Two Steps Back...More Machon Mizzukis Part I

Part I: The Crisis Deepens

Machon is the teen version of religious school at our synagogue.
In the past ten years, the religious school has been through a number of make-overs, each one of which was heralded with much fanfare,
and each of which was promised to improve the education of our children.
And with each make-over, it seemed that the kids learned less and less, until finally, a few years back, there was a parent tuition rebellion that led to more meetings, more discussions, more new mission statements, and more dashed parental hopes.
The ongoing mizzukis has included curriculum redesigns, changes in personnel, changes in rules, and an overall lack of continuity in the Jewish education of the children.

As you can imagine, this lack of continuity has been particularly difficult for N., as it would be for any child with AS. Last year, the combination of a too-large class and a rigid teacher caused us to make the decision to remove N. from Machon for the second semester. I blogged about it here and here. I was told at a meeting that the synagogue wasn't planning on meeting the needs of my child anytime soon, and I began to think about other arrangements.
Ultimately, though, upon the advice of two consultants, the Machon scope and sequence was revised (once again), the classes were restructured, and some accomodations to special needs were included (see description here). So, with a certain amount of hope that maybe this would work, we went ahead and enrolled N. and paid half of the tuition.

The first six weeks with a dynamic, professional teacher, went very well. N. was participating in discussions, he felt safe in the class, and he came home able to tell me--in great detail--about the moral dilemmas the class discussed. He also developed a relationship with the teacher and every week, he goes up to give her a spontaneous hug. Now that's pretty amazing for my sensory-sesitive "Aspie." And then, in November, the classes switched and N. transitioned to a new teacher. And things went straight to...Gehinnon*. Although she was a very good Hebrew tutor for N. in years past, this teacher is not a professional teacher. And there were a couple of rather mean kids in the group that let her know it. During the second class--which occured after the Thanksgiving break, two of the boys succeeded in driving out this teacher. There was one more session before the winter recess which involved a guest speaker, and then this past week, still another teacher--with yet another, discontinuous lesson plan.

*GeHinnon: the garbage dump outside of ancient Jerusalem where the bodies of children sacrificed to Moloch were buried. It is the closest Jewish equivalent to Hell. We do not have a concept of eternal damnation. But sarcophogi of children sacrificed to a false god seems equally aweful.

N. shut down. As I heard it, he put his head down in his arms on the desk and refused to participate. Fortunately, the substitute --who is also yet another interim director--did not take it personally. Since there will be still another teacher next week, she recommended that we put N. back in the first teacher's group, which I agreed to, although I do not think the situation is ideal for any of the kids. In my conversations with the interim director, I found out that there has been: extensive bullying of girls by mean girls, physical violence, as well as threats of it, and other nasty behavior on the part of a few of the kids. I guess that explains the letter we got last week.

Yes, I forgot to mention the letter. The reason that I had a conversation with the interim director was the letter. Last weekend, upon return home from a day in town, we received a letter from the religious school. It was to announce a rules change. Essentially, instead of a series of well-planned, well thought out steps for disciplining infractions, with clear rules and definitions, the rule is now this: if a teacher feels that a child is being disruptive, then the teacher will dismiss the child from class, the parents will be called and the child will not be allowed to return until s/he and the parents have had a conference with the rabbi or cantor.

Good grief! As a professional educator with credentials in special education, and specific training in classroom organization and positive behavior supports, all I can think of this is, Feh! The rule is arbitrary, easily abused, and most importantly, does not teach the children how they are expected to behave. It is clear that no one on the education committee has any experience in classroom behavior management. The rule gives no guidelines whatsoever to the hapless teachers, most of whom have no training in this area, and, in fact, have no training in teaching in a classroom at all. (I was once one of these teachers, before I was a licensed teacher, and I do not disparage them at all. They would not be there if they did not have the heart to share what they know with the kids. However, teaching groups of other people's children is a very different proposition than is teaching your own. Teacher training is aimed at methods for teaching content, but even more so at developing an effective classroom management system. Even more to the point, a school has to have a structure, and a set of rules and procedures, that support the teacher in the classroom).

Clearly, then, the "crisis" in the religious school, which has been deepening for years due to lack of competent leadership, has fallen to a new low. There are clearly serious discipline problems in the school that imperil the learning of all of the children, as well as their personal safety. And there is a lack of continuity that also obviates learning. For N., it is disastrous. His "aspie" mind needs structure, continuity, and firm boundaries in place in order for him to relax enough to learn. And even then, the highly academic nature of the religious instruction is still problematic. Shutting down is his more grown-up method of defense against the overwhelming sense of chaos that he is feeling. (When he was younger, melt-downs were his MO). But shutting down in the presence of an untrained "teacher" may well be seen as oppositional and disruptive.

We are very, very concerned.

NEXT: What Should be Done and Why