A Warwick Student's View of Lost School Standards
Mason Vitiello, a Warwick Valley High School senior, describes the decline.
Mason Vitiello has been in Warwick schools since kindergarten. He will graduate on June 23 and go on to Bard College next year to study music and political science. He describes himself as “queer” but “straight passing,” as he plays boys’ sports and is now dating a girl. He has been a member of the Gay Straight Alliance since middle school and observed changes in school climate for LGBTQ students and others over the years.
Being in GSA, he said, “is not a bad experience. No target on my back. But if you’re trans or seen with a same sex partner, you’re a target for name-calling, people making faces at you and online posts. It hurts to see people growing up tortured socially. Being queer in high school is a struggle until you get out, exponentially more for trans people. They get disproportionate bullying.”
As for repercussions, he said, “There are no repercussions. There’s too much to control. Teachers are supportive, but administrators are quick to kick things under the refrigerator.”
The pattern he sees is that parents are in denial, insisting that their children did nothing wrong: “How dare you accuse them?” is often their stance. Teachers then worry that tangling with parents will cost them their job.
“This leads to teachers’ apathy,” said Vitiello.
However, from 2017 to 2019, circumstances were different, he said.
“When I was in sixth grade, the policy was zero tolerance. Regardless of the content, bullying had consequences. But accountability slipped away, maybe because of parents and a lack of accountability for students in general.”
While strictness survived, seniors who had parking privileges would lose them for being late to school or absent multiple times. The more absences or tardiness, the longer the loss of parking privileges, with possible permanent privilege suspension.
“Now there are no caps on absences to be able to graduate. Bullying in the hallway has no consequences anymore. Rough-housing in the hall would get you in-school suspension before, which meant just sitting in a room for hours. It was mind numbing. Now it’s not used except for kids who make videos of a teacher altered in a mocking way or for fighting, sleeping in class, phone misuse, or drug, alcohol or nicotine use. Before, teachers would report a problem and suggest a punishment.”
Vitiello traces the cowed behavior of teachers and administrators to the political divide heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic. He points to the incident last year when parents gathered to protest masking requirements and banged on the doors of the high school. The potential consequences of their rage have likely been intimidating.
Concessions manifest academically too, says Vitiello.
“More conservative parents go to bat for their kids,” he said. “I saw it in biology class. The teacher had to explain creationism as well as evolution.”
Also, after Covid hybrid and remote schooling, student absences persisted.
“There was no way to enforce attendance,” Vitiello said. “Some kids had 50 to 60 absences. During Covid, teachers understood. But I have friends who rarely come to school. Some came about one out of four days. But regardless of their behavior, I expect their parents’ defenses to be accepted.”
Vitiello also sees students with failing grades pass—grades in the 30’s or less. Students headed for college make use of the district’s abundant educational resources to prepare themselves for a competitive world, but others take advantage of lax standards and do little.
Vitiello discussed these issues with teachers. One said he had talked with colleagues in other districts and heard similar reports but gleaned that the decline in upholding of school rules is more advanced in Warwick because of its size and affluence.
“We need a strong administrator who says, ‘Enough is enough,’” Vitiello said. But he has noticed frequent changes in school administrators.
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