Has anyone ever heard of the National Guard being requested into a school? (SINCE the epic case in Little Rock nearly 70 years ago)

[LuvOrlando]

Saw this today, never heard of such a thing. Don't kids get kicked out of school anymore, couldn't dangerous people be told to switch to remote learning so everyone else is safe?

"The four school committee members cite instances of students wandering the halls, altercations, and disruptions that have led to 35 teachers calling in absent."

https://www.boston25news.com/news/l...potential-tragedy/G2THTB6J75ATHB22GOWK6B3LSQ/

What is happening? The kids just trying to show up and get a diploma & their families - so sad for them

 

[tvguy]

Yes, I have heard it. This is from two years ago.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/s...l-guard-to-mitigate-school-staffing-shortages

And of course, most famously, Little Rock. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/little-rock-nine

 

[kdonnel]

I have often told my wife, daughter and their fellow teacher friends that they should be calling 911 everytime they have an incident with the kids.

Too many times the incident is hidden because it is handled by the administration with or or without the school resource officers help.

Teachers are having to deal with a complete loss of respect from the students at all grade levels. That loss of respect is often mirrored by the parents when they are made aware of the behaviours of their children at school.

"What are you going to do to stop my son from beating up other students?" is a quote often heard by my daughter and wife when talking to parents of kids with behavior problems.

Calling 911 would force the incident to be a matter of public record and make it much more difficult to be swept under the rug.

There has always been a certain number of students that disrespect the teachers but based on the stories I have heard I think it is approaching 50%.

 

[Pooh2]

About two decades ago, a family member told us that the National Guard was called in for a few weeks to escort the children from their car to the school when they were dealing with gang/drug activity in the neighborhood (Lawrence, MA).

 

[LuvOrlando]

About two decades ago, a family member told us that the National Guard was called in for a few weeks to escort the children from their car to the school when they were dealing with gang/drug activity in the neighborhood (Lawrence, MA).

That is just beyond the realm of acceptable. School is a privilege. The US introduced remote learning as an option and so now there is an existing recipe. Public Libraries should have all the resources needed if a household is too noisy or whatever so there is absolutely no reason for a class of 30 who want to be there to suffer if a handful are set to disrupt. Don't the kids who want to learn count? Can't argue not to intervene because this is any sort of a diversity thing when all the kids being hurt are the same exact cohort. I think the kids that want to get an education do matter

 

[lanejudy]

The US introduced remote learning as an option

Remote or online learning is NOT an option at all school districts.

I’m confused by your statements, though. Assuming remote/online learning is an option, are you suggesting the “troublemakers” opt for remote learning? If they are causing disruption at school, most likely they have no intent to learn, and possibly little to no support at home. They are in school because the law requires them to be there. Schools do the best they can to provide a safe supportive environment. With many areas cutting or removing school resource officers and short-staffed as well, it’s an unfortunate reality that an urban school may need support of the National Guard.

 

[porschegrl]

And of course, most famously, Little Rock. https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/little-rock-nine

Yes, my first thought was, who hasn't heard of the National Guard being called to a school?

 

[LuvOrlando]

Yes, my first thought was, who hasn't heard of the National Guard being called to a school?

OK, so I'll accommodate the confusion & changed my title, hope it helps with understanding.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Remote or online learning is NOT an option at all school districts.

I’m confused by your statements, though. Assuming remote/online learning is an option, are you suggesting the “troublemakers” opt for remote learning? If they are causing disruption at school, most likely they have no intent to learn, and possibly little to no support at home. They are in school because the law requires them to be there. Schools do the best they can to provide a safe supportive environment. With many areas cutting or removing school resource officers and short-staffed as well, it’s an unfortunate reality that an urban school may need support of the National Guard.

Why isn't it an option?

Brining the military into schools doesn't seem to be a reasonable go-to to me, there must be other steps like removing troublemakers from the grounds.

 

[disneyseniors]

Saw this today, never heard of such a thing. Don't kids get kicked out of school anymore, couldn't dangerous people be told to switch to remote learning so everyone else is safe?

