People are going to laud this self-defense training when the real answer is to remove the problem in the first place.
This story buries the lede so far in the story (3rd paragraph from the end) that almost everyone will miss it. While the story is busy hyping Salem-Keizer’s self-defense trainings so that bus drivers and school employees won’t get injured by out-of-control students—more than 1,400 staff and teacher injuries reported last year, by the way—the crucial sentence is this:
A recent district analysis found 65 to 70 students responsible for the vast majority of serious injuries to employees.
I am reminded of Adam Smith writing about justice: “Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.”
Importantly, this is not a failure on the part of Salem-Keizer Administration. Their hands are tied by the Oregon Department of Education and the Oregon State legislature, long under Democratic control. (See ORS 339.250.) Arguably, they’re also hampered by federal law, specifically the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), but Oregon’s laws go beyond federal requirements in several ways, further impeding discipline in schools. Other than federally mandated expulsions for firearms, expulsion in Oregon is extraordinarily difficult and tightly restricted, making it one of the hardest states in which to expel a student.
I don’t think anyone doubts the intentions of those seeking to bring public education to those with disabilities. But what it was and what it has become seem two very different things.
The time and money Salem-Keizer teachers, counselors, and administrators are spending here is time and money they can’t spend with the rest of the more well-behaved student body. And that’s a lot of time and money.
Things like this touted self-defense training? Previous generations would have considered it unthinkable that such a thing would be necessary. That’s how far thinking around public education has shifted: Now, a handful of chronically violent students dominate district resources, while thousands of others lose instructional time and support.
Oh, and the $170,000 lawsuit the District just settled with the injured employee? Your tax dollars at work, because the District is self-insured.
And, as I understand it, other cases are pending. How many more injuries and lawsuits until people, especially lawmakers, will admit the system is broken?