Mr. Roy Rabold, principal of Whitewater High School, announced that he plans to retire this year. After 42 years in education, with 31 of those years in Fayette County, he had some words of wisdom to share. His concerns about the future of education were threefold: teaching time, discipline, and the proliferation of laws, rules, and regulations.
Teaching time has diminished as schools are overwhelmed with extra duties. They must practice for lockdowns, be trained in how to administer Epi-pins, and attend child abuse trainings. These are just some of the items that take away from teaching. Testing windows take up more days than ever before, cutting even further into the time teachers have to teach. Most of these requirements come from laws passed by the federal government.
Teachers are being asked to do more for their students, things that parents should be able to do for their kids. We are asking educators to do these things.
Legislation is also causing us to lose discipline in schools. One of the bills introduced prohibits schools from putting a student in the alternative school for more than two semesters.
Formerly, fighting in school was an automatic 5-day suspension, and the student was arrested. That was changed to a 3-day suspension. It is the principal’s call on arresting the student, but principals are being told that they don’t want the students arrested and they catch flack if they choose to do so. Discipline is extremely important. Mr. Rabold is a firm believer in what Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall said, “Without discipline there is no learning.”
Mr. Rabold believes that school is a reflection of society. The more society becomes lax and the principals are asked to become lax, that is going to take away from education. Rabold says, “You have to give kids boundaries, and if you give them boundaries, they will live within those boundaries. If all you do is positive reinforcement, kids don’t know what the boundaries are.”
“I am a Republican, but I think Republicans are trying to kill public education,” says Rabold. Other schools don’t have to follow the same rules and regulations that public schools do, they can just educate. They don’t have to accept students back from the alternative school with no recourse after two semesters. They don’t have to take time out of class to do suicide prevention. In private schools they don’t have to use Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) or Response to Intervention (RTI), both federal programs. They don’t have to worry about all the extra duties, they can teach. If cutting the rules and regulations is beneficial, why can’t they eliminate them for all schools?
I want to thank Mr. Rabold for his work at Whitewater High School. He is well respected — by teachers, students, and parents alike — with good reason. He has done a tremendous job and he will be dearly missed next fall. I tried to convince him to stay, but to no avail. Let us express our gratitude for all that he has done for the students. Many thanks for the words of wisdom.
Mary Kay Bacallao
Educational Freedom Coalition
www.EducationalFreedomCoalition.com
Fayetteville, Ga.
