The Violence Worker!

Teachers

In the past few days, I've been engaged in a few discussions concerning teachers and teachers unions.  To read or hear what some people say about teachers , you'd think a teaching certificate is an automatic entrance into sainthood.

Teachers are an import part of our society.  It's not an easy job, for the most part.  I think we all agree that most teachers more than earn their pay.  I remember my school years and the teachers that made the most impression on me...some bad, mostly good. 

We all have a teacher or two that influenced us.  I remember several and I remember a couple that were probably not the epitome of a good teacher.  Like any profession, they have their share of good and bad. 

In my discussions, I was told that not just anybody can be a teacher.  That is correct.  Child molesters and other felons are probably not a good fit.  I could be a teacher if I wanted to go back and get a degree and a certificate.  Would I make a great teacher?  Probably not, but I could be like MOST teachers and do an adequate job. Could all teachers to my job, probably not.  Some, again, would be adequate and some might be exceptional.

I was told that no one works harder than a teacher.  Are there hard working teachers?  Indeed, but there are also teachers (And I know of some) that just do the minimum and get by - just like a lot of people in every other profession and job.

Teachers in the Tacoma. WA school district were being asked to do a little more.  That was, of course, tantamount to demanding that they be imprisoned in their classrooms as far as they seemed to be concerned.  Why is it that a teacher can't be asked to do a little more with a little less like the us who are part of the unwashed and illiterate masses

The mere fact that someone has a certificate to teach does not make them sacrosanct.  It does not entitle them to some sort of automatic sycophantic praise just because they graduated from college and work in a classroom.  They are due a certain amount respect, but sainthood is not automatic.

VW

 

A Generation Lost In Space

The children are rioting in London and other UK cities.  Some say it's about racism, but the rioters seem to be just as white as they are any other color.  It ostensibly started over the death of a young man by the police, but it's gone way beyond that particular incident.  They are not denouncing materialism.  Indeed, many of the shops they are targeting are electronics and clothing stores.  So what is behind the rage and rioting?

Max Hastings of the London Daily Mail explains in a rather long op-ed what he believes to be ultimately the real motivation.

It was fun. It made life interesting. It got people to notice them. As a girl looter told a BBC reporter, it showed ‘the rich’ and the police that ‘we can do what we like’.

If you live a normal life of absolute futility, which we can assume most of this week’s rioters do, excitement of any kind is welcome. The people who wrecked swathes of property, burned vehicles and terrorised communities have no moral compass to make them susceptible to guilt or shame.

Most have no jobs to go to or exams they might pass. They know no family role models, for most live in homes in which the father is unemployed, or from which he has decamped.

They are illiterate and innumerate, beyond maybe some dexterity with computer games and BlackBerries.

They are essentially wild beasts. I use that phrase advisedly, because it seems appropriate to young people bereft of the discipline that might make them employable; of the conscience that distinguishes between right and wrong.

They respond only to instinctive animal impulses — to eat and drink, have sex, seize or destroy the accessible property of others.

"The have no moral compass" is perhaps the most telling assessment.  Essentially, most of these kids have been raised by the state which is ill equipped to teach morality.  The church has essentially been rendered impotent, both from outside and from within.  Liberal elites thumb their noses at the typical believer who, in the elitist's view, are misguided at best or incapable of rational though at worst.  The Church's only purpose anymore is to provide a stage for royal weddings and a place for old people to sit on on Sunday.  It is becoming increasingly common to find that your local Vicar is more atheist than not.  Not that a lack of religious belief automatically means that someone is amoral or that it makes you more moral if you do believe, it does provide a societal basis for morality and a reason for morality outside one's self. 

Nobody has ever dared suggest to them that they need feel any allegiance to anything, least of all Britain or their community.  They do not watch royal weddings or notice Test matches or take pride in being Londoners or Scousers or Brummies.

Not only do they know nothing of Britain’s past, they care nothing for its present.

Nor do they care much for its future beyond their next meal/sexual encounter/high.  In 2007, the curriculum in Britain was changed to be more "relevent." 

The proposals will see traditional timetables torn up, with pupils focusing on modern “relevant” topics such as drug and booze abuse, climate change and GM foods.

Churchill ? voted the greatest ever Briton ? goes off the required lessons list, along with Hitler, Gandhi, Stalin and Martin Luther King.