"The four school committee members cite instances of students wandering the halls, altercations, and disruptions that have led to 35 teachers calling in absent."

https://www.boston25news.com/news/l...potential-tragedy/G2THTB6J75ATHB22GOWK6B3LSQ/

What is happening? The kids just trying to show up and get a diploma & their families - so sad for them

Unfortunately some schools are going this way.
Our high school has a new policy that to discipline the students who fight or cause serious problems. They can only be put in detention where they can listen to whatever music they want, visit with friends, and they have a councelor in there to help them if they feel bad because they have detention. No more dismissing students from school due to bad behavior. Nothing is done to deter these students. The lack of discipline in some areas of this society is now starting to show. I would home school my kids if I had any that age anymore. It's very sad and needs to be addressed.

 

[tvguy]

Why isn't it an option?

Brining the military into schools doesn't seem to be a reasonable go-to to me, there must be other steps like removing troublemakers from the grounds.

Well, nothing is 100%, but I would think it is an option still. The Federal Government bought all those Surface laptops for schools to hand out to students during covid. Microsoft last year agreed to support those devices for another 10 years. And thousands of them are still sitting in school warehouses. So I would think it is an option in the U.S., assuming students participate. And here there was an issue where some students live in (low income) areas that still have no Internet access. So the school district put mobile Wi Fi in buses in those neighborhoods and parked the buses in those areas during the school day. So those students would still have an issue since those WiFi buses have been taken out of service.

 

[tvguy]

Unfortunately some schools are going this way.
Our high school has a new policy that to discipline the students who fight or cause serious problems. They can only be put in detention where they can listen to whatever music they want, visit with friends, and they have a councelor in there to help them if they feel bad because they have detention. No more dismissing students from school due to bad behavior. Nothing is done to deter these students. The lack of discipline in some areas of this society is now starting to show. I would home school my kids if I had any that age anymore. It's very sad and needs to be addressed.

Here the public school district would pay to put troublemakers in private schools. Several of the big private school companies , like Nobel run special programs just for those students. They are segregated from the other students at the private school, but some benefit from these specialized programs and move into the regular portion of the private schools.

 

[EACarlson]

That is just beyond the realm of acceptable. School is a privilege. The US introduced remote learning as an option and so now there is an existing recipe. Public Libraries should have all the resources needed if a household is too noisy or whatever so there is absolutely no reason for a class of 30 who want to be there to suffer if a handful are set to disrupt. Don't the kids who want to learn count? Can't argue not to intervene because this is any sort of a diversity thing when all the kids being hurt are the same exact cohort. I think the kids that want to get an education do matter

School is not a privilege, school is a legal requirement that kids attend. In some parts of some districts the schools are not much more than daycares. The kids show up because they are legally obligated to but have no interest in actually learning anything. Then you take away the option for out of school suspension for all but the worst offenders, teach to the lowest common denominator and it's no surprise to me that the largest school district in my state has only 17% of students proficient in English and 11% proficient in Math.

 

[pookybean]

I wasnt expecting THAT when I opened the link... thats my high school . I graduated many, many years ago! It was rough then, and when we had to move there I was told a lot of stories and I was pretty scared. After starting though I noticed if I kept to myself I was fine, and I was.

Its a different time now, and the school is HUGE (at least the building is, idk if the population is still high) I could definitely see how having the national guard in there could help getting things under control.

I no longer live in the state, but I do live in the suburbs of Philadelphia which has school problems of their own. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and if it sets a precedence that can help other schools.

 

[lanejudy]

Why isn't it an option?

Likely a variety of reasons led to the decision — attendance issues, low grades/loss of learning, costs, etc. we don’t even have it as an option for snow days. Remote learning is not a good option for all students. For those who want it, there are online classes available but not part of the local school district.

