Moss: We spent months investigating conditions in the schools and found many, many problems. There is a critical lack of textbooks such that students are only rarely able to take them home, and in many instances cannot take books home at all. This makes it very difficult for children to complete homework, constrains the nature of homework that can be assigned, and requires that valuable classroom time be allotted so that students can do homework. Many textbooks are outdated and in unacceptable condition. Often, students must share them in the class, undermining their ability to learn at their own pace. There is a critical lack of paper and copying machines in the schools. Teachers at Barber and Ford must make their own copies at their own expense which means that what happens in the classroom is invariably affected by a teachers' personal finances and willingness to procure copies on their own.
The conditions that the children learn in are unconscionable. Many classrooms have no or inadequate heat. During winter, students reported having to wear their parkas and gloves in class, impeding their ability to concentrate and learn. Barber and Ford have no counselors or vice principals. This prevents these schools from developing sensitivity to individual needs of students, offering them meaningful academic assistance, working with teachers to develop effective classroom management skills and practices, and permitting principals to fulfill their responsibilities as instructional leaders by having to take on other roles. As a result, classroom time for many core curricular subject areas is not efficiently utilized and students idly spend many hours each week left to their own devices rather than receiving needed instruction and learning assistance.
We have heard reports that one 7th grade class at Barber had over 50 students for an entire semester and students had to sit on the floor or stand at the back of the classroom. The bathrooms are not properly maintained, often smeared with feces, lack toilet paper and paper towels, and are missing stall doors and other fixtures. School buildings are unsecured such that a homeless man was able to live and sleep in the facilities without detection by school officials. Classrooms and hallways are often filthy and damp from leaks. The libraries within these schools are inadequately resourced with books and staff, often closed, and students sometimes prohibited from checking out books.
And for anyone that might want to help individual students, their individual files typically do not include assessments of grade level performance, current and post MEAP assessments, counseling records, attendance records or discipline records. Student files are not readily accessible to parents as mandated by Federal and State law, and school personnel sometimes actively resist disclosing their contents.
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