Students must be held responsible

by SamCogar Thu Feb 14, 2008 9:20 am

Public schools are disrupted because state policymakers allow them to be
EVERY year, some parents - and some teachers - decide that the atmosphere in the state's public schools is so chaotic that they no longer want to be part of it.

Judy Hale, president of the West Virginia unit of the American Federation of Teachers, told reporters this week that disruptive students rob public schools of an entire day of instruction each week.

The state needs to stop accommodating disruptive students and fix the schools for everyone else.

A proposed code of conduct for students sparked lively discussion in the House Education Committee this week. It's about time. The state talks a good game about safe schools, but takes little action.

In 1996, the state Supreme Court ruled that children suspended for bringing guns to school are still entitled to a free public education in an alternate setting.

This soft-headed policy discovered, in bad behavior, a constitutional right to an enhanced and personalized entitlement. This nutty finding has caused all kinds of trouble.

School systems sometimes look the other way when faced with discipline problems because they fear litigation. Other students, and teachers, suffer as a result.

There would be much less chaos in public schools if the state unapologetically held students to acceptable standards of behavior - and let them suffer the loss of an education if they refused.

Delegate Richard Browning, D-Wyoming, objected to the obligation to set up alternative education for the badly behaved.

"Why can't we say, 'If you can't come to school and behave, we don't want you?' " he asked.

Delegate Dave Perry, D-Fayette, was also for taking a common-sense stance. Once attempts to change bad behavior have been exhausted, he suggested, parents should get stuck with the bill for alternate schooling.

Of course they should.

Yes, all children have a right to 12 years of free public education. But rights entail responsibilities.

The state should do its job and end disruption in its schools. School systems should be allowed to expel students who repeatedly disrupt school, and parents should bear the cost of the consequences.

It would breed respect for public schools, and they need that to do their very difficult jobs.

http://www.dailymail.com/Opinion/Editorial/200802130193