Our Out-Of-Control Schools: Is This The Worst Yet?

As this sad tale about one high school student killing another and two fifth-graders in the same public school system having sex in a classroom reveals, the stories of out-of-control student behavior just get worse:

SPEARSVILLE, La. (AP) -- Two fifth-graders had sex on a classroom floor while two others fondled each other in the classroom, according to a teacher at Spearsville High School.

Union Parish Superintendent Judy Mabry would say only that the allegations were being investigated; Principal Frank Futch said the incident was not indicative of how the school is run.

First-year teacher Michael Walker, who teaches fifth- through eighth-grade English, said three students were either expelled or sent to an alternative school and two others got detention.

Students at the kindergarten through 12th grade school are unruly, disrespectful and rarely disciplined, Walker said.

"They cuss at the teachers and throw things at them, and nothing is done," Walker said. "There was even one student who grabbed a teacher in the butt and nothing was done. The students run the school."

Walker said teachers learned Wednesday about the incident, which allegedly occurred during an assembly Tuesday to talk about a 15-year-old student accused of stabbing another student to death over the weekend.

The assembly was for sixth- through 12th-grade students. Fifth-grade students were not told about it, he said. But one class of about 15 fifth-grade students that routinely moves from a portable building to a main building classroom during the second hour of the school day was unattended on Tuesday.

"The teacher thought it was a normal day and sent the kids to second hour," he said. "She didn't know the teacher that would normally be in there was still at the assembly."

The students were alone for about 30 minutes.

Teachers began to hear rumors around school Wednesday and by the end of the school day, the students involved had confessed.

School officials notified the Union Parish Sheriff's Office on Thursday morning and detectives questioned students.

"This is one incident and everyone is making a big deal out of it," Futch said. "I never had a teacher complain to me, but I have heard them complain to each other."

Sheriff Bob Buckley said charges are likely. "I have zero tolerance for drugs, violence or anything like that that goes on in school," he said.

When a local school system is this dysfunctional, somebody (or somebodies) must be held accountable.

But who?

As for Mr. Walker, the first-year teacher who ran his mouth brought this to the media's (and the community's) attention, his days as an employee of that particular district are probably numbered.

Update: (04/04/07) The young exhibitionists have been busted! ---------------------------------See our latest EduPosts.