I don't know if there was a full moon last week but it seemed to me there was a fight or some sort of incident at Tosa West every day of the week last week. I'm a new parent to the school but is this the norm or are things unusually out of control lately. If this is the norm I don't like it as a parent, a taxpayer or a home owner. What is the district doing to address these issues. While the majority of kids seem to be doing good things I don't understand why this needs to be tolerated. If these kids are from outside of the district do we really need to tolerate this crap and dilute the entire school for a few bucks.

You're jumping on an assumption bandwagon, Izzie. Honeywest raised the "outsider" issue as a question, a possibility. Wouldn't it be better to find out who's doing the fighting first?

I'm thinking back to the olden days when you and I were in school, before busing. There were "outsider" kids then, too. Kids with a different culture (Greasers, say) or Italians or whatever group seemed different from the dominant group. They weren't always the ones who started the fights but they got a disproportionate share of the credit for it.

All that roiling testosterone, all those kids cooped up without adequate physical exercise, all that crummy Sodexo food. Sounds like a perfect nutrient medium for fighting.

Yes, quite a neighborhood icon, wasn't it? Most people would never guess unless they lived within a block or so . . . or like me, knew one of the shell-shocked neighbors.

Also, wouldn't you have to agree, a true anomaly? Which decreases its relevance to this conversation.

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Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. -Oscar Wilde (anticipating, well over 100 years ago, anonymous Internet discussions)

I assume Izzie, that you would not complain about the rise in property taxes if the Chapter 220 students were sent back to Milwaukee. Others probably would, but you would not.

Oldtimer and Tine,
I think in the long run it's more important to invest in schools than police. I think it's a pretty conservative idea to want to pay for great schools, and then treat them as if they were highly valuable. It seems that we don't want to pay for the best, and we're willing to roll the dice on protecting them by swinging the doors wide open to accept cash any way we can get it.

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Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. -Oscar Wilde (anticipating, well over 100 years ago, anonymous Internet discussions)

The question stands: who is doing the fighting, and why, and what is the school doing about it?

More information before blaming this on 220 students, please.

There was a time at West (and of course other schools) when kids were being beaten up because they were gay. The school stepped in and did some education and interventions. Other times, it's other things. One of my kids was systematically harassed (though not beaten) because of her religion.

Various waves of violent activity come and go. The school needs to stay on top and respond early. But there needs to be constant pressure to reform school culture so that all kids feel safe there.

You are correct Tine. I was struck by the use of the word "chaos" when we do not even know what was occurring last week. It was the week when we had the facebook incident that involved students at both high schools.


The media focus on that may have an impact on overall perceptions.

I am skeptical that the school was in "chaos".

It's always scary when there are fights at school. It's also scary when there's non-physical bullying going on, and sometimes that's worse but it's less likely to be addressed.

Usually when this happens there are a couple kids or a couple groups of kids who are at odds with each other. It's been ever thus, frankly.

I remain grateful that my kids had more experiences with African American kids in school than they would have without the 220 program. They still have friends they'd not have met without it. And when they were at West, which wasn't long ago, the race relations were for the most part pretty harmonious, more so than at other schools. Kids at West then were pretty remarkable in how well they generally accepted/tolerated each other.

But these are trying times. The poor economy and a general uncertainty is having lots of ramification in worse behavior, maybe especially by people who are most stressed. Domestic violence is way up. That's predictable too.

I wonder whether the schools are addressing that. And yes, it impacts Tosa-residing families too.

I'm asking how or whether the schools are addressing the stress, anxiety, and trauma these times are causing kids. Longterm unemployment, for example, has profound impact on the people who experience it. As you know, I'm one of them. I work hard not to let it affect my behavior but I know my kids worry about me. So I know the schools must be full of kids whose world is more uncertain than it used to be.

Another area relevant to the schools is the stress and uncertainty of the future job market for students. How do you plan your future? What do you do when there's less money available for college and costs are soaring? Is a 4-year degree still the best way for most of our kids to go?

This has to be affecting kids. Yet what I hear (and my ear is not especially to the ground on school issues) is sort of goofy stuff, like "we have to get more kids, even kids who aren't going to college, to take AP courses."

Thanks for that information. It sounds like the disruption might have been an even greater teaching opportunity!

And yes, I think schools should demand a high standard for civility and respect.

Wouldn't it be great if one of the kids had written up the event and submitted it to TosaNow?