Bettendorf Middle School has been the center of quite the controversy over the last couple of months. Some of the students have been terrorizing other students, teachers and staff.
At the last board meeting, these concerns were brought up. Many recalled the issues that they had run into over the past few months. Teachers are being cussed out while students are constantly being bullied, and vandalism is taking over the building. These incidents have gotten so bad that multiple teachers are resigning, and many students are unenrolling.
But what has caused all of this chaos in Bettendorf Middle School? There are multiple factors. For one, the pandemic has affected many kids in a negative manner. Bettendorf High School junior Sara Elias believes that the students lost more than just academic knowledge during their two years of remote learning. “Transitioning from elementary to the middle school is a big thing for a lot of kids, so when you take that important moment of their lives away, especially a moment where they try to adapt and become familiar with each other, it becomes hard to adapt after 2+ years of not being in school, and students who spend their days at home tend to bring those habits they have developed at home to school.”
During elementary school and middle school, mischief among students is normal, but the level of torment at Bettendorf Middle School is beyond childish misbehavior. However, Bettendorf Middle School is not the only school facing behavioral problems. With remote learning taking place over the past two years, students seem to have decided to release all of their pent-up emotions in the form of violence at school.
Elias voiced her surprise for how Bettendorf Middle School is so out of control. “They even had hall monitors during my time there, and our principal was so strict and would yell at us when we did dumb things,” she said. “We did have to face the repercussions, and towards the end of my 8th grade year we were about to get assigned seats for lunch.”
The uncontrollable students are not the only problem that Bettendorf is currently facing. Many of their teachers are resigning after this year. In Iowa, there is a teacher shortage which will only get worse with all of the Bettendorf teachers leaving. The state of Iowa drafted legislation that could encourage teachers to return to classrooms. Possible solutions include allowing student teachers to work as substitutes, eliminating required exams to become a teacher and creating an alternate licensing system.
English teacher Lyne Lundberg expressed the unlikeliness of these solutions being long term solutions. “About half of young people who go through teacher training don’t stay in the profession for more than five years,” she said. “I don’t think that those measures are going to fix problems like those at the Bettendorf Middle School.”
Though the post-pandemic effects can be seen locally, they are still occurring throughout the entire country. The only way to overcome these challenges is to adapt to them. With legislation and other helping tools, school can return to the peaceful environment it was prior to the pandemic.
