Principal defends tough response
Amid discussions of Hudson Middle School violence
and accusations of unnecessary suspensions, Principal Thomas Gavin
wants to go on the record. "We'll do anything we can to help a kid," he says,
"but at some point we have to concentrate on saving the at-risk kids,
not the ones who've gone over the edge. "70% of our suspensions come from 16% of the student
body. It's the same kids over and over again. No matter how long they
are gone, they come back exactly the same. Suspension isn't the
answer, but at least the other kids get a chance to learn." Mr. Gavin declined to give a number of kids
suspended, preferring to say "a lot."
Asked about the kids who beat up a 16-year-old boy
across the street from the Middle School, he says, "Long-term
suspension. If a kid does something that merits more than a five-day
suspension, a 'superintendent's hearing' takes place. It has nothing
to do with the superintendent of the school district — we have someone
from out of the district who does them so there is no chance of
prejudice or favoritism."
Hudson Superintendent of Schools James Clarke says
the students identified in the matter have been dealt with according
to school and state policy. He explains that kids on suspension get
two hours of teaching a day at home, and if home is not a suitable
environment for learning, another place is found. According to Detective James Delaney of the Hudson
Police Department, the kids identified in the beating incident have
been brought in and issued appearance tickets. "The court process for youthful offenders is
different than that for adults," he says. "The kids deal with the
county Probation Department and then Family Court."
Principal Gavin says, "We have a little over 800
students. We have two groups — I hate to call them gangs, it glamorizes
bullying in their minds — of 15 or 20 kids each who are real trouble.
In the beginning the groups were formed along color lines, but not
anymore."
He explains that for space reasons, the Middle
School houses the fifth through eighth grades, and that is not an
ideal arrangement, given that fifth-graders and eighth-graders have
little in common. The fifth-graders are kept as isolated as possible
except during specials — computer classes, art and music.
Before his stint in Hudson, Mr. Gavin was principal
of a middle school in Austin, Texas. "You want to talk about violence?
We had two drive-by shootings while I was principal. Whenever we had a
drive-by threat, we'd have a building lock-down at lunch. There were
bullet holes in the school's facade." Mr. Gavin was assistant principal at the Middle
School for five years, then left the district for one semester. "I
thought I wanted something peaceful for a change, so I took a
principal's job in Catskill. It was quiet. A nice place, but really
quiet. It didn't suit my temperament." "I like action and I am a disciplinarian so when the
Hudson school board asked me to think about coming back, I was
relieved."
When he returned to the Hudson Middle School there
were meetings with each grade where the rules were read and explained
so that no student could claim the regulations were not understood. Then came the inevitable testing period: "It took
about two months before we all got on track, but it's a lot better."
Mr. Gavin, vice-principal Hakim Jones and
Superintendent Clarke say they are meeting the challenge of bullying
in the Middle School with action. "We can save the at-risk kids and that's where we
put the greatest effort. Mr. Jones is tough but fair and Mr. Clarke
has seen it all — twice.
"We have a behavioral psychologist, Kristin Plaia,
who came to us from Connecticut. We already have a psychologist for
the special- ed kids so she is able to concentrate on our at-risk
students. She spends time every day with the kids who have in-school
suspension and the rest of the time on the at-risk students." Ms. Plaia says much of her job is mediation, trying
to help kids learn to resolve differences without resorting to
violence. She explains that a student who is having difficulty
with another kid may come to her office and sign up for a mediation
session. The other student is invited to attend. She says that if both
parties are really interested in solving the problem, it works very
well. The kids feel more in control. This year Ms. Plaia has been training students at
the Middle School to act as peer mediators. "The kids respond even better to mediators their own
age than to the most sympathetic adult. I am every excited about
putting my mediators into the mix next September." Ms. Plaia says that the kids often drop by just to
talk when they are down: "It's important they have a place to come and
talk where they know it won't get them into trouble."
The school district has also hired long-time
educator and Hudson Alderman Staley Keith as a youth advocate to cover
the middle school and high school cafeterias during lunch. He talks
with the kids and deals with any situations that arrive. Gavin smiles when he talks about Mr. Keith and the
kids: "Mention any kid's name and he can tell you the grandparents,
parents, siblings and any past behavioral problems or good deeds — he's
incredible.
"Lunch is a key time for difficulties. We have four
shifts of 200 kids each and there is contact as they come and go as
well as time on the playground. Lunch is one of the times we have
extra security." He is referring to the off-duty police and troopers
hired by the district.
Mr. Gavin says, "Middle school is much tougher
discipline-wise than high school in a lot of ways. The kids change
dramatically in these years and there is a large change in social and
educational patterns. It knocks some of them off balance. "There have always been difficulties in the Middle
School, but its seems different now. It is more organized, more
planned than it used to be. Is it the violence on TV, or movies, or
rappers? I wish it were that simple.
"When Ron Barrett was here, the gang guy from
Albany, he said there were signs of gang activity all over Hudson,
especially in the [Bliss Towers] high-rise. I think the structure of
the groups is based loosely on what the kids see going on around
them."
Mr. Gavin says there are lots of things he wishes
could be provided for the students in his school: more interactive
education outside the school buildings and a vocational program akin
to Questar III Vo-Tech, which is expensive for the school district and
can take only a limited number of kids. He also admits he is no diplomat, agreeing with the
suggestion that he is more of a "war-time consiglieri" than a
statesman. "I want the public and the parents to understand
that the rise in suspensions is the necessary by-product of getting a
grip on discipline. Teachers can't teach when all their energy has to
go toward keeping a small percentage of the class in line. "A teacher this week came in and told me a kid said
how much nicer it was in class now that they can learn."
"Steven Spicer, associate principal at the high
school, came by the other day. He told me that every night he says
'The Principal's Prayer'. It goes: 'Dear Lord, thank you for not
making me a middle-school principal'."
By Diana Ladden
22 April 2003
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=7756833&BRD=248&PAG=461&dept_id=462341&rfi=6
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