[Tom Vaught]

I live in a small town on the outskirts of the largest city in Michigan.

The town built a new middle school/ high school in the last 2 years. All the latest bells and whistles. My point is, it is the newest and nicest school in the area and that includes some other schools in a very affluent area.

1) You cannot blame the way the school looks or the tools available

2) All of the teachers have been teaching for many years.

3) If a kid hits another kid, a Police Officer puts them in hand cuffs and they go to the town jail. If a boy "feels up" a girl (which happens sometimes in middle school) the kid is suspended, the parents are notified, the police is notified, and it had better not happen again.

4) If a student hits a teacher, the student goes to jail. The student is not allowed in the school for the remainder of the school year. In some cases, the student will not be allowed back into the school ever again and the family must move to a different school district.

Nothing makes me happier than to see the "Bad Kid" get hauled off to jail in handcuffs in front of his buddies. The "Bad Kid" today could be male or female, 13 years old to 18 years old, but most issues occur in the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grades. The Juniors and the Seniors have matured by then and are past the fighting and "feeling up" stage of raging harmones.

In a typical class of 100 kids, you will have 90 GOOD KIDS, (Black, White, Hispanic, Oriental, Middle-eastern, it doesn't matter).

You will also have 10 Major Trouble Makers (from the same group who cannot "shut up", want to fight, want to "feel the girls up", want to be the "Attention Getter" in the class, etc. We don't have too many "Criminals" as the word gets around pretty quickly and the school has excellent video cameras to watch that activity, plus again, you go to jail.

Out of the 90 good kids, you will always have the "smart kids" and the not as smart kids but at least they are trying. The issue in every class is the 10 Major Trouble Makers.

JMO

Tom Vaught