Wednesday Morning News, Part 1 (Violence)
Chicago Crime Wave Claims Youth ABC News
More than a third of the victims of this past weekend's explosion of murder and mayhem in the city were Chicago Public School students, although none of the incidents took place in school.
Authorities search for 3 missing Chicago children Springfield State Journal Register
The school’s principal had not been notified of any order of protection against Casanova, according to Mike Vaughn, a spokesman for Chicago Public Schools.
Teen Ordered Held In Fatal Shooting Of CPS Student CBS2 Chicago
A 16-year-old charged with involuntary manslaughter for the April 15 death of a 17-year-old Chicago Public Schools student was ordered held...
Digg
Del.icio.us
Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 8:16 AM
Wednesday Morning News, Part 1 (Violence)
This was posted on the old site. Thought it might add to the discussion about school violence. The parent who made the post is rebutting the statements made by School Board President Williams.
We had occasion to see a clip of a CLTV broadcast that aired recently. On the program two Chicago high school students, one from Julian and the other from Simeon, were interviewed along with Chicago School Board President Rufus Williams. The interviewer asked a series of questions about how safe the two students felt while in school.
Both students indicated that they did not feel safe in school, that they feared serious injury or worse, and felt that they were more focused on the surrounding confusion than their studies.
There were several topics involved, most surrounding the issue of safety. While the program was somewhat enlightening and an opportunity for some students to express their fear and concerns about attending a Chicago public school everyday, we were very upset about the snide, pompus and disingenuous remarks of Mr. Williams.
He made several statements, all of which towed the party line of the Board of Education, that violent school incidents are down (statistically from pervious years) and that most incidents occur OUTSIDE the school. Mr. Williams stated that the Board insures the safety of students within the walls and on the property of all the schools and suggested that students need not fear going to school. He repeated this outrageous statement several times, implying that others were making more about the school safety issue than was necessary.
Give us a break! Where has he been for the past several years? Does he live in a cave and has no acess to real information about the state of the schools he is charged to administer? Is he merely just a political hack who is intent on keeping his job by continuing to skew and manipulate statistics to mask the real situation in these schools?
One of several things could be the reason for such an obvious misrepresentation of the truth: (1) He really believes his bull**** based on his interpretation of the statistics regarding "reported" violent incidents in the schools, (2) He was ordered by the powers-that-be, including the Mayor and Arnie Duncan, to maintain this falsehood, deny the obvious, and try to contain a public relations nightmare, or (3) He is just an outright liar who refuses to be honest with the public, students, teachers and parents by facing the issue and taking aggressive steps to deal with these problems.
He may not be aware of the potential consequences or the gradual toll on the lives of our children, their general well-being, or their emotional health in the future. But eventually, if this current climate continues without responsible parties taking serious measures to insure positive change, he may find himself a named defendent in a court action. A class action suit brought by parents, teachers and students against the Board, the City, and to some degree, the State, for failing to take the necessary steps to insure their safety in the public schools, is a likely possibility.
Although litigation of this type is usually a long and hard slog against entrenched and well funded political interests, it is our children that are paying the price. We need to force the issue and make the politicians, their appointees, and all those responsible for insuring basic safety in our tax-payer supported institutions, provide at least a modicum of security for our most important asset - our children.
Mr. Williams, Arnie Duncan and the Mayor need to take a look at Brooks, for example, and start making changes there - FIRST!
Let's see just how candid Mr. Williams is after taking an oath in court.
We had occasion to see a clip of a CLTV broadcast that aired recently. On the program two Chicago high school students, one from Julian and the other from Simeon, were interviewed along with Chicago School Board President Rufus Williams. The interviewer asked a series of questions about how safe the two students felt while in school.
Both students indicated that they did not feel safe in school, that they feared serious injury or worse, and felt that they were more focused on the surrounding confusion than their studies.
There were several topics involved, most surrounding the issue of safety. While the program was somewhat enlightening and an opportunity for some students to express their fear and concerns about attending a Chicago public school everyday, we were very upset about the snide, pompus and disingenuous remarks of Mr. Williams.
He made several statements, all of which towed the party line of the Board of Education, that violent school incidents are down (statistically from pervious years) and that most incidents occur OUTSIDE the school. Mr. Williams stated that the Board insures the safety of students within the walls and on the property of all the schools and suggested that students need not fear going to school. He repeated this outrageous statement several times, implying that others were making more about the school safety issue than was necessary.
Give us a break! Where has he been for the past several years? Does he live in a cave and has no acess to real information about the state of the schools he is charged to administer? Is he merely just a political hack who is intent on keeping his job by continuing to skew and manipulate statistics to mask the real situation in these schools?
One of several things could be the reason for such an obvious misrepresentation of the truth: (1) He really believes his bull**** based on his interpretation of the statistics regarding "reported" violent incidents in the schools, (2) He was ordered by the powers-that-be, including the Mayor and Arnie Duncan, to maintain this falsehood, deny the obvious, and try to contain a public relations nightmare, or (3) He is just an outright liar who refuses to be honest with the public, students, teachers and parents by facing the issue and taking aggressive steps to deal with these problems.
He may not be aware of the potential consequences or the gradual toll on the lives of our children, their general well-being, or their emotional health in the future. But eventually, if this current climate continues without responsible parties taking serious measures to insure positive change, he may find himself a named defendent in a court action. A class action suit brought by parents, teachers and students against the Board, the City, and to some degree, the State, for failing to take the necessary steps to insure their safety in the public schools, is a likely possibility.
Although litigation of this type is usually a long and hard slog against entrenched and well funded political interests, it is our children that are paying the price. We need to force the issue and make the politicians, their appointees, and all those responsible for insuring basic safety in our tax-payer supported institutions, provide at least a modicum of security for our most important asset - our children.
Mr. Williams, Arnie Duncan and the Mayor need to take a look at Brooks, for example, and start making changes there - FIRST!
Let's see just how candid Mr. Williams is after taking an oath in court.
By using this service you agree not to post material that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable. District 299 reserves the right to delete or move any material that it deems to be in violation of this rule, and to ban anyone who violates this rule. Reader comments are limited to 500 words.
