Tara Servatius wrote about a touchy and somewhat secretive subject in last week's issue of Creative Loafing... The large number of criminals who attend Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools.
Last semester, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools reported the following:
* CMPD responded to over 1,300 calls for service at CMS schools
* 157 incidents of students possessing a weapon on school grounds
* 22 kids were caught with guns in school
* 25 assaults on school personnel
* 15 sexual offenses
* 7 sexual assaults
* 4 assaults resulting in serious injury
* 2 robberies with a dangerous weapon
This is a total of 232 incidents I would consider serious offenses; however, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system only expelled 2 of these students!
If you are a parent with children who attend Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, I strongly suggest you express your concerns to the CMS School Board members.
6 COMMENTS:
Another great article by Tara Servatius. It seems Dr. Gorman has changed his tune since getting the job. He seemed more no-nonsense in the beginning of his tenure as Superintendent
i am so shocked by this! how can this go on??
i live in oslo, norway. the biggest high school here with 3500 students had one incident last year that made the cops come out; grafitti on school grounds!
the way it sounds like over there is just not fair to the kids.
As the ole saying goes, "the inmates are running the asylum"!
This isn't good. How can teachers teach and kids learn like this?
If the kids misbehave outside of school, can you imagine what they do IN school? The Board of Ed needs to do something to control this.
I think that Dr. Gorman doesn't know about the worst offenders cited in the Tara Servatius article, because he doesn't want to know.
How many times has he been asked about this Christopher Fonseca kid? And over a period of months!
Wouldn't any normal person go find out who this problem kid is that they keep asking about?
It's the Ostrich Defense, aka "I didn't know because I wasn't looking!"
I am not overly concerned about the safety of my children in CMS schools, but when asked school safety, a very real concern for many, you are often given the PR response - sweeping real issues under the rug rather than addressing them honestly and openly. When will CMS learn that honestly addressing the facts is the only way to enlist real community support and trust? This is just like the current Myers park issue- to "get to the bottom" of the issue, CMS hires an "outside" lawyer... who just happens to be a Myers Park alumnus, and who had children go to school there! What real motive is shown by such a choice? Why, of course- "protecting" CMS's reputation! It is way too complicated to get the truth about anything... and we are entitled as taxpayers. It is almost impossible to get an adequate education for your child in such an atmosphere... the truth is always couched in some sort of PR packaging.
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