Our Kids

The meeting I was dreading yesterday didn't go too badly. AND, I got to leave early, so that was a bonus. I toured a school here in our district which is, as the principal put it, the last bus stop. Kids who have been expelled from their schools for "zero tolerance" violations need to be going to school SOMEWHERE. Otherwise, these little darlin's would be out on the streets 24/7, going to the classes that criminals and gang members hold every day. There are about 100 middle and high school aged kids there now, and the system which is in place to correct behavior works pretty well. Every good choice is positively rewarded. Every bad choice has consequences. There are levels of behavior to earn. Security guards and cameras are a visible presence. The class sizes are small, about 10 students per class. No extra curricular activites. No sports. No leisure time. 15 minute lunch. 2 minute passing period. No exceptions. Most kids are there for a semester, but some could be there for the whole school year. However, there are limits to what will be tolerated, even in this place. The limit is 3 major infractions. Then there's a hearing. Then, you can be expelled from this school. And you serve your sentence on the streets. Or in jail. Almost every kid they have in that school has been arrested at least one time. The student body is disproportionately male and African American, although there are more girls there now than ever before.

Always, it seems after touring a place like this, everyone is thinking the same thing. Why? How do we have kids that are so messed up? The answer is complicated. A combination of factors. Because I'm working with a special population at school, I can see some things that might contribute. I know of a second grade student who already has violent tendencies. A cute little guy that could charm the socks off of anybody when things go well. But he's a pistol waiting to go off. Everybody that works with him sees it. We've taken some steps. Put some strategies in place-for example, he's not allowed recess, it's too unstructured and he's too volatile. Tried to get the parent more involved. Then, he revealed this last week his favorite thing to do---you read it here first---he plays "Mortal Kombat" with an adult uncle.