by Sylvia Maria Gross
NARRATION: Kathy Shorr taught art last year at MS 222 in Mott Haven. She was not surprised when it was one of only two middle schools included in what the city's tabloids are calling "the dirty dozen."
TAPE: SHORR: Teachers were assaulted, students were assaulted, things thrown, things being said that shouldn't be said--so the whole school has this feeling of chaos and craziness.
NARRATION: Shorr had taught at another middle school in the same neighborhood, but the turmoil at MS 222 shocked her.
TAPE: SHORR: The chancellor would never really know what was going on inside these schools because if he even came in for a visit instead of saying, like,"Wow, we need help here, this is a bad place," they would go just the opposite way and act like everything is fine and wonderful.
NARRATION: So last January, Shorr began sending daily emails to schools chancellor Joel Klein describing both the dangerous and the mundane--windows punched out, her broom stolen, meetings with frustrated parents and apathetic administrators. She wrote consistently until June and Klein often responded from his Blackberry handheld.
TAPE: SHORR: It helped him a lot and it helped me. There was no way in hell I was going back to that school but if I did nothing else I wanted someone to know what was going on.
NARRATION: When Bloomberg publicly announced the new security measures a year later, Klein emailed Shorr, "Glad your impact on me is now apparent."
But not everyone agrees that increased policing will improve MS 222. The music teacher, who didn't want her name used, is a veteran at the school after only a year and a half.
TAPE: BARNETT: You're telling them they're bad-as educators you're taught not to label students, but then you can label a whole school as dangerous, when maybe it's a small group of children whose behavior is inappropriate and they're not always treated as children, and now you have tons of police officers walking the halls.
NARRATION: In three years, the population of MS 222 has gone from 200 to over 1000 students and nearly all the original teachers have left. The fourth principal during that time began this January.
Staff, parents, and children are still sorting out responsibilities.
TAPE: BARNETT: A common complaint that I hear from parents and other teachers is that there's a lot of standing around on the part of security guards, so teachers who are really struggling with their classroom or speak to the security in a derogatory manner will never get any help here . . . I can't name a person who's content here.
TAPE: sounds of kids laughing and running at dismissal - runs under the narration until the next actuality
NARRATION: At the end of the school day, a dozen security and police officers stand outside, moving kids along.
TAPE: beep beep beep from police vehicle
NARRATION: Constancia Matos waits across the street for her 13-year-old grand-daughter, Genesis.
TAPE: MATOS: Le cayeron grupos de 7 o 8 ninos dentro de la escuela . . . de la policia pa'ca esta mas tranquilo, pero como quiera, no confio, vengo.
TAPE: TRANSLATION: She's been jumped by 7 or 8 kids inside the school. Since the police arrived, it's been calmer - but I still come every day, to be sure.
NARRATION: After only a month, MS 222 is somewhat safer, but most students are still waiting for the teaching to begin. For Columbia Radio News, this is Sylvia Maria Gross.
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