There are a couple of LAUSD schools in the news with some legal troubles for administrators and students arising from the way they handled situations on their campuses. That makes two high-visibility problems in two days but student conduct isn’t the main problem, it’s the staff being held responsible for actions taken, apparently from the school principal and on down at each school
The more recent of the two stories, can be found in the L.A. TIMES today, “LAPD probes drug sting run by school; Three Porter Middle School administrators were removed from the Granada Hills campus after L.A. Unified learned they had asked a student to buy pot from another student,” by Jason Song, 2-26-09. The administrators’ problem is that their crime fighting activity used a student in setting up a drug buy. As it turns out, you just can’t put minors into situation where they risk injury or you are going to be getting stung, as in this case. But that conclusion should not have been a new concept for school personnel. The principal and two other employees were removed from the school while an investigation continues.
In the same story, you also find the news that hit in the past few days that Taft High School was the scene of a hazing, that some might view as serious pranking, often used for initiation stunts. The problem here is that hazing is against the law, having been the cause of death for students in cases where the risk of harm became realized as the outcome in the hazing activity.
Taft High’s problem happened last month and six administrators were reassigned away from the campus while the investigation is underway and four students have been suspended. Taft students appeared on the television news as cameras were on the scene of the story. One student gave his opinion on the hazing, saying it “started out as a joke and then someone got hurt.” Another student said that it was “just crazy.” They were not involved, but like many students, have heard about the stories that circulate on campus.
The hazing involved the boys’ volleyball team, which was apparently discovered by the administration but they did not report the incident as fast as they should have- and with hazing, it needs to be “immediately.” Thus, you have another case of a principal with some staff being removed from the school for some bad judgment. The original story on that appeared yesterday in the L.A. TIMES, “Six Taft High employees reassigned over hazing allegations,” http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-taft25-2009feb25,0,6025693.column by Jason Song and Eric Sondheimer, 2-25-09. A meeting at Birmingham High on Tuesday of 450 student athletes and staff included some review of how such cases have to be reported immediately, according to the story.
This shows that LAUSD needs continued training in what the rules are and what the penalties are for employees when they are disregarded. When that doesn’t happen enough, you have violations and in some situations, a lawsuit with potential to have some large payouts by settlement or court decision.
The LAUSD needs to be more consistent in determining and applying the appropriate training for prevention of problems like the ones shown in the L.A. Times’ stories. Sometimes, like what happens with teaching students, the lesson is “taught,” but it’s not “learned” so that you now have inadequacies in education happening at the school management level. It’s another thing that LAUSD needs to put on their list of things to get done and done right.
"What about the costs for this?" Proper training to avoid such problems and to stay in compliance with laws, regulations and court decisions is usually cheaper and more useful than waiting to see if a preventable problem develops. That’s a lesson that can be learned by watching how the LAPD management approached situations- or more accurately stated, how they did NOT approach situations.
That is another decision that upper levels of management has to decide, namely, the LAUSD Board of Education, and if they can’t do it right, it’s litigation time for their own training opportunity.
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