I wrote about this when I first heard of it back in 2007.  Forgive me for committing the cardinal sin of quoting myself:

The history of a nation is its soul. It is more than a collection of names and dates strung together in some time-line that must be memorized and regurgitated on a final exam.  History is a story that must be told and if you don't think history is important, then your own life's story is meaningless.

And it seems that this is the case.  They don't care.  They are spoon fed to believe that they deserve everything because it is their right.  They are held accountable for nothing and if they break the law, they are given almost no punishment in the hope that it was just a "youthful indiscretion".

Understand that all of this is happening here.  We have an appalling high school graduation rate, especially in our more urban areas.  Discipline in our own schools is almost non-existent.  Morality is more and more condemned in favor of absolute personal freedom. 

We are already experiencing this same trouble, albeit in smaller doses.  We have so-called "flash mobs" that invade a store and pick it clean in seconds.  I predict that it won't be long until we see similar here.

VW

Dr. Heather Wilson - Our Superficial Scholars

I do a lot of reading and admittedly, much of it is in the echo chamber of conservative blogs.  Most of us seek a little reaffirmation of our beliefs and opinions.  We like to stay in our comfort zone.  Humans tend to be pack animals, even within the relative anonymity of the web.  That said, every now and then, I come across an opinion or essay that stirs the intellectual juices and inspires me to do more than just just nod my head in agreement.  Dr. Heather Wilson's Op-Ed in the Washington Post is one of those pieces.

Dr. Wilson is a former Rhodes Scholar and served on selection committees to choose Rhodes scholars.  She has some interesting things to say about her experiences in selecting potential scholars and their qualifications for that honor. 

I have, however, become increasingly concerned in recent years - not about the talent of the applicants but about the education American universities are providing. Even from America's great liberal arts colleges, transcripts reflect an undergraduate specialization that would have been unthinkably narrow just a generation ago.

As a result, high-achieving students seem less able to grapple with issues that require them to think across disciplines or reflect on difficult questions about what matters and why.

In other words, they are incredibly competent and brilliant in matters of say - microbiology, but they haven't developed a broader view of the world past their pristine laboratory environment.  For example:

An outstanding biochemistry major wants to be a doctor and supports the president's health-care bill but doesn't really know why. A student who started a chapter of Global Zero at his university hasn't really thought about whether a world in which great powers have divested themselves of nuclear weapons would be more stable or less so, or whether nuclear deterrence can ever be moral. A young service academy cadet who is likely to be serving in a war zone within the year believes there are things worth dying for but doesn't seem to have thought much about what is worth killing for. A student who wants to study comparative government doesn't seem to know much about the important features and limitations of America's Constitution.

It makes me wonder if this is a result of our education system trying to dumb us down or is it a result of something a little less sinister?  By that I mean, is this a result of the education system giving students what they want?  In other words, who needs to learn Shakespeare if your goal is to be a pediatrician?  I can remember when I was a kid thinking the same thing, but as I've matured, I see the wisdom of a more rounded education process. On the other hand, many faculty leave the day to day running of their classes to graduate students while they do their research and write their papers in pursuit of tenure or immortality.

I'm told that in some larger universities, you don't go to an English 101 class, you go to a lecture with a sixty or more students.  You write a few essays ( if that) , take a test and you check it off on your way to your pre-law degree.  (correct me if I'm wrong)  Universities have become more like an assembly line.  In some cases, it's pay your fee, get your "C".

While I tend to agree with Dr. Wilson's seemingly anecdotal evidence, there could be other factors involved than just our university curriculum.  I think the problem runs much deeper than just our universities.  It's in our public schools as well.  Instead of teaching history or English, they combine the two classes so that they learn about half as much as they used to in those subjects. Most of them never learn to write a proper sentence, nor do they learn much history past a few specific episodes.

By way of full disclosure, I don't have a degree from a college or university, although I've taken a course or two over the years.  Sometimes I like to tell people that I'm an Oxford graduate.  I don't tell them it was Oxford High School in Oxford, Michigan; I just let them draw their own conclusions.  If they can.

VW

 

History? It's History!

