It's unfortunate, but when I think of Milwaukee public schools, I think of violence. I know there must be some hardworking students and devoted teachers, but the frequent serious violent incidents are difficult to dismiss.
On January 26, 2012, a fight at Washington High School resulted in 12 arrests.
The following day, a fight at Madison High School ended with a police officer injured and 11 arrests.
On Monday, Bay View High School was the site of the latest public school disgrace.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Another melee Monday at a Milwaukee high school resulted in 12 students being taken into custody and cited for disorderly conduct.
Police were called to Bay View High School, 2751 South Lenox St., about 2 p.m. for a fight inside the building, Milwaukee Public Schools spokesman Tony Tagliavia said.
The students later were released, but they will not be allowed to return to school and the district will seek alternative placement for them, Tagliavia said.
No one was injured in the incident, the fourth in less than two weeks in which police had to be called to quell disturbances at an MPS high school.
A police officer was injured Jan. 30 at Madison Academic Campus at N. 81st and W. Florist Ave. shortly after officers were called to the school to break up a fight between a female student and a woman who came to the school to confront her. Three boys were arrested in connection with the incident in which the officer was injured.
On Jan. 27 officers called to Madison for multiple fights Tasered a girl who kicked one of the officers in the face during a disturbance in which 11 people were arrested. That incident followed a fight at Washington High School the day before in which 12 students were taken into custody.
The thugs involved in these fights certainly aren't at school to get an education.
They need to be removed permanently. They should not be allowed to drag down the schools and disrupt learning. Surely, some students attending the schools want an education. Some must have goals for higher learning. Right?
Those kids need to be protected. Their futures are at stake.
The thugs must be placed in a school that is meant to handle sociopaths. Sadly, MPS needs a facility like that.
I really have no idea how many Milwaukee public high school students are behavioral problems. Maybe it would be easier to have one facility to cater to the kids who want to learn and let the other schools remain as dens of chaos and violence.
3 comments:
We take these incidents seriously and are moving to have students who cause trouble like this moved into programs specifically for students with behavior problems.
So that you're aware, just in the few weeks these great things have been happening in MPS: Our students will benefit from a new $18 million GE grant; educators from around the state toured our schools to learn about our success in teaching students science and engineering and one of our students left to perform at the official GRAMMY celebration. Read about all those stories and more here: http://www5.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/dept/superintendent/category/news/
Thanks for sharing some positive things happening in MPS. I'm glad there is good news, too.
It's very disheartening that some kids are choosing to throw away the educational opportunities they are being offered.
There's a growing movement in the Bay View neighborhood to transform the HS into a college prep program which would appeal to a great many neighborhood kids, including my own. I'm not sure this could be accomplished before my oldest hits high school age, but we support it wholeheartedly. We've been nothing but satisfied with our MPS experience thanks largely to a great group of dedicated teachers.
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