The teacher who has to lock her door during lunch time - by Harry K. & Rosemary Wong

[Teachers.Net]

The teacher who has to lock her door during lunch time http://teachers.net/wong/NOV09/

In 1988 New Jersey became the first state to enact legislation to take
over schools that were underperforming or fiscally mismanaged.

Griselda Almonte teaches in the Paterson, New Jersey, school system.
Paterson has the distinction of being the second school system to be
seized by the state, and is still under state control.

Once a thriving industrial city, Paterson is now an urban area of high
unemployment with small family-owned businesses making up the bulk of
the economy.

• Paterson Public Schools is one of the poorest school districts in
New Jersey.
• There are no resources for teachers to use in their classrooms.
• While always considered a melting pot of ethnicity, more than 50%
of the
population is Hispanic, 32% is African-American, with a remainder
of Syrians,
Lebanese, Chechen, Arabs, Turks, Native Americans, and others.
• Griselda has to lock her classroom door at lunch.
What?!? Why does Griselda lock her classroom door at lunch? You might
be surprised!
http://teachers.net/wong/NOV09/