Schools obliged to offer support
I applaud Gregory Kane for his insistence that students enrolled in high schools with academic entrance requirements take responsibility for their academic and social success. Indeed, all students should attend school with such a sense of responsibility ("There's no room for hand-holding," May 28).
I fear, however, that he missed the point of Baltimore schools CEO Andres Alonso's insistence that these schools demonstrate support for these students before dismissing them from their programs. Mr. Kane calls such support "hand-holding." I call such support the schools' responsibility.
As teachers, it is our responsibility to meet our students where they are and support them through the challenges they face. Sometimes that support takes the form of counseling students to leave a program. But no responsible teacher would give up on a student without offering a reasonable amount of support.
I would also remind Mr. Kane that students can access a variety of supports in college, from office hours with professors to counseling centers. I don't see why we would deny any youngster the same sort of support in high school.
Mr. Alonso should be commended for insisting that students must succeed and that schools are expected to support them in doing so.
Wallace Tidwell appears to have been a model boot camp instructor for Mr. Kane. But when my sons attend high school, I would prefer that they be taught and supported by real teachers.
Paul J. Norfolk, Eldersburg
The writer is an administrator for the Howard County public schools.
Mandates hamper magnet schools
While I applaud the efforts of city schools CEO Andres Alonso to steer the Baltimore schools in the right direction, I'm disturbed by his recent decision to handcuff magnet schools' ability to remove under-performing students ("Magnet schools face tighter rules," May 26).
As a former teacher in the city schools, I've seen first-hand the impact of such a policy.
Allowing failing and disruptive students to remain in an accelerated curriculum inhibits instruction and degrades standards. In the process, it will force schools like Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and City College High School to devote much-needed resources to the needs of a few under-qualified students at the expense of attention to many other students.