I love history, but the study of history for most people is often equated with crawling on broken glass.  It's slow, painful and pointless – or so some folks think.  I will say that the way most people teach history is usually slow and painful.  Since our abilities to record history has greatly expanded during the last 200 years or so, there seems to be a whole lot more for students to learn.  In North Carolina, they seem to think that not teaching US History prior to 1877 is the way to fix the problem.

As the North Carolina curriculum stands now, ninth-grade students take world history, 10th-graders study civics and economics and 11th-graders take U.S. history going back to the country's founding.

Under the proposed change, the ninth-graders would take a course called global studies, focusing in part on issues such as the environment. The 10th grade still would study civics and economics, but 11th-graders would take U.S. history only from 1877 onward.

They do have a point. You can't teach it all and Global Studies is not history.  You can bet it is some politically correct crap aimed at making students less American.  I also understand the challenge to teach a world history class.  At best, only the briefest of outlines could be presented.  Even then, there would be huge gaps. When it comes to teaching American History, there is a similar problem.  There is simply too much material to cover in a school year.

One could spend years just studying the Revolution and the founding of this country.  To spend a just few weeks on it doesn't even begin to do it justice.  However, skipping it all together is just wrong.  As George Walden, a former British Member of Parliament, once said:

A country losing touch with its own history is like an old man losing his glasses, a distressing sight, at once vulnerable, unsure, and easily disoriented.

I would argue that the most important part of our history is our founding.  We need to at least how we got started and what were the issues that drove those men to risk their lives and fortunes.  If we do not know that, then we can easily be disoriented and get lost.

I'll also be the first one to say that the history we learn is often flawed or in some cases, downright made-up.  I'm reminded of my third grade history class which was the history of Michigan, the state where I was born and grew up.  The first lesson consisted of teaching us how Michigan got its shape.  On the first page was an illustration of an Indian kneeling beside the earth and placing his left hand on the North American land mass in order to slow down the earth's rotation.  When I went home that day, I excitedly told my Mom all about this exciting new thing I learned.  Mom, who happened to have a goodly share of Indian blood in her and looked it, taught me a huge lesson.  She pointed out that it was highly doubtful any Indians even knew that the earth was round, let alone knew that the area that we now call Michigan was shaped like a left palm print. 

Even though I have a great love for history, I learned a valuable lesson that day about what gets taught.  There is an old African proverb that says that if the lions told the story, the hunters would not be heroes.  I understand that history is often shaded and jaded by who records it.  That said, there are certain events and people that should be taught to students and that includes our founding as a nation.

Perhaps a better suggestion might be to make it two years, combining the second year with the civics.

Another point of agreement is that the history of the 20th century is rarely presented.  The events that shaped the last century should be required to be taught.  Ask the average teenager to tell you the difference between Stalin and Hitler and you'll usually get a blank stare.  They might know the name Hitler, but Stalin, who was an even bigger monster, hardly registers. 

History is not just a recitation of names, events and dates.  History is our story.  It is how we got to this place from that place.  History is what binds us as a people and makes us a nation.  It is as important as mathematics and grammar and to leave out  some of the most important parts of our history will make it that much harder to to understand some events that happen later. 

One last thought.  Why start at 1877?  Other than some Indian battles here and there out west and the swearing in of Rutherford B. Hayes as President, not a whole lot was happening.  It seems almost arbitrary.

VW

ELOI Alert: File this under "YGTBSM"

Teacher placed on leave for questionable Facebook posting

http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9781795&nav=menu1362_10 

You know what?  Present-day parents, and especially modern teachers and media types never cease to amaze me with just their....Eloi-like outlook on things.  The fact that people, anywhere, are "surprised" by acts of violence, with that stupid, vacant puppy-dog look that says "What is this 'violence' of which you speak?" God Almighty! (this little bit was not inspired so much by the story  itself, but by the station editor's blog entry and the perspective of some of the parents).  I call people like this the "first to be eaten" when XYZ disaster  (Posleen, Zombies, whatever) happens, because that's what their mentality has made them perfect for.

Lt Col Dave Grossman wrote a book recently called "On Killing" and he's also one of the guys behind the "Sheep, Sheepdogs and Wolves" meme that runs around the net.  I've bought his book but haven't started reading it yet, but I think I already disagree with his fundamental thesis - I think EVERY human being walking the planet, or the vast majority at least, has it in them to kill, or commit serious acts of violence given the right motivation and set of circumstances.  Even the Eloi-parents mentioned in the story, I'm willing to bet, would go to ANY lengths necessary to protect the lives of their kids, and I'm willing to be the moms would be willing to commit acts 10 X WORSE than anything the dads could come up with, if push came to shove.

