The kids went back to school in Lincoln last Wednesday. So far, we’ve investigated six assaults: four at middle schools, two at high schools. With about 35,000 kids in K-12, a handful of scuffles with no injuries requiring medical treatment isn’t bad at all. Schools, however, represent a high-demand location—just like anywhere else lots of people gather. When you think about it, the population of Lincoln Public Schools is a little larger than the City of Kearney, Nebraska.
One of our biggest concerns surrounding schools is traffic. Comparatively few kids walk to school today, and traffic jams are legendary even around elementary schools, where some parents drive their children the whole five blocks. Given the number of schools and the number of police officers, there’s not much we can do about those snarls other than to appeal to people’s common sense and good citizenship.
11 comments:
Thats nice.
In my school, we learned how to fight.
Chief,
Some kids still have the gumption to walk to school. One day last school year I was having a cup of coffee and I noticed a 75 or 80 pound young female student walking to a nearby school. It was still six or seven blocks to her school and I don't know how far she had already walked. What amazed me is the HUGE back pack she was wearing. It was stuffed full of books! It had to weigh about a third of what she weighed. Now that is dedication.
Gun Nut
When I was in school the police were never there. You settled your differences on the playground or behind a portable. If you got your butt kicked, you learned your lesson. Dad would just look at you and say "you won't mess him again, will ya?". Once in awhile the principal would catch you and you would have detention. Never once were the police involved. Now everytime a little kid gets in a verbal altercation the police are called and the cops have to parent these kids. Sometimes life needs to be tough to learn lessons. If I didn't get kicked around a few times or kick another around a few times, I wouldn't be molded into the person I am today.
The kids today have no molds. Everyone has to solve their problems for them. It's no wonder our society is the way it is.
Old school is sometimes the best way.
Regarding your "not much" link, I'd like to point out that Mr. Maloley has a hearing next month for allegedly violating his probation for that leaving the scene of an injury accident case. One has to wonder what he did, 2/3 of the way through his 3 yr probation, to cause that hearing to be scheduled. I'll put that one on the planner, as a reminder to look up the result.
I never saw a cop at school, unless it was our grade school SRO, Ofc. Stacey, talking to the kids as a group. We didn't make any extra work for him. Even in High School, the one I remember seeing the most was Ofc. Duden keeping an eye on things at games, master of the hairy eyeball. Decades later, my old HS still isn't providing much case load for your people. The HS less than a mile Eastward on A St. more than picks up the slack, though.
Parents flock to SUVs in an attempt to increase safety for their traveling tots, yet larger vehicles swarming elementary schools is exactly what makes me nervous with so many short children running around.
Just let the kids walk....
Kids are, on average, uh..."better-padded" lately than they were a decade or two ago. Just look next time you drive by a school if the kids are outside, and ask yourself if you and your peers were as well-rounded at that age. A lot of them look like they'd be out of breath after going up two flights of stairs, which is probably why more of them don't waddle that body to school and back.
We didn't have portables to hide behind when I went to school. If something was important enough to fight about, we just went at it wherever we happened to be. That is, until Mr. Hoover (the gym teacher) spotted us! Once old "alligator legs" got hold of you, it wasn't very likely you were going to be fighting at school again.
As far walking to school, most of us did back then, or maybe rode a bike. The difference was, we learned how to cross a street without having to have an adult telling us when it was okay or stopping traffic for us. We even had train tracks to cross. In all my 13 years of school, I don't think anyone I knew was hit by a car or a train (though lots of pennies got smashed on the tracks).
chief,
I was heading to a movie weds night and noticed about 5 officers outside the recently revoked sidewinders bar... was there a disturbance? or something going on.
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