Going Through a Divorce? How to Ensure Your Child's Continued Success in Public Schools

The consequences for school fights may no longer be limited to a visit to the principal’s office and detention. In light of the last decade’s rise in school violence, many students find themselves facing legal consequences for their misbehavior on campus.

In years past, school fights and bullying would only result in school-based punishments, such as suspension or detention. Today, however, a rising number of middle school and high school teens are being arrested for their in-school malfeasances.

School Fights: The Rising Threat

Public schools nationwide report more severe punishments for school fights and student misbehavior. For example, WRAL News of Wake County, North Carolina, reported that three students were arrested after several fights erupted at the Knightdale High School. According to reports, the police were called to the school after multiple fights broke out among students.

Allegedly, one 16-year-old student and another 17-year-old student were engaged in crimes such as “disorderly conduct” and “simple affray,” resulting in the two students’ arrests. In addition, an older 18-year-old student was also arrested, as this particular student allegedly tried to join in the fight, and reports also suggest that the 18-year-old student “Took a swing at an officer who was trying to detain him.”

While students 18 and older are understandably tried as adults, many community members question whether the 16 and 17-year-old students should have been similarly reprimanded, as they are technically minors.

This video discusses how to deal with fighting in

Police officers are commonly seen in high schools and many middle schools, but is the trend now spreading to our public elementary schools? Indeed, some school and police leaders are working to increase the number of officer positions in public schools—regardless of the age range of the school’s students.

Increasing Police Presence in Public Schools

While the title “school resource officer” may sound unfamiliar to those who graduated from high school more than 10 years ago, positions for police officers in schools are quite commonplace today. As All Academic explains, School Resource Officers (SROs) have been appearing in schools across the country at steadily rising rates in recent years.

Ideally, the SROs are available to help provide leadership examples for all students on campus; however, their influence in the schools can certainly have an impact that extends beyond these intentions. SROs are usually hired and paid by the local police force (not by the local schools), and subsequently, many believe that “The presence of these officers shapes the school social climate and students’ legal socialization.”

Interestingly, however, some high schools have reported an increase in student misbehaviors after officers have been assigned to the campus. Subsequently, many elementary school leaders are experimenting with SROs in the hopes that “legal socialization” at an early age can help prevent behavior problems in the middle and high school years. These proponents believe that teaching elementary students the benefits of law enforcement professionals will translate into

Did you know that student dropout rates are still continuing to rise in some of the United States' most populated areas? According to Fox News, America's Promise Alliance reveals that in many urban areas, approximately half of public school students do not earn their high school diplomas. This report further found that 17 of the nation's 50 largest cities have graduation rates below 50 percent. Among the lowest cities are Detroit, Indianapolis, and Cleveland. In examining this crisis on a larger spectrum, only 70 percent of the United States' high school students graduate on schedule each year, and 1.2 million students opt to drop out of school each year. Although the current dropout epidemic is bleak, some school leaders have fortunately found programs to help transform their negative graduation rates.

This video reports on America's dropout epidemic.

Solving the Country's Educational Crisis

In response to the grim dropout statistics, the United States former Secretary of State Colin Powell stated “When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe.” Powell's wife, Alma Powell, further elaborated on the importance of high school education – arguing that public schools prepare individuals for higher education, new challenges, and issues that extend far beyond a classroom.

To address the many problems associated with this crisis, Colin and Alma Powell have created the Chair

While the unjust days of official segregation ended 40 years ago, public schools today are struggling against another type of segregation: racial isolation. Public schools in both urban and rural areas have been experiencing racial isolation, which occurs when one district is densely populated by a predominant ethnic group.

To combat these geographically-induced segregation trends, public school leaders have created integration programs to develop more diverse student populations. While the concept of mandatory racial integration may sound strange to an unfamiliar ear, schools across the country have implemented “reassignment” programs to increase diversity. In many cases, public schools have enforced specific race-based quotas – and these practices have ignited controversy on both sides of the debate.

From the Library of Congress: "The massive effort to desegregate public schools across the United States was a major goal of the Civil Rights Movement. Since the 1930s, lawyers from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had strategized to bring local lawsuits to court, arguing that separate was not equal and that every child, regardless of race, deserved a first-class education. These lawsuits were combined into the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case that outlawed segregation in schools in 1954. But the vast majority of segregated schools were not integrated until many years later. Many interviewees of the Civil Rights History Project recount a long, painful struggle that scarred many students, teachers, and parents."

Chicago Public Schools: Mandatory Racial Integration

Gaining a major