Mon Nov 5, 2007 at 3:58 PMBy: alexander Corliss High School Video i know, it's true -- the narrator has some choice words about the proceedings. sorry if my warning wasn't clear enough.

Tue Nov 6, 2007 at 12:45 PMBy: George N. Schmidt Corliss High School Video Having been in the situation (of the officer) more than once during my years with CPS, I'm reminded of several incidents like that one. The most dramatic for me came with a young man who was a Black P. Stone (age 14 at the time), straddling the Bowen lunch line, collecting taxes, etc. When I told him to get to class, he went after me, grabbing my tie and resulting in a situation very much like the one you just watched. The principal was a little upset, since she only saw one sliver of the event as it rolled past her door, but when I explained it she understood. A partial picture is no picture.

When we showed up in juvenile court on the agg batter charge against the young man, his people (literaly "People") with the backing of some of Vallas's people had created such confusion that the State's Attorney said we'd have to go for a continuance, since I was "controversial." That continued for the next two years, until, finally, the young man was going to court (cases consolidated) on three or four charges, only one of which was the original agg battery on me. The others were unlawful use of a weapon and something to do with drugs (I think it was possession of a controlled substance).

Eventually, he was convicted on all three and got something like three to five years as an adult, because by that time he had become one.

After the sentencing, he followed me out of the courtroom, and I asked my lawyer to stand aside not knowing what would happen. I reminded him to stay at least five feet away, and that the place (the hall at 1100 S. Hamilton) was filled with people on "my side."

He said that wasn't what he was up to saying. OK, I said. "I wanted to thank you for trying," he said. "If I had listened to you then, I wouldn't be in this mess now. Even my mother led me wrong..."

I told him there was nothing -- absolutely nothing -- I could do.

"I know that," he said. "I just wanted to tell you that."

Thu Nov 8, 2007 at 1:52 PMBy: SW Side Teacher Corliss High School Video We should hardly be surprised by the language or the reaction of security. Most of our security staff are barely high school graduates, hired more for their size than for their professionalism. CPS security guards are generally thugs in blue shirts who relish the idea of getting into a confrontation with students and frequently use the same language as the kids and are often the root cause of tension in school.

Security in CPS is a joke. If we took it even remotely serious, we would have security professionals, trained to de-escalate situations and proper force response levels. Most security thugs today simply prefer the "tackle and handcuff" method.

As for the language in the video... welcome to our world. Most students have language that would make Gunny Hartman from "Full Metal Jacket" blush. But what do we expect? They are products of their environment. Their lives are filled with violence, profanity, and antagonism from police and authority figures.

Tue Nov 13, 2007 at 2:11 AMBy: hbckjbDN Corliss High School Video Yeap thats my peoples getting in that ass. Gotta take care of your business these young kids now a days will say whatever whenever and however and everybody knows not to pull it with the police(which happens to be my people/family) but you shouldn't dush out shit if you cant take the pain!!!!!!!!

Wed Nov 28, 2007 at 8:13 PMBy: Punch Corliss High School Video I'm a 38yr old, black male, and 20yr soldier in the Army. I graduated from Corliss in 1987. Basically the school, the education, the Southside and gangbangin students hasn't changed. If anything it has gotten worse. Some parents know about their kids and don't care. Some are strung out and don't care. Some are more ghetto than their kids and its a systemic problem. Anybody who is a mature adult in the city knows the real deal. If you are a parent out there and you think your unruly child is "THE INNOCENT", I invite you to do more research on them or start saving money for their bail. I used to be one of those kids and I told my parents the same story and they believed me. "Lawman" was probably a tad bit aggressive(emphasis on probably) but I wouldv'e handled it the same way. The majority of the youth in the city are disrespectful, undereducated and ruthless. I'm out South everytime I am home which is about 2 months out of the year and it just gets worse. I'm rambling. Bottom line, if the youngster would've just complied and been respectful that would've never happened. But, if you are one of the parents I described earlier your child probably does the same 24/7.