News-Record.com

These children live in a society that does not punish wrong doing. They live in a society that has low expectations of them.
According to those that decide they can only learn in a school miles away from their home.

This is just the result of this policy. If I was them I would be mad too!

I heard someone once say "the pipeline to prison needs to be shorter". This may be an example of that. At some point there is no hope in school.

How many times does the principal at Central need to be knocked down before something is done.

I have got two words for these kids.

BOOT CAMP!!!!! If they can't follow society's rules that's where they need to go!!!

Boot camps for young offenders are a good answer. N.C. should have more of them.

Doug,

Why don't you write about it in your editoral?

It is a vital solution. These kids need to learn to respect society and themselves.

Of course, certain people on certain boards in Guilford County would vehemently disagree.

Doug, I am unfamiliar with the “areas” in Greensboro and High point so you will have to fill me in here. I did a blog post on the N&R story about the Elm Street(he most violent area of G’boro) last week where I content that the neighborhood must clean up their own trash. I can not come into their neighborhood and do it for them. They must cooperate with the police. As long as a neighborhood tolerates this behavior it will continue. In this instance, I can not imagine an incident such as this taking place in the breezeway outside my door without me and my neighbors hearing it and coming to investigate. Yet the apartment dwellers played the three monkeys (hear none, see none, speak none). Brenda Bowers

Sounds to me Doug, that if they aren't already, these are exactly the kind of kids that should be shipped to SW High, like you've said before. My kids will straigten 'em out.

No, they can work on their GED at boot camp or juvenile detention facility. Vicious kids don't belong at any regular public school.

Now we're getting somewhere. Can you call Dot?

Doug,

If you are serious in your comments, then it appears you are in favor of juvenile boot camps for violent student offenders. And you do comment about the emphasis on lowering the suspension rate - and while you didn't state it - members of the School Board have stated their frustration with the fact that 70% of suspended children are African American.

I would be interested in knowing your thoughts on this disparity.

I would also really like to know how Deena would react if she were the victim of a violent event imposed by an African American student.

What I think is that dangerous or disruptive behavior shouldn't be tolerated. The 70 percent number isn't very useful. Rules should be enforced consistently regardless of race, gender, whatever.

That's problem, Doug, rules are not consistently enforced!

They just dilute the problem with moving those kids around.

They should not be in public school - end of story- regardless of who they are and where they are from!

Doug, your comments would not be very appreciated by Deena. Be careful. You might start something.

Doug,

If you would allow me to play devil's advocate, then I would tell you that you should not be so quick to judge these kids. After all, nothing in the article tells us the color of their skin and the events of their childhood. We don't know the cultural upbringing of the children. Your perception of violence of viciousness may be due these other factors. A deeper understanding of the situation is needed before we can determine whether or not the kids actually did anything wrong.

Numbers,

what do you mean? Its obvious they did something wrong and no one has said anything about "what type" of kid they are (black,white,poor or rich).

Obvious,

I was playing Devil's advocate. If you follow the language of some of the school board members, then you will see that there is great disparity in the demographic data of suspended students. One member states that perceived violence could be attributed to other factors and thus the explanation to the disparity in the suspension rate.

It is still a matter of this behavior being tolerated by those who have to live where this kind of thing happens. This very probably was not an isolate event in this neighborhood. The people get what they tolerate. There are laws for these vicious acts but the fact is these perpetrators will nto see any boot camps or anything wlse because no one saw anything to help the police apprehend them.

I work in a local high school and can tell you why these students are still in school. The state of North Carolina considers any student who leaves public school to obtain their GED, whether at bootcamp or local community college, as a high school drop-out. While this might be the best place for this student to move on with their lives, it is not acceptable to have them as drop-outs because the emphasis is on keeping the number of drop-outs to a minimum. Unfortunately, we are forced to try to keep these young people in high school when it is not always the best interest of the young person OR the students and staff. Many states do not consider GED as a drop-out. Perhaps, we should all petition the NC legislature to reconsider this.

One more thought - the punishment is not consistent because the efforts to reduce suspensions do not allow it. Has anyone on the school board or central office administration ever thought that these students are suspended for a reason??????? I truly believe it is not racially motivated but applied as the punishment fits the crime. Come on, folks, if a school has a majority of one race then those numbers are going to be high, simply because of population.

Instead of finding ways to reduce suspension, quit talking and give the schools way to punish students and parents and make it stick.

I don't know why you call yourself BirdBrain - you're making sense.

Can you say more about holding parents accountable?