Seems to me like the three calls to the police department resulting in two arrests, a gun, and marijuana being confiscated don't seem very important to Captain Struckman, or the representitive from the Davenport School board. I'm sure you two had more important things to do than a photo op for local news. The cavalier demeaner you both displayed was scary. Yes, thank God no one was hurt, but excuse me, a gun in the hands of a 14-year-old is not something to treat with the same attitude as a parking violation. The police claim 19 calls to J.B. young school this year. Does that include the three Tuesday? This is a big deal. And how can you keep that many kids in school when you claimed 263 suspended students last year. This is an itermediate school, not a high school. And if low income doesn't affect crime, why did this happen in a school where over 74% of the students are low income?
For the story on this event and the student numbers you can go to the
QC Times.
Addendum
A big thank you to Mr. Jim Fisher of local talk radio. I was thinking of this earlier, had a brain fart, and couldn't quite get it into words until I heard him mention the subject on his show.
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10 comments:
Innocence struggles with all it’s might against crime, and when innocence can’t win it just pretends. The cavalier demeanor is because of the norm; this is nothing relative to the Amish, or Colorado, or Wisconsin. We all say today’s kids are so much older for their age then we were back then. Knowing that, and realizing they only respond to fear, we’ve got to start scaring them younger. Cruel? No, it's for their own safety; and the innocence.
And therein lies the problem. Have we as a society become so callous that these occurances are considered normal? Have our morals slipped that far that the average citizen doesn't see anything wrong with this? While I do agree kids today seem to mature faster, I don't believe scaring them is the answer to anything. Making the innocent kids more aware of their surroundings, and the dangers that are out there in today's world would be a better course of action.
But that risks scaring them. And it's not that our morals have slipped, it's that slipped morals have become the norm. My humble opinion.
You're right about morals slipping, but why have we let it get like this. Kids go to school dressed like it's summer camp, the pledge of alliegence is almost a thing of the past, common curtesy is gone along with taking responsibility for our actions, and there are no role models left. If the average citizen condones these things then I guess I was born about 50 years too late.
I know I've said that Central was and probably is fairly safe, but I know while going there I pretty much assumed one or more people was armed on any given day.
It always made me feel like at least there wouldn't be any Columbine-style school shootings, because the gangsters would just open fire on whatever crazy guy tried it.
Thanks windinghills. QCI, if you go to Central you do notice they take security very seriously. We had to go over one morning after our son got lippy in PE class. We ended up walking about half way around the first floor and I counted 4 security people.
First, security is a priority at all Davenport, Bettendorf, PV, North Scott schools. The measures and training in place at JB worked exactly as planned. Was this a bad thing? Absolutely! We do see what is wrong with this. It does concern us. The kids are a little scared. But it is doesn't overwhelm us because it is not the only thing going on at JB.
The vast majority (95%+) are good kids. Some come from tougher family situations than other. For the most part, they don't use that as an excuse to be a gang-banger. For the most part their moral compasses are just fine. And don't use that tired statistic about suspension. You don't know any of the circumstances about any of those or which kids have received multiple suspensions or how many, so stop. It doesn't do these kids justice.
It sucks for all the rest of the kids that one kid, one news story paints all these kids with a single brush and idiots come out on the blog and proclaim the end of civilization as we know it.
Let's talk about the mock trial team, the math bee team, the Science Club, the robotics competition, the Art Club, and the 25 kids that cleaned up the pocket park at 13th and LeClaire. Let's talk about the 30+ kids that presented the first performing arts show two weeks ago to a packed gym of friends and families. Strong families? You bet your a--!
Let's talk about the National History Day participants who went to the state contest last year, or the Invent Iowa kids, or the jazz band, marching band and phenomenal orchestra. And to blow your other stereotype, these are kids that wear those objectionable clothes.
No role models? You clearly have not spent any time at JB. Acacia Thede, Dave Gamble, Jan Hill, Tom Gray, Marianne Corbin, Dave Heinrichs, Jadeam Wilson, Bill Seals, Joe Goodall, Victoria Navarro. These, and others, are awesome role models and the vast majority of the kids love to go to school to be around these folks.
I participate on this blog because, as you say, it should be a forum for multiple ideas and debate. I don't want other readers to think that Davenport, Iowa is a negative wasteland of morally bankrupt people with know feelings who let their kids run around with guns. There are many of us who are enthusiastically participating in our kids' lives at the "bad schools" and having a great time.
I recommend you try it, and volunteer if you don't have kids of that age. You will be surprised.
anon at 10:06 am
Well, finally somebody offers good counterpoints. I agree with most of what you say. The part I disagree with is your statement that I don't know about the circumstances of kids with multiple suspensions, the volunteer work, or role models. The last one was my fault. I meant role models like my generation had, John F. Kennedy, Joe Namath, etc. And I may be an idiot blogger, but I do see a problem with crime in this community. And it seems that 1 post about school violence out of all the posts I have done is not excessive.
On the morality issue, I didn't mean just Iowa is slipping, I believe our whole country is, I just happen to live in Iowa.
What saddens me is that I seem to be the only one bothered by the loosening morals in America. Thank you for posting.
From 10:06 - Cruiser - You were not included as one of the idiot bloggers. I do appreciate your perspective and I do not think you go overboard for the most part. I just feel compelled to bring some perspective to this and other blogs where the negative seems to outweigh the positive by 10 to 1, when in fact, those of us who are actually enagaged with our kids in these buildings know different. I wish some of those folks were more represented on the blog (and Jim Fischer, who blathers for entertainment, not to do anything to make this community better). I guess they are too busy with their kids to get out here and defend them, or they don't see any need to defend them. Thanks for the conversation.
Not a problem. As you know if you read this blog, I don't like where the crime rate is heading. I have made various posts on this with little participation. When the citywide crime committee was still going on I was a lot more active than now. Some of that is my health and some is just that people don't seemed concerned. Any post on any local blog, such as your post, that points out things going on that the general public don't know about is a step in the right direction.
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