In a three-hour meeting Monday on St. Thomas, a small group of staff from the district’s public schools worked to come to a middle ground with Education officials over changes to the department’s grading policy and the possibility of bringing corporal punishment back into the classroom.
No one’s advocating for the students to be whipped, American Federation of Teachers head Vernelle de Lagarde explained after the meeting, which was fueled by an early morning protest held in front of the Curriculum Center on St. Thomas. But there are discipline problems in the schools, and teachers have to have some way of handling students who are consistently out of control.
"We have had physical attacks on the teachers," she said Monday. "And we have been trying to manage this kind of antisocial behavior, but really we have all sorts of teachers that aren’t able to maintain good classroom management."
The V.I. Code does make provisions for corporal punishment, but if the schools’ staff isn’t allowed to enforce those policies, then Education has to make recommendations on acceptable changes, de Lagarde added.
"At the meeting, we shared our recommendations, and they did the same; and it was indicated that the department is already in the process of dealing with some of these corporal punishment issues," she said.
Along with maintenance and concerns over collective bargaining enforcement, AFT members also discussed concerns over a grading policy that de Lagarde said prevents teachers from giving students any grade below 50 percent.
While that’s still a failing grade, de Lagarde said district Superintendent of Schools Jeanette Smith-Barry has urged teachers not to give lower scores, such as a 20 or 30 percent, because it keeps students from being able to pass the class later on.
"It shouldn’t be an individual thing — if anything, it should be a policy that comes from the Board of Education," de Lagarde said. "Because if you say that we can’t give a student anything lower than a 50, it means we need a whole new grading system."
Speaking during a phone interview Monday afternoon, Smith-Barry said she was sympathetic to the concerns, but made it clear that any changes in policy should focus on promoting student learning.
"Period," she added. "And I’m disheartened that the teachers feel that the ‘F’ and the paddle are two important tools for student learning."
In terms of grading, Smith-Barry said officials are trying to provide students with more of an incentive to improve their grades during the year, and give teachers more of an opportunity to help them improve.
If a student gets a 10 or 20 percent during the first marking period, it puts them at a disadvantage because it’s nearly impossible for their other scores to average out into the 70-percent mark needed for them to pass the class," she said.
Giving them something like a 50 percent — while still a failing grade — presents the students with an opportunity to "redeem themselves" by pushing them to do better next time, Smith-Barry explained.
"If the student doesn’t make the 70 percent by the end of the year, of course, the teacher will fail them," she said. "But in the meantime, they will have a chance during the marking period to do better, and the teacher will have the opportunity to intervene and to re-teach the things the student isn’t understanding, not just give them failing grades."
Smith-Barry had less to say about the issue of corporal punishment, and took a hard line approach to the subject.
Though the code does make exceptions for corporal punishment, Smith-Barry said she feels the law is antiquated and actually works against students—particularly those "spanked" at home, who might turn even more violent if they’re facing the same kind of discipline at school.
"It’s just simply wrong," she said. "The V.I. Code may allow some form of it, but we feel that thinking is outdated and must not continue."
There are disciplinary problems, she conceded, but the best thing is to involve parents more in discussions about how their students are treated, and how parents, in turn, should deal with the schools.
"And a lot of them are quite open to these things," Smith-Barry said. "Now, the thing we have to make sure is that the schools welcome the parents and are open to dealing with them. We at the district level have received concerns from parents about how they’re being treated, so we used this meeting with the AFT to say, you know, that it’s a two-way street."
