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Shoot the messenger

It demonstrates a real problem when school board members are upset that the Sheriff's Office issued a news release about fights at Eastern Guilford High School.

They should be upset about the fights, which in one instance led to an assault on a teacher. In addition, a student was charged with possession of more than 6 ounces of marijuana and was found to have $1,900 on him.

Is the attitude: Let's just keep it quiet? And by all means, don't file any charges against our students?

Yeah, I get it that some board members are suspicious that Sheriff BJ Barnes is sending out a news release in the middle of a debate about SROs. And I wouldn't be surprised if he is trying to influence the debate. And let's not forget he's up for re-election this year, too.

So what? The SRO question needs to be debated with all the facts on the table. And it needs to be an issue in the sheriff's race, which has opponents lined up to run against Barnes. If they think he's mishandling school safety issues, let them take it to the voters.

But the public ought to know all about safety and discipline problems in the schools. Board members who think there are better ways to address them than having SROs there should make their case -- just as long as the discussion is conducted in light of full disclosure. Exactly what is happening in the schools?

To that end, I understand that Capt. Phil Byrd of the Sheriff's Office is working to have monthly reports of offenses in schools posted on the sheriff's Web site. The sooner the better.

It was interesting that Lisa Clapp, as a parent of an Eastern student, spoke at yesterday's board meeting. She's filed to run against Nancy Routh for an at-large seat on the board. She expressed strong support for keeping SROs. That may give her a strong campaign issue.

School safety in general should be part of all election discussions.

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Posted by Doug Clark on Friday, February 26, 2010 at 8:31 am

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Paul Daniels

February 27, 2010 - 7:59 pm EST

Doug:

I have always said that there should be no secrets between school boards (or any other public bodies) and the public. We must be transparent in all that we do. I think that in the past there has been reason to believe that GCS was not as open and transparent as it could be. I think that Mo has done a lot to make amends. He provided a list of how he believes his administration has done in meeting the goals of his strategic plan, which includes a few items that Mo admits they did not meet their target. Mo's willingness to be open and honest about those goals that they haven't met is certainly to his credit, and I think novel in the world of big city schools.

I think one area where we are still very sensative to criticism, and hence not as open as we could be, is school safety. I think that there are several reasons for this, none of which, in my opinion, justify anything less than full disclosure. While it may have appeared to some on the board that the Sheriff's press release was an instance of showing up the board, I don't see it that way. The problems at Eastern H.S. and every school should be front page news until they are remedied. We cannot properly educate students where there is chaos and people feel unsafe because of violence.

It is true, as some have said, that suspensions and SROs are just band aids used to deal with issues and don't address the real problem. We have teachers, administrators and volunteers doing double duty to help children but they have them only a few hours a day. Until we get parents to understand that they must instill in their children that they must work hard at school and obey the rules,however, a band aid is the best we can do.

Best regards,

Paul Daniels