers and the students at Proviso. They have to deal with this everyday! The administrators do their best to cover-up the problem but it is easy to do that when you sit in a comfy office with a brigade of secretaries and office personnel to insulate you from the real problems and issues. The only time students are disciplined is if they happen to curse out or be disrespectful to the "BIGWIGS" when they dare venture from their ivory towers! Yes, it does begin at home. But the students spend way more time at school than with their parents. There should be consequences for their actions! It needs to stop now! Libka can easily say we have ZERO tolerance. When has he ever suspended a student for fighting? Zero tolerance only applies to the teachers and staff. If a student strikes or curses out a teacher (daily) then they are allowed to apologize and walk away with no punishment, yet, teachers are treated as criminals because they won't just turn the other cheek. But if they turn the tables and give the students as well as they give, they are immediately reprimanded and yelled at, like criminals, for being disrespectful. It is not wonder that the teachers feel like the enemy. Proviso will not "rise" until the administrators put their egos aside and acknowledge that there is a problem with these certain students. Until that happens Proviso will continue to be the topic of negative media. Unfortunately there are cases where the media lies and exaggerates things to make for a good broadcast. The bad news is that Proviso always makes it easy for them. They don't have to stretch the truth. It speaks for itself!
Who the hell is TaQuota Kennedy and when did a district so strapped for cash get the dollars to afford a PR/Spokesperson? She does not even have a local telephone number so who is feeding her the info?????? She must be related to someone on the board! wish I was and then I would not have to spend my days looking for a job and writing in to blogs. I would be sitting in a cushy office somewhere denying that Proviso has problems! hey Taquoya, who do you know???????
While the district needs to address this issue of an angry rivalry between the schools, they have to be careful how they handle this.
Police in the Trib article are putting the responsibilty of discipline on the disrict, and i'm not sure if I agree. what more can the district do?
In an time when schools have a 'zero tolerance' for these kinds of things, they are bound by state law on how harshly they can come down on kids.
Theres alot the district can do. The first anonymous writter hit it on the head. We give our students way too many chances. Just last week a teacher tried to break up a fight, when the teacher fell to the floor, he was kicked by students. The student recieved a 1 day suspension. Just yesterday, I approached a group of students in the hallway who were disruptive. When I asked where they were supposed to be, a student got in my face, disrespected me. The student walked away with not much I as a teacher could do. Couldnt find security, couldnt beg the student to give me their info, couldnt leave my classroom either. There is no discipline in the school, no reprecussions for actions, not enough security, not enough qualified security. Kids can curse at teachers, fight, throw up gang signs, and nothing happens. The police should not be coming to the building everyday. Its not their job to send officers here everyday to break up fights. It was only a matter of time until something like this happened. I cant say Im proud to work at proviso. Im getting emails and calls from friends and family who question why Im at a school like Proviso. Too bad I passed on that interview at that Naperville school.
Call someone in Alabama? This is where the 209 communications coordinator oversees things?
Is anyone else fed up with this crap?
If not, how f ed up are you?
Chairman Fred warned that unless people got educated, it would do no good to replace white "leaders" with black ones. They would be even worse because they could hide their intentions behind the facade of their race.
Bright man, that Chairman Fred.
LOL about TaQuota.
Believe me she is another one of the patronage hires.
When was this position posted? What are her qualifications? What is her salary? What fund is she paid from?
Maybe if security officers were allowed to chaperone in Miami and sit in the cafeteria and lounges all day...just maybe, they could do their jobs and help with some of these discipline problems.
As far as administration, they try to put on a good front, but they don't live in the community, so why should they care about these students.
I'm still trying to figure out how Sara McCallister, Milton Patch's secretary gets $8000 to direct plays, when she barely shows up to work to perform her secretarial duties. Half the time when you pass her office, it's closed or students are rough housing, sleeping in plain view or heating up food in the microwave..
Final word..Libka's new secretary Beyonca does not have the skills to be an administrative assistant. She sends out communication with all sorts of errors in spelling and grammar.
Do you remember the last scene in "School Daze"? It's about time of us "WAKE UP", Chris Welch, that stool Libka, Gene Moore and the rest of the gang and raped this community too many times. WAKE UP.
Enough is Enough but we will not see somthing done until a kid messes up and does some damage to an administrator. students do not have to respect teahers. Teachers follow the rules and the administrators (namely Wallace, not too sure about Patch he seems to do a little more) baby them and demean the staff while babying the students. Why take a phone or an ipod froma student DURING CLASS TIME, when you the student threatens to go and tell their dean or Wallace and then at the end of the day you get a nasty note or confrontation from that person (with the4 student in tow) demanding you to hand over student property. Teachers have no power and maybe they should not have it since the admin. make them out to be criminals anyway. According to the Board and the big wigs it is the fault of the tachers and staff (and Dr. Fields R.I.P.) for the hole the district is in (even though the teachers do not sign off on any checks, requisttions, etc). We need a new motto....Hey Proviso...don't blame it on the principals (who are better paid and never have to sweat in the summer due to the air conditioning in their offices) or the students (who can afford all types of technology but cannot pay their obligations to the school and can curse teahers out and damage property with no punishment) or the board (All smoke and no fire) or the parents (never involved, know their kids are terrible but hate to admit it)...just blam the teachers for wanting a safe and productive place to work. Hey Proviso admin. when was the last time you looked at the faces of your staff and admitted that you have failed them? You would see it if you stopped looking in the mirror and telling yourselves that you are doing a great job.
What good does it do to suspend students for ten days for fighting? If they took the time to do some work they would see that the students that are doing the fighting don't come to school anyway! All ten days does for the mini Mike Tysons is give them a chance to rest up and be ready for more fights when they come back! But don't forget that the teachers have to send their work home to them so that they do not fail! WTF?????? Why should they get these luxuries. In the real wordl, not the Proviso world, this would not happen. We set them up for failure. We teach them that there are no consequences for their actions and then send them out into the world with this mindset. What lessons are we teacing? I am so tired of the horse and pony shows that Provis puts on (Education Summit....so what.....you scheduled it the same night as the East-West game, you should have held the summit suring half timeof the game since more parents were at the game than at the summit) Get some people in there that want to change the school for the better. Too many old women working security and running the buildings, get some young bodies and fresh ideas in there to go head to head with the students.
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