This is what liberal education policies lead to. People are not responsible for their actions, so we allow that to continue and endanger other students. Brilliant.
When he brought a knife to San Diego’s Lincoln High School, the student’s special education team decided he wasn’t responsible because it was “a manifestation of the lack of impulse control caused by his disability,” writes Mario Koran for Voices of San Diego. Two weeks later, the student used a knife to slash another boy’s neck.
A student was arrested Jan. 23 at San Diego’s Lincoln High after he slashed a classmate’s neck.
Four years ago, San Diego Unified School District shifted from punitive discipline policies to a therapeutic model that tries “to address the underlying issues that lead to misbehavior, writes Koran. Yet the district “is only in its first year of training staff districtwide on how to effectively implement restorative practices.”
Lincoln High, reopened in 2007 after a $129 million rebuild, has struggled with staff turnover, poor academic performance and dwindling enrollment. Restructuring and rebranding attempts “have fallen short time and again,” writes Koran. “Now, educators, parents and students are coming forward to say they fear for students’ safety at Lincoln High.”
Nicole Stewart, who served as a vice principal at Lincoln from 2014 to 2016, said when the district softened its discipline policies, administrators started dealing with misbehavior by kicking kids out of school for the day. Instead of suspending kids who got into fights – which would show up in Lincoln’s suspension rates – they started sending kids home informally, a practice known as “blue-slipping.”
Stewart believes the practice led to inconsistent consequences and made it harder for teachers to control student behavior.
“The kids run that school from the opening bell to the closing bell,” Stewart said.