 

[LuvOrlando]

School is not a privilege, school is a legal requirement that kids attend. In some parts of some districts the schools are not much more than daycares. The kids show up because they are legally obligated to but have no interest in actually learning anything. Then you take away the option for out of school suspension for all but the worst offenders, teach to the lowest common denominator and it's no surprise to me that the largest school district in my state has only 17% of students proficient in English and 11% proficient in Math.

The way it has always been was the opportunity for an education is a right, I get that and so a GED is always there and so are the Charter Schools, but attending has always been a privilege based on ability to coexist.

Not sure how we got to a place where it seems ok for kids to beat on other kids, I mean Children and Youth removes children from homes for that, it is mind boggling.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Likely a variety of reasons led to the decision — attendance issues, low grades/loss of learning, costs, etc. we don’t even have it as an option for snow days. Remote learning is not a good option for all students. For those who want it, there are online classes available but not part of the local school district.

Remote seems like a good choice for those who are violent offenders, which some video clearly shows. Best case, maybe some just need time apart from peers to cool off and figure out how to self soothe because the law is just a heartbeat away on the other side of 18.

We should be doing everything possible to dissuade kids landing in the hands of the law and looking the other way is not the answer, this just teaches everyone that might makes right.

 

[tony67]

Unfortunately some schools are going this way.
Our high school has a new policy that to discipline the students who fight or cause serious problems. They can only be put in detention where they can listen to whatever music they want, visit with friends, and they have a councelor in there to help them if they feel bad because they have detention. No more dismissing students from school due to bad behavior. Nothing is done to deter these students. The lack of discipline in some areas of this society is now starting to show. I would home school my kids if I had any that age anymore. It's very sad and needs to be addressed.

Its all pretty ridiculous.
One of my kids wants to be a teacher, and I've said its not a good idea at all.

We live in a reasonable nice place, but the schools are unsafe. Teachers have been attacked more than once, let alone students, it's a little too common an occurrence.
Having survived the local school system myself, I sent the kids to a private school.
It was not easy and we had to sacrifice a lot, but it was the correct choice.

Unfortunately my kids don't know how bad the school system is and don't get that they will probably end up in the worst school system for their first assignment.

Anyway, not long after we left the private school they implemented a zero tolerance policy for fighting, and an automatic one week suspension.
That is good if properly implemented. Unfortunately it was poorly implemented.
So if there was a fight both students were suspended, even if one of them was a bully and the other did nothing at all.
This was made worse by taking in some folks that were kicked out of the public schools, for free no less, and just caused problems.
So now even the private schools are having issues.

You cant bring in the police anymore for... reasons
.
So now they want to use the National Guard.
Not sure these guardsman want to even get pulled into this.
What protection do they have from being personally sued by the family of a problem child?
How many of them have to live in the same community with these problem children?
How many of the people in the guard are a problems themselves? I've seen a lot of that in the guard, specifically when I was in the Massachusetts guard.

And for those that don't want to have the police involved, there are a lot of police in the guard, so same people just a different uniform.

Not sure how we got to a place where it seems ok for kids to beat on other kids, I mean Children and Youth removes children from homes for that, it is mind boggling.

This was allowed in the 70s and 80s, it might be worse today, but it was always a problem.

 

[EACarlson]

The way it has always been was the opportunity for an education is a right, I get that and so a GED is always there and so are the Charter Schools, but attending has always been a privilege based on ability to coexist.

Not sure how we got to a place where it seems ok for kids to beat on other kids, I mean Children and Youth removes children from homes for that, it is mind boggling.

There is a district not far from me that announced it is going to start fining parents/guardians if their kids miss too many days of school. Completely agree that something needs to be done, but until districts are willing to admit that their policies aren't working, nothing will change.

 

[LuvOrlando]

So sad, if my kid was in this position I'd have them see a Dr to be evaluated for depression (how could a kid here not be depressed?) and then get a Dr note to request remote or online learning, maybe find a charter or just move.

I knew a girl being bullied in PA and her family had their child to the Pediatrician, child was diagnosed for depression then moved to remote learning.