Ideas can turn school system around

Mr. Santos, God bless you for caring; however, you do not seem to grasp the reality of the system. As a teacher, I do not have the time to double as a guidance counselor. Also, I am thankful for ALL of the administrative staff that runs our school. The four day week sounds good, but absenteeiism among middle and high schoolers is totally out of countrol. The normal two missed- days a week would roughly equate to three. If discipline problems ceased to exist, sure, we would not need as many assistant administrators. If all of the kids took charge of their own academic affairs (as many should), the need for a guidance office would diminish. I scramble every day of the week simply to keep up with all the DATA I am now responsible for. Once again, thanks for caring, but I have a better grasp on academic reality, and please, poll some other educators and write another letter to the editor.

how about sending all discipline problems home or have school police (who are well paid security) handle the situations - instead of just being a "presence" i agree, teachers do not have the time to teach and counsel - this would more than eat up the 10 add'l min. put the onus on the parents'. children who are discipline problems and detract from the goal of academics need to be removed immediately. all this coddling and bearing the brunt of parent responsibility is weighing the school system down.

Regardless of how many days a week you go or how many hours in a day you go to school, you still have to go 180 days which means 45 weeks of school. By the time you add in 2 weeks at Christmas, 1 week for Masters, you only have 3 weeks for summer and you want really want to see the parents of this area go beserk- take away their summers!

Now that we're scraping the bottom in so many ways, this might be a good time to try something so retro that many might consider it revolutionary. Eliminate middle school. Then Mr. Santos' excellent suggestions might be implemented without educators like Avidreader having to juggle so many additional roles and chores. Now kids leaving the fifth grade enter the screaming puppy hell of middle school where discipline and attendance problems sprout. Take this idea a little further and rethink the entire concept of public education. After eight years of elementary school, divide the sheep from the goats. Those who want to further their education may do so, but don't compel any further attendance by those who are only coming to school because they are made to attend.

dashiel, you're already writing off a large population that more than likely won't mature until they hit HS. MS, yes, can be a transitional hell - - but to let these kids run amok, with less supervision at home than they already have? That leads to more community issues that include crime, burglary, affray etc.
do you think that parents who feel as if the school system is 'responsible' for their child's upbringing will rise to the occasion of making sure they become productive citizens?