Persistently Dangerous

Violence in Baltimore City Public Schools has become an expected, perhaps even accepted occurrence. With the latest, most publicized attack by a student on an art teacher at Reginald F. Lewis High School, school violence has taken on a high profile status. The most remarkable part of the story for me is how unremarkable the event was in a conversation I had with fellow teachers in Baltimore City.

After watching news clips together reporting the attack, there were multiple people who shared similar stories of student on teacher violence in their schools and other schools across the city. I myself had filed assault charges earlier that day after being struck in the face with a bin of protractors during my last period class. The conversation had a somber tone as we discussed the violence in Baltimore City, but not one person expressed surprise when hearing about the attack.

Don’t get me wrong; we have great kids here in Baltimore City. Most of the kids I teach are really fantastic. Even the knuckleheads that throw bins of math manipulatives at you while you’re attempting to help a student at their desk, really can be great a lot of the time. But there is definitely a higher norm of accepted violence in schools. And students will continue to toe the line to see what they can get away with until a clear line is drawn that they are not allowed to cross.

One obstacle in drawing that line is the label of “dangerous” or “persistently dangerous” school. This label is awarded based on the number of suspensions for violent offenses that occur within the school year. Earlier this year five schools in Baltimore were recipients of this label, although there are likely others that should qualify. In an article in USA Today, Program to Identify Most Dangerous Schools Misses Mark, (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-01-18-dangerousschools_x.htm) school and district leaders in various parts of the country speculate that under-reporting of violent offenses is done so that schools can avoid the label. According to Inside Ed (http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/education/blog/2007/08/report_questions_persistently.html), teachers and principles in the state of Maryland report that this is very well the case.

If we are to improve the situation of violence in our schools, we must first acknowledge that the problem is real. Schools then need to develop a system to address the problem of school violence and be faithful in following that system, even if there are unfavorable labels connected to strict enforcement. Only then will students be able to see the line they are not to cross. With the line drawn, we can then work towards creating a safe environment for our kids.