Rockdale Citizen

"I am a teacher and I really don't care what the rules are. I just want students to obey them. If the county office says no hats or phones or earphones inside, then we should enforce it. My frustration lies in situations that arise when I enforce these rules. Most students obey the rules. And most of them that disobey the rules will comply when instructed. But when they refuse to remove these items, and I respond by taking up the items or the situation escalates when the students are belligerent, I rarely get support from my administrators. I have had students call me profane names and completely refuse reasonable instructions and our principals continuously back down. My administrators are good people who want our kids to behave, but it seems like something is blocking their common sense. It makes perfect sense to me to throw the book at kids who break the rules so that they learn to comply. It's like the principals' brains take a vacation when they get promoted. Either that or they are getting pressure from the county office to sweep everything under the rug. If I wrote all of the bad behavior I have witnessed in this paper, It would make your toes curl. It just doesn't make sense."

"Who's in control? ... We have-18 wheelers parked at Pine Log Road at Highway 138, and at Highway 20 and Carr Road, and the large used car lot located at Zingara Road and Hightower Road ... all of which is illegal! Isn't anyone paying attention? Why do our county/city officials and law enforcement continue to allow these properties be trashed ...with no one doing anything? All these eyesores accomplish is lower all our property values."

"A cloud of greed and division hangs over our country. While the special interests and the good old boy network destroys our country and the middle class. A do-nothing Congress. Wake up America."

"French students visiting Conyers? How embarrassing ... Surely someone will take them to see some interesting things in Atlanta ... maybe Stone Mountain?"

Editor's Note: Part of the students' visit included a trip to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Center and other attractions in Atlanta. Conyers, with its own points of interests, provided the role of a good host.

"To the cyclist that posted last week. Thanks for the information and video of your harrowing ride in Olde Town. Here is the video link again http://youtu.be/lWjqSIRmUAk We spent a few years living in Pennsylvania near the Trexlertown Velodrome. I've seen first hand the road rash from a minor fall and it is not pretty. I hope the Citizen will do a story on cycling in Conyers/Rockdale and update us all on the new law (I had no idea and have family that cycles) and how to share the road."

"As a teacher, I am in a bad place in my mind right now. I love my classes and feel successful in there, but it is so discouraging to turn discipline issues into our assistant principals and see them do nothing about it. I know they have reasons but they never talk to us about it. What is wrong with discussing the discipline issue with the teacher who turned it in? If you disagree with the teacher about a student, why not have a conversation? Tell that teacher that they should not have written the child up. Give them pointers on how to handle it better. It is not fun being stuck in the middle like this. On one hand administrators tell us to enforce rules and even seem angry that we aren't being tough enough. On the other hand, administrators dismiss it when we turn things in. I have been cursed by students and seen them treat substitutes like garbage, and administrators just let it go. I guess what I want is this: tell us something. Don't just let it slide. Every situation is an opportunity to correct a behavior. Mostly it is the student's fault but sometimes it is the teacher. We would respect you more if you told us. You may be afraid of us quitting if you told us the truth and that is a possibility. If you do not think a student should be punished for cursing me, that is a problem. I think many of our principals and APs are good teachers but terrible managers. I want two things from my leaders, competence and fairness. Right now I have one AP that is consistent with both but the other APs are causing me to feel very discouraged."

"Dear bicyclists. I have no problem at all sharing the road with you. However, it goes for you as well. Don't hog the whole lane just because there are more than one of you."

"It seems that as a school system we are judged by how much we've 'closed the gap' between the black students and the white students. According to the East Baton Rouge newspaper, that is why their school system was so interested in Dr. King. I have seen from King's line graphs over the years that the 'gap' is closing. What concerns me is the top line of that graph. It's not moving. The bottom line is climbing up (closing the gap), but the top line has not moved up in years. Who are these students represented by that top line? Why aren't they improving? We all know who they are. They are the kids that do right. They come to school and follow the rules and do their work. They are motivated by grades and want to succeed. If every child is treated equally in our school system, then it doesn't make sense that the line representing this group of kids is not rising. Surely RCPS is not sacrificing a group of students just so they can say that they've 'closed the gap.'"

"Read your story about the waiver for NCLB. You said that by 2014 the act would require that all students be proficient in reading and math. I thought that was the goal of school all along. Sorry state of affairs when our educators feel this is an unattainable goal. I think that an additional goal should also be added in that they, the students, need to have a basic understanding of our national history."

"I am very disappointed in Rockdale Water Resources online bill pay service. It seems every month when I go in to pay my bill ... it does not work. Today, I used the phone bill pay because the online site would not work. I didn't care too much for the phone pay either. Since this system is fairly new ... why all the problems?"

"First of all, I know it takes a lot of planning to correct traffic problems, but could we please get a larger sign posted, before you get to the entrance to I-20 on Highway 138, before all of us end up involved in an accident? When you travel from north Rockdale towards the interstate, there's not enough time to maneuver away from the entrance ramp going to I-20 before you involve someone else in the lanes to your left! This is especially confusing for our elderly as well as strangers visiting Conyers. Please discuss this with GDOT, if they are in fact the right persons to handle this problem? If not please contact the proper authorities. Thanks for listening ..."

"I would like to say I am offended by the constant bombardment of alternative lifestyles (LGBT) in the USA Sunday magazine. What happened to the old Parade magazine? Why do I care about what a lesbian is going to do for her 'wife' for Valentines Day? One week it is Ellen, the next week it is Jane Lynch. They can do as they wish with their lives, but why do I constantly have to be a party to it by this exposure to make their lifestyle more acceptable to the masses. I wouldn't buy magazines with these articles and I won't by a newspaper with it in there either, Rockdale Citizen."

"To the teacher who doesn't want her children in our school system, thank you for staying and working here. We know that our school board is not doing much to control bad children and is afraid to expel them. I do not know why. A good superintendent would know that terrible scores are always around the corner if behavior is not handled. This one just wants to ride the coat-tails of the last superintendent till he can find something better."

"I am a high school teacher and I have a great idea. It will boost morale, improve scores, and improve property value. Let every teacher submit the name of one student per year for expulsion. Then, if the student has more than 10 recorded behavior offenses, they are out of Rockdale schools. We would definitely make the news and good families would move here in droves. Of course this will require a superintendent and legal team who are competent and dedicated to fairness. Because our system is not fair to the good kids right now. I witness bad kids winning every day because of weak adults."