Now if you want to argue that the photo, with the teacher sighting up the camera, is a little over the top, I think that's just arguing semantics, something else that the three groups I mentioned in the intro seem really good at.

Here’s something else: I see this story as somewhat similar to this one.

And here’s the worst part.  This will NOT change unless people like the woman in the original story, or Carol Thatcher in the second one, FIGHT BACK.  As long as they keep taking the easy way out – the “it’s not worth it” approach to fighting back, it’s going to get worse, and worse.

I’ve had it with the damn Eloi running the show.  It’s why I mean it, if I ever have children of my own, I’m homeschooling them, or at least sending them to a private school, Catholic or otherwise, that ain’t “ate up” like this.

Jeez Louise on a Sunday.

And if I seem disrespectful towards parents or what have you, bite me.  Any parent who teaches their child to be a drone, not even capable of defending themself or naive enough to think they can kumbaya their way out of every situation is a failure.  Teachers who do the same are grossly negligent in my book too.

Beware coward....

  I LIVE.

This is MOGS. 

You know, formerly of the soon to be late, great Diary of the Mad Pigeon.

VeeDub has graciously allowed me to hang out here and every once in a while throw down my own "unique" perspective on things.

I'm not entirely sure that he (nor the rest of the crew) quite know what they've gotten themselves into here....

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No seriously for a second, thanks to the Violence Worker and his gang.  Like I mentioned on the Pigeon, my contributions will likely be appearing somewhat randomly, but I hope to contribute to the discussion in any way I can. 

 RUN COWARD, RUN!  You can't get rid of me that easily! ;) 

Dumbing Down San Fransisco Schools

The future of any people/culture/country is in its educated children.  Therefore, what we teach children is as important as anything we do.  Successful students go on to be the teachers, doctors, scientists and politicians of tomorrow and the they, in turn pass it on.  Ideally, that is how the system works.  But when the system is corrupt and broken, the amount of successful students will dwindle and so will the odds of our survival as a free society.

In San Fransisco, the system is about to suffer a complete breakdown and rob many their children of a decent future. 

From SFGate:

San Francisco Superintendent Carlos Garcia took a first stab at putting his mark on city schools Tuesday with a plan that pushes the district to face racism and classism head on.

The district's strategic plan adopted by the school board 6-0 Tuesday night focuses on reversing the typical academic outcomes for black, Hispanic and poor students.

That doesn't sound real terrible (except that "classism" part) so what is the mission?  What are they going to do to achieve this goal?

Each school will be judged by how well it "serves each and every student based on that school's ability to disrupt the historically predictive power of racial, ethnic, linguistic and socio-economic student attributes," according to the plan.

Here's how this works:  if you are a rich white kid and you make straight A's, your grade will probably be adjusted lower to make up for your race and socio-economic standing.  If you are a poor Hispanic kid that speaks little or no English and here illegally, you will get a higher grade based upon those factors.

In other words, your grade will be based more on your race and economic status than your ability.  How else do they intend to make things "equal"?

This is nothing more than socialism.  The promised outcome is not better schools, just a homogenized that will completely destroy the desire for any kid, regardless of race, class or linguistic ability the desire to succeed. 

By the time these idiots get done with the SF school system, the damage might well be irreversible.

VW

The Indians Need To Get Over It

The Seattle school district is worried that our Thanksgiving celebration might upset the natives. In a letter to teachers and administrators, the administration attempts to throw a dampener on Thanksgiving

With so many holidays approaching we want to again remind you that Thanksgiving can be a particularly difficult time for many of our Native students.  This website http://www.oyate.org/resources/shortthanks.html offers suggestions on ways to be sensitive of diverse experiences and perspectives and still make the holiday meaningful for all students.  Here you will discover ways to help you and your students think critically, and find resources where you can learn about Thanksgiving from a Native American perspective.  Eleven myths are identified about Thanksgiving, take a look at #11 and begin your own deconstruction.

