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Did this assault contribute to Mr. Burns' heart attack? To me, the real tragedy is that we even have to ask that question in the first place.

Attacks on local school personnel have become far too common in recent years. I know the principal at Page High School was injured pretty badly a couple of years ago and another principal (I believe at High Point Central) was knocked unconscious by one of these juvenile thugs.

When I was in school, assaults on teachers and principals were unthinkable, as even the meanest kids drew the line there. But now, you hear about one of these horrible incidents every few months - and that's just here locally.

Given this climate, the hostility the Guilford County Board of Education has shown toward law enforcement is just inexcusable. Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

I wish Mr. Burns a speedy and complete recovery. And I hope this punk who assaulted him gets jail time for his crime.

As in other recent incidents, we probably should not draw premature conclusions about whether an "assault" occurred against Mr. Burns. An "exceptional child" can get out of control without really meaning to hurt someone. That said, are there "exceptional children" in our schools who are prone to violent outbursts? Undoubtedly. And school personnel have to deal with them, sometimes putting themselves in danger of physical harm. And they have to help these same kids pass end-of-year tests. Tough job.

Doug, I'm not a fan of overdiagnosing problem students. Many of today's "exceptional students" are just yesterday's juvenile delinquents - except they have been granted extravagant legal protections at the expense of other students and school staff.

Whether or not this thug intended to assault Mr. Burns is irrelevant to me. He shouldn't have been behaving so violently in a school setting in the first place. It's like firing a gun in a crowded mall, then claiming you didn't intend to hit anyone.

And here's the big question: If these "exceptional children" cannot control their behavior, should they be in the same classrooms as other students? Would you want your 12-year-old daughter sitting next to a ticking time bomb? I know I wouldn't.

I would not use the term thug to describe the student without knowing more, but I agree that if he is prone to this type of behavior he should not be in school. He has been suspended, in addition to facing the assault charge.

Doug,

I read an article about exceptional children by an expert, and she estimated that 1 of every 10 children in the U.S. is an exceptional child. The term "exceptional child" includes those with special problems related to physical disabilities, sensory impairments, emotional disturbances, learning disabilities, and mental retardation. That's a pretty big tent. If so, it's not difficult to see the enormity of the problem that our school professionals face, especially as there is increasing pressure to "mainstream" these kids into regular classrooms.

You'll note that paid by the hour school attorny Jill Wilson recently scolded the BOE for considering establishing separate facilities for autistic children in the county. Sheepishly, the BOE changed its mind. I'm not really sure how Jill Wilson has so much authority on the subject, as her line of work is law, not education.

This is a difficult subject for school professionals, but one that needs to be addressed considering the needs of all of the children.

Thanks for the observations, Stormy. Children with all kinds of needs fall under the "exceptional" designation and put incredible demands on the system. We can't forget that kids who aren't "exceptional" have needs, too.

I have worked with so-called exceptional children for about 12 years. But soon realized that many of these so-called exceptionals have been been told by social workers, couselors and their parents that they are disabled and no one has the right to tell them that their behaviors are not exceptional. In the old Willie M program we had one guy who said we could not stop him from a particular behavior-but into a time out room he went. We need more facilities for students such as these and not put them in with the regular population until either their medications or behaviors are under control

Toby, thanks for your comments. How hard is it to determine when behavior is really stabilized and an outburst isn't likely to happen?

That is difficult to determine. Where part of the problem is lies with the concept of least restrictive environment. My belief is that many of these children should begin in a restrictive (that does not mean punative) situation. What I noticed as a 1:1 teacher of an 8yr old child is that they can easily be re-directed when there are few other distractions around. One thing I noticed with this child was that he was quick to blame others for any difficulties and-most noticible-was the fact that he wanted to talk only about his feelings. This was not something he just picked up on his own. Most kids can and do want to learn-but the regular middle or high school is just not a conducive place for them.

Thank you for this, Doug. Dad is back home and recovering now.

I really can't get into the incident, but I will say that "thumped" is a bit of an understatement.

It's sad for all concerned, but my father was doing his job, as he had been trained to do it. He was restraining this child from hurting himself or others, and he had to do it for a very long time before police arrived.

What's good is that he is tough and has survived, now he has to get better.

Thanks again for mentioning this.

Thanks for the update, John. I'm happy to hear the good news about your dad and wish him a full recovery.

Sounds like he needed a Taser.

Knowing my father, I don't think he would use a Taser on a kid.

I wasn't really serious about that, because I don't think school personnel should be equipped with any kind of weapon.

But, as you might know, we're having an interesting debate in Guilford County about whether SROs should have them.

Where someone is in danger of bodily harm, there may be instances when a Taser is the best means available -- certainly better than a firearm -- to quell the situation.

You're probably right there. Those who want to arm school teachers, or pilots, have always confused me greatly.

Here's a violent situation where the consequences of a stray bullet could be tragic (school/dead kid) or ctastrophic (plane / depressurization and explosion). I know, let's put a firearm into the middle of it!

Arming teachers: no.

Arming SROs: yes.

Arming air marshalls: yes.

Arming pilots: maybe. Or maybe you just want potential hijackers to think pilots are armed. If the 9/11 hijackers thought pilots were armed, would they have tried to take control of those planes? Well, never mind. The risk of a stray bullet would be too great.