Central Dauphin East Senior High School

My step son moved into our home last year & we had to sign him up at East for his Senior year. My son went to a high school in Virginia for 3 yrs & notice this school was smaller & more crowded. When he started he was surprised to see so many students hanging in the halls even after the bell rang. Once in class he notice most never listen to the teacher & the teacher never took attendence. My son who had issues in his last school took advantage of this & started to skip class. His mother called & never got a call back so she emailed & only got one response but nothing became of it so he continue to skip. When confronted about this he said nobody cares & he saw herion being passed in the hall so he wanted to part of that so again his mom emailed about this & again got no where. After about 3 months he called his mom & told him he was back in Virginia & not going back to that school. We hear about these issues all the time but after so many years you would think the school district would address these issues but have not. How many children are going to miss out on a good education because of these issues? School choice may be the only solution even if the district does not like it.
--Submitted by a parent

I had the opportunity to be at Central Dauphin East High School and at Central Dauphin High School. The Difference between the two high schools is heart wrenching. At East High teachers have to spend most of their time and energy on discipline rather than at teaching. Any teacher who can teach at East High for more than a few years should be given a medal for putting up with constant disrespect and lazy students - yet they are required to put up with it year after year. I found out that before the economy went sour, so to speak, East High had the highest turnover rate in the district. At Central Dauphin the kids are usually ready and willing to work and do what is expected - it's much easier to teach students like that. At East High, however, it's a whole different story. The majority of students don't do any work outside of class and many don t know what it means to go home and do homework or study. Something needs to be done about the inequity at the high schools. Maybe the district should look into having one 9th/10th grade building and one 11th/12th grade building.

I have sat in on classes in this school, and observed teachers that had no control over their class. The disruptive students were not disciplined, and the teacher would/could not remove them from the room. The students that were in the class that wanted to learn could not due to the incompetence of the teacher. I am also greatly disappointed with the administration at this school. They say they are there to work with the parents, but so often they will quote school policy and block the parents' involvement. They will go so far as to not admit to making mistakes at the expense of the child and refusing to rescind a punishment (detention/suspension) that they never earned. I will do everything I can to make certain that my other children will never enter the halls of this school.
--Submitted by a parent

The teachers are more concerned about marking a tardy than homework or teaching or addressing the real problems - traffic in hallways students blocking students, fights, blocking lockers. Homework holds very little weight and is rarely graded, which results in students not doing it at all and the teacher yelling at them for ten minutes and losing instruction time. This is not fair to the students who do their homework even though not graded. The focus at this school is testing testing and more testing. The purpose of midterms and finals in a high schools is ridiculous. The students are being tested on material they have already earned a grade for and now have to test for the curriculum for half a year. Most teachers have given up because of lack of support from the administration. There are parents at cd east who care but administration wares them down by ignoring them. over and over again. So for the teachers who say parents don't care look in the mirror ~ you too have been worn down by the administration.
--Submitted by a parent

I hate that I left my Senior at this school for four years. I'm now looking to pull my others from this horrible school district. It is not fair how the school board has drawn the lines between CDHS and CDEHS and created more inequalities at EHS. The administration has to face the problems and challenge those students who are there to learn (which is fewer than average). The problems in the city schools are moving into EHS and it is getting worse every year.
--Submitted by a parent

I am currently a teacher at this school, and I can tell you from experience that it is out of control. There is no presence of administration and the teachers are so overwhelmed with discipline problems that they do not stay long. What is sad is that there are a lot of really great students at this school, but expectations are low and grades are inflated. Most of the students' families do not value education, and their students come to school for the social aspects only. We need a strong administrator--one that can come in and set standards and not sway from them. This school will never improve until major changes are made.
--Submitted by a teacher

I used to work there and you wouldn't believe the grade inflation that goes on. Students receive points for notebook/folder checks, they get stickers for participation and points for doing flashcards in class and these are high school students. Some teachers hardly give homework and some only assess students by giving a minute amount of tests and quizzes in a marking period. Students' grades get inflated by points they earn while doing class work, such as graphic organizers, and not by what they really know. There are good teachers with high expectations at East, but they seem to give up on homework and things since so many of these East students don't do anything except disrupt the students who want to learn. Many students are rude, disrespectful, loud and disruptive. East has the highest teacher turnover rate in this district and no one one seems to question why.
--Submitted by a teacher

so far 2 out of 3 of my youngest children have graduated from east=)
--Submitted by a parent

This school has to raise it's academic and athletic standards soon or they will keep losing goal oriented students and athletes to the private schools. Teachers need to raise the bar, and be willing to go beyond just the paycheck. Some are fantastic! A really great school. Just needs some fine tuning and some major athletic changes. Nice campus and facilities.
--Submitted by a parent

Students who are 'middle of the road' or in need of specialized education are lost in the maze of miscommunication and mismanagement. Without strong parental advocacy, these students are left behind. Even with parental involvement, it is an extremely difficult journey.
--Submitted by a parent