Description
Book SynopsisLocated in a rapidly-growing county in the southeastern United States, Peachtree Alternative School is a dumping ground for chronically disruptive students that regular teachers can no longer handle. The school has some of the toughest kids that society has to offer: kids who have dealt drugs, attempted rape, brought weapons to school, and made terrorist threats. Neglect, understaffing, and overcrowding create a volatile situation; Teachers survive threats, assaults, brawls, and rampages with their therapeutic philosophies barely intact. The Forgotten Room is a teacher survival story. It examines the darker side of American education through chronicling the course of Peachtree Alternative School''s tenth and final year. It offers a glimmer of hope in the safe zones created by hardworking teachers, but it is also a cautionary tale about the consequences of bureaucrats neglecting troubled teens. Hollowell''s multidisciplinary book provides a rare look at public alternative schooling in
Trade Review'The Forgotten Room' is a must read for those trying to understand why a good future starts in the classroom. * Wisconsin Bookwatch, March 2010 *
This book is an attempt to unwrap some of the mystery about alternative schools....The author is in an excellent position to provide insight, not only about the alternative school system but also the educational needs of and services for at-risk youth.... An interesting narrative. * CHOICE, July 2010 *
The author gives an almost day- by -day riveting account of her year as a substitute teacher in an alternative school in rural Georgia. We learn how "tough kids" can be treated with respect and given freedom of choice and movement by "creative compassionate, healthy adults who facilitate last-ditch learning," and it is a must-read for those of us who deplore the dehumanizing treatment of students in the rapidly growing alternative school mania. -- Connie Curry, author, activist, and fellow at the Department of Women's Studies at Emory University
Table of ContentsChapter 1. August Chapter 2. September Chapter 3. October Chapter 4. November Chapter 5. December Chapter 6. January Chapter 7. February Chapter 8. March Chapter 9. April Chapter 10. May Chapter 11 Epilogue
