Oh Little Town of Milwaukee...
It's about time that a local government
stood up for stating the obvious! The sweet part is that, unlike a lot of smaller communities, Milwaukee might actually have the resources and guts to stand up to the sure to come lawsuit from the
wackos.
Depriving our children of pain
I had to read
this article three times before I could digest it and believe it. Tag is now a prohibited activity?
I know the school is claiming a liability issue, but if that is the case then would public parks and owners of vacant lots be facing the same crisis?
I was going to dismiss this as an over-reaction to insurance fears (of which schools certainly have a legitimate concern), until I read the next part about the same school banning Dodgeball because it is exclusionary.
As a certified Elementary School small for my age wimp, I think this is incredibly wrong. This school is not protecting its financial butt from law suits -- they are instead trying to make sure no ones feelings get hurt. That is possibly the greatest disservice one can do to a child is to protect them from "safe" failures so that they learn how to handle real life failures when they really matter.
The fact that I was one of the last chosen for kick ball teams or impromptu football games on the playground hurt my feelings. Though I have repressed the memory as best I can, I'm pretty sure I even had some tears one time and got laughed at for being a cry baby. I knew at the time that I wasn't going to be rescued by a teacher unless there was blood - and then only if it looked like the bigger kids weren't going to let up on their own. So did society wrong me? Should my parents have sued the school?
Umm - no. In fact, I learned a hell of a lot from those experiences. I learned how to handle pain. I learned how to accept occasional failures with humilty and resolve to better myself for the next time. I learned how to avoid getting into situations that were going to be doomed to failure and how to gracefully get out of them when aviodance was impossible.
I made friends with some of the bigger kids so I wouldn't always be singled out as the kid to pick on. I learned to use intelligence and humor since I didn't have brawn on my side. I practiced kicking that damn ball against a fence until I was confident that I wouldn't miss and fall on my but anymore. I also learned how to play dodgeball quite well -- I didn't have the arm strength to nail anyone, but I could dodge better than most. Most importantly, I learned how to take a bad experience, analyze it, and figure out how to do better next time.
Now this school is trying to take that away from children. If I was a parent of a child there, I'd sue them!
God has found a new home on Lake Michigan
10 years ago, there was a similar feel in Green Bay to the one now presiding in Chicago. Things just clicked. Even when a game was obviously going badly, things just happened and the Packers came out on top. It was an incredible feeling that nothing could go wrong. God was clearly on your side.
Last night's MNF game was just astounding. The Bears were pathetic on offense, commited six turnovers and failed to score an offensive touchdown. With a 20 point lead three-fourths through the game, Matt Lienart looked steady and competent with a Cardinal's offense that certainly played well enough to win (23 points against the Bears Defense is no small task). The Cardinals even moved the ball smoothly in the two-minute drill and set up their kicker for a game winning shot that he rarely missed.
He missed - the Bears won.
Apparently, God is now a Bear fan. Who woulda thunk it?
Nutty idea > no idea?
Slammer raised a valid point about Lasee's revised proposal on keeping a gun in schools as a deterrent against violence. We bloggers, as well as others in media and government, continually take the easy approach of putting down these proposals without coming back with alternatives.
So there is the challenge for us -- not just to point out the flaws in the ointment, but to concoct our own oinment.
I think that before coming up with "solutions" we need to understand the nature of the problem better. In my mind, there are two kinds of school violence: the heat of the moment angry student that can usually be de-escalated, and the premeditated deranged Columbine type of violence that simply cannot end well.
The heat of the moment version is nothing new. I grew up in the 70s with fights at recess and after school confrontations. We considered it a pretty normal rite of passage that most kids outgrew by high school. You always had a couple of kids that never outgrew it and you simply steered clear of till they eventually wound up in a state home for boys.
The premeditated version is not something I remember though - except maybe for occasional bomb threats that were designed to disrupt classes. What I want to know is if this truly is something new or if it just receives more attention than ever before. Shootings at inner city schools are not that new nor unique, rather it is the apparent rise of violence at suburban schools that have startled the media circus into high gear. With the speed of digital media and the constant need for news scoops, could it just be that news media casts a much larger net for news items than they used to? With at least four 24 hour news networks and the need for "fresh" stories that they and the internet create, it wouldn't be too surprising to find that what was once local news is now national.
But is this a new problem or just amplified coverage of an existing issue? Could it be that we have always had premeditated violence occuring in schools on occasion but they just didn't receive national attention? I honestly don't know the answer, but think it is imperative that we find out.
Back on track though -- what I didn't like about Lasee's first idea was the "opportunity" for misuse and unanticipated escalation of the "heat of the moment" violence that has always existed in schools. I know that in Jr. and Sr. High School, there was at least one incident a semester that had a showdown between a teacher and an angry student. Often these would become a scuffle where the student would be "escorted" to the principal in a half-nelson. I would hate to think how some of those incidents would have turned out if both the student and teacher knew that there was a loaded gun in the room that might make them feel more in control. I know that some of those kids from my past would have gone for the gun, not to shoot, but to try and gain control of the argument. I also remember some teachers who would have been nervous enough to go for the gun themselves and looked like Barney Fife trying to hold it.
Maybe additional firepower of some sort is needed. Certainly well drawn out plans that teachers understand and can implement are a must. A school should know how to go into lockdown mode in a big hurry. Maybe limiting entrances and adding metal detectors are the way to go. Tasers instead of guns? Tear gas canisters in the ceiling? Set phasers on stun?
I don't have the answers and guess I should tip my hat to Lasee for at least trying -- though I still think his intial proposal was meant to get press and not to solve problems. Until we really understand how real the threat of premeditated violence is though, I think we should be very careful about turning our schools in military bases.
Time to use the long term memory skills...
I am a few days late on seeing
this one (Thanks
Observer for pointing it out).
I am not second guessing McElroy's opinion as he certainly knows the needs of the EPD better than I do. However, I find it ironic that they are thinking of moving to a building that they didn't want the last time it was available.
The Council that I was part of spent a tremendous amount of time studying options for relocating the EPD out of their cramped office in City Hall. We looked at three locations: the current one which was up for sale by Wisconsin Energy, a storage building owned by Water and Light, and the Dean Clinic that had just been vacated. The cost of the current location and the Dean Clinic were within $10,000 so we deferred to the EPD to tell us which was preferable. The WisGas building got the nod due to it's being close to the highway, having a larger parking lot that allowed quick turnaround (two driveways), and most importantly - a two car garage.
Again, I am not saying the move to the Dean Center building would be wrong -- just wondering what has changed.
And instead of paying the Fire District the appraised value of their building after they move -- how about the City gives them the same deal they got from the City when they bought the land to begin with? I'm pretty sure the price came to $1. To be generous, we could certainly add interest.
Seriously on the Fire District building -- paying for the value of the building and improvements is reasonable. But if they include the value of the property, I'm calling foul! That land was a gift from the City in the first place.
Schools, Guns, and Family Feuds
Between these
two extremes, one hopes that some middle ground can be found in protecting students and faculty.
Of course what I really want is live cameras at the next
Lasee Family Reunion!