Myth #11:  Thanksgiving is a happy time

Fact:  For many Indian people, "Thanksgiving" is a time of mourning, of remembering how a gift of generosity was rewarded by theft of land and seed corn, extermination of many from disease and gun, and near total destruction of many more from forced assimilation.  As currently celebrated in this country, "Thanksgiving" is a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship.

Get over it.  The war is over.  Face it, whether you like it or not, you are never going back to living in a make-shift shelter, fishing and hunting like you did 300 years ago.  What little you are hanging on to in the form of tradition is nice, but the loin cloth, war paint and bows and arrows are a thing of the past. 

News Flash:  This isn't 1621, it's 2007.  I'm not much for math, but that was about 386 years ago.  If for some reason you feel upset because the white man came along and stole someone's seed corn, get over it. It was a long time ago.

Yeah, the European settlers were not always nice guys.  I know that.  My ancestors marched the trail of tears.  I get it.  It happened and nothing will ever change that.

This is a case of using 21^st century morality to 17^th century events.  It doesn't work.  When people try to do this, I often wonder how people will treat us four centuries from now.  Will they try to apply their understanding and advances to our 21^st century events and people? 

Settling this continent by the Europeans was going to happen.  Like it or not, they were a far more advanced society in both culture and technology.  Yeah, I know it isn't politically correct to say that because all cultures are equal.  Crap!  I'm not saying the Indians didn't have culture or their own ways of doing things, but we gave up living in tents made from animal hides long ago.

It's time to get on with living.  Be thankful you are living in a house with indoor plumbing and the only thing you have to hunt is a pen to take down a phone number.

VW

Hat Tip:  orbusmax

Old School

In discussing the situation concerning Tacoma High Schools with some folks, comments were made about parents respecting teachers and that would, in turn, lead to the student also respecting the teachers.  I suppose there is truth to that statement.  Parents must set an example.  It is up to us to not just teach our children, but lead by example.

I'm no expert on parenting.  Lord knows, I've made enough mistakes, but my kids aren't out burdening the justice system.  I'm not a trained psychologist either, but I think I know a little bit about human nature. 

How do we teach respect for authority when for the last 40 years we've been teaching kids to question authority?  How do we teach children to behave when in many homes, no one is home to teach them anything?  We have a generation of kids that have never lived in a two parent household.  We have a generation of babies having babies.

I know there are exceptions to the rule.  I know a young girl that has been passed around relatives and foster homes.  She's actually a pretty good kid, graduated high school and is a hard worker, but she is an exception.  For every success story, there are probably ten others that tell a different tale. 

Even for conscientious parents, it's an uphill battle.  Thugs and gangsters are in our neighborhoods.  Music that celebrates misogyny, violence and illegal acts is blasted at kids from every angle.  Sex is cheap and means absolutely nothing.    The Internet might be a miracle of modern living, but it's just one more way for the negatives of society to enter your home and minimize your influence.

Most kids are good kids.  Most kids turn out OK, but why does it seem that there is some kind of downward spiral?  Thirty years ago we did not have school shooters.  It isn't access to guns.  Just about everyone I knew – including me – had a gun or had access to one when I was a teenager.  We didn't even think that killing anyone would solve anyone's problem.  Columbine shocked us, but how many stories of bomb threats and lock downs do we read about every week somewhere in the country?  I would venture that it's become quite common place.  Here in Tacoma, we had a kid shoot up the mall and nearly kill someone; ostensibly over wanting some attention.  It's not getting better.

We have become a permissive society where anything goes and little is out of bounds.  There are no absolutes.  In many cases, we leave it up to the schools to teach our kids the morality that we either are unwilling or incapable of doing ourselves.  That's fine I suppose, but unless it is a private school that you've chosen because of its particular moral beliefs, your kid is going to get a lesson from a public school teacher whose values may or may not reflect your own. I've seen some of these lessons and some of the choices they use for discussion after the ideas are presented might not be your choice and in most of these cases, there is no wrong answer. 

In short, our kids are failing because we are failing our kids.  We expect little from them in the way of responsibility and then we are surprised when they act irresponsibly.  Our abilities as a parent is often compromised by the very system set up to protect children.  Tell your kid they can't go out and there isn't one thing you can do about it.  Threaten to spank and they will threaten to call CPS.  Your child will not respect your rules because he knows you have little recourse.

