The mess in St. Paul

 "If I had ever laid a hand on a teacher, I would have been gone forever."

I just asked my retired school teacher wife this morning if she would like to go back to work and teach in the St. Paul School District. She declined. The once proud St. Paul School District is now going the way of the Minneapolis School District - downhill fast.

The district is out of control. Violence, protests, arguments, you name it. Everything except learning. And who are the big losers? First off the kids who either don't graduate or graduate with a dumbed down curriculum which is not worth the paper it is printed on. And the teachers? It is a war zone. Assaults, fights, mayhem. One ended up with a TBI after an assault by a student. All because the superintendent wanted to try some social engineering by making discipline obsolete.

Now everyone is involved in the confusion of what used to pass as a school district. Even our friends at BLM. If parents really wanted to protest what is going on in St. Paul, they should protest the School Board for hiring someone who does not seem interested in teacher safety. Or if the kids are REALLY learning. And money is not the problem. St. Paul gets a boatload of money from the taxpayers to continue this injustice to the kids. 

What would I do if were king? First off, I would fire the Superintendent. Like yesterday. Next, I would replace the school board. Then I would establish strict standards of behavior while on school property. Kind of like when I was a kid. If I had ever laid a hand on a teacher, I would have been gone forever. Plus, my folks would have probably disowned me.

Finally, here is the big one. At the start of the school year I would have a meeting with all students and their parent(s) or guardian(s). Here are the rules, here are the expectations, here are the academic standards. If you want to learn and excel, you are in the right place. If not, there is the door. Go enroll someplace else. And bad behavior has zero tolerance. There are severe consequences, up to and including expulsion.

That is my plan. Every day in the paper we see how the current plan is working - or not working at all.