Fed up with what she and others perceive as a lack of discipline among some students and incompetent school officials, a Baltimore County woman is calling for a clean sweep of the administrative staff at Woodlawn High School.
Lorraine Jackson, whose granddaughter attends Woodlawn, contends that not only has the school failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress for the past five years, but that in light of recent acts of violence on school grounds, things have spun far out of control.
“Every day, there?s something,” Jackson said. “All the administrators want to do is to stay holed up in their offices and hold it over students? heads that they can be suspended at any moment.”
Jackson said that after several weeks of trying to rectify the problems, her granddaughter is still trying to clear up incidents involving a report card mix-up and a series of incorrectly placed calls home stating she was absent from school.
Principal Edward Weglein said the administration could easily counter that parents are to blame for discipline and violence problems.
“To put everything on six people is a bit much,” he said, adding that there?s just a small percentage of unruly students among an enrollment of approximately 2,000. He said initiatives, including beefed-up security measures, are in place to combat violence and discipline issues.
Aaron Plymouth, a former Baltimore County Public Schools teacher and past PTA president, said unruliness can be traced to self-esteem and self-image. Referring to the arrests in October of two 14-year-old girls after a fight, he said many students are dealing with anger issues. “They are territorial and will fight to protect their images,” he said. “Girls will fight more readily and more violently than boys.”
Currently, the school is one of three Baltimore County public schools undergoing restructuring. The other two are Southwest Academy and Lansdowne middle schools.
While Weglein admits that Woodlawn?s 2006 High School Assessments leave much to be desired, he noted he and his administrative team have been on board for just over a year.
“Over the last 10 years they?ve changed Woodlawn?s administration five times. I?m not looking to make excuses, but we?re just starting our second year here,” said Weglein, whose faculty consists of 250 instructors and paraprofessionals. “It?s not just administration and teachers who must be involved getting things turned around. Parents and community stakeholders have a responsibility as well.”
Jackson said she believes the school is headed for a state takeover, but Weglein said nothing could be further from the truth.
“We?re going through restructuring, which has nothing to do with behavior or handing the school over to state supervision,” he said. “Through restructuring we will examine problems and aggressively work on where we want to be.”
Plymouth acknowledged that when schools undergo restructuring, the process usually parallels low test scores.
“But it?s more to it than that,” he said. “Restructuring is also related to students? attitudes toward school and learning as well as respect for authority. When they give up and don?t do their homework or go to classes, test scores go down. These are factors that contribute to restructuring.”
Nonetheless, Maryland Department of Education spokesman Bill Reinhard further confirmed the state has no plans to assume Woodlawn.
“This is a local-level situation, and under the Thornton Plan and No Child Left Behind, schools that don?t meet AYP six years in the running have to refocus their educational plan. And that?s what Woodlawn is doing,” Reinhard said.
But at this point, he said “we have not yet received their plans,” which could include changes in leadership, staffing and curriculum.
Schools spokesman Charles Herndon said Superintendent Joe Hairston would not comment on the matter.