Frankly, I don't see a real good end to this.  The horse is out of the barn and it's a bit too late to close the doors.  The law is almost powerless and prison is often seen as a badge of honor.  Dominick Maldonado will spend the rest of his life in prison.  Essentially he mocked his sentence saying that we can lock him up, but his mind will always be free. 

Teaching manners and respect is passé. It's "old school" as they say these days.  In our quest to throw off everything in our culture that seems to be "old school", we are throwing out a lot of good.  I've purposely avoided the issue of religion up to this point because it seems that even some of our churches have thrown off the ideas of tradition, morality and responsibility.  Our neighborhood churches used to be moral anchors that tied us to our community.  Many are trying, but it is usually a losing battle.  The congregations are graying and while they continue to accomplish great things in our communities, their resources are dwindling.  It seems that God is also "old school" now.

Unless there is some kind of radical sea change in our culture, the "new school" will leave us lacking some basic lessons in civility.

VW

Dropout Factories

There is a study out by John Hopkins University that looks at dropout rates across America.  A dropout factory is a high school where 40 percent of the enrolling freshmen don't make it to graduation.  Part of it is through transfers, but the majority of those kids are dropouts. There were 22 high schools in Washington State that made the list.  I live in Tacoma. 

I checked the list of the high schools to see if any were in Tacoma and I was a little shocked.

EVERY REGULAR HIGH SCHOOL IN THIS TOWN IS ON THAT LIST!!!!!!!!!!

 

There are technically seven high schools in the Tacoma District.  Two of those are not regular high schools.  One is a fine arts magnet and the other is an alternative school. All five regular high schools in this district were rated as "dropout factories".

Twenty-three percent of the high schools on Washington State's list are in one district and it is every high school in the district. 

What is wrong?  Who do we blame?

I'm hesitant to put the blame on the teachers although I'm sure that there are some that deserve some blame.  Blaming the teachers is easy because they are on the front lines.  I think it runs much deeper than that.

According to recent news reports, the state averages about $11,000 per student – give or take.  The first response from the school districts is that they need more money.  You knew that was coming.

I think it's more than money or a few lousy teachers.  The problems run deeper than that.

The only child that we had that attended a Tacoma high school dropped out in the 10^th grade.  She is a statistic in this mess.  To her credit, she went on to get her GED and is now in vocational school. 

She dropped out mainly because of the violence.  She was attacked in the hallway by another girl. That said, I asked her and her boyfriend what they thought was the reason for such a high dropout rate. 

Our daughter said (predictably) that it was the violence, but interestingly, she specifically said black on black violence by black females aimed at other black females.  Our daughter is African-American

Her boyfriend is a really nice young man that graduated and has some college behind him.  He is African-American as well.  He had a different take.  He attended two different high schools in town.  He attended the same one as our daughter and graduated from another across town.  He felt that what they were teaching him wasn't relevant to real life. 

My wife and I have discussed the relevancy problem in the past and we agree.  Not every kid is college material and that has nothing to do with intelligence.  People are different.  They have different interests and those interests might lead kids in other directions then college.  A kid who wants to be an auto mechanic doesn't need calculus and a kid interested in becoming an accountant is not usually going to want to take metal shop.  College is a great goal, but some kids just are not going to go.

The curriculum needs to be relevant to the students and teachers must be enthusiastic.  But that isn't the whole problem.

There is no discipline besides having a policeman in the halls.  The kids don't respect authority and if the school tries to enforce any, nothing really happens.  Maybe they'll get detention, maybe they'll get expelled and maybe the kid really doesn't give a damn because of biggest problem of all and that is parents.

Parents do not support the teachers and the administrators.  If the school tries to enforce the rules, parents threaten to sue.  They can't hold the kids back, a law suit will entail.  Nothing is wrong with their kid, he or she is perfect.  There are parents that are on the other end of the spectrum and they are the ones who don't really care.  Indeed, some of these  kids may not even be living in a home!

However, when you have every one of your schools show up on this list, it isn't just one reason.  It means that there is most likely a laundry list of things and it starts with the School board and works its way down.

Everyone on that school board should be voted out and the Superintendent should be fired.  The new superintendent should be given two years to turn it around or get the boot.  He or she should have experience in turning around a problem district.   

Essentially, they need to start from the ground up.

Better yet, they should all just hand in their resignations out of sheer embarrassment.

VW