Last Week: What should be done about fights in Cobb schools?
Atlanta Journal-Constitution education reporter Rose French wrote recently that Cobb County leads the metro area in school fights and disorderly conduct. She based her reporting on information from the Georgia Department of Education for the 2014-15 school year. There were 19,010 reported incidents that resulted in disciplinary action in Cobb with DeKalb having the second-highest rating with 15,069 incidents. Cobb uses such disciplinary methods as in-school isolation, out-of-school suspension, restitution, an Alternative Education Program, loss of parking privileges, a bus behavior contract, temporary or permanent expulsion, criminal penalties and the Gaining Results in Intervention and Prevention (GRIP) Program. We asked our readers their opinion about this problem. Here are some of your responses:
In-school suspension. Manual labor. Clean bathrooms, mop floors, pick up trash (they can see what is ahead of them if they don’t shape up). - Ann Gerrick
My grandson, his mother, his father, my husband and me are in constant fear each morning sending him to school. This child loves to attend school and loves to learn but in recent months doesn’t want to attend. We feel backed into a corner as the school continuously protects the bully. All of our lives have been affected by this. School being missed, missing days at work, tears shed and literal broken hearts. Finally, after a year of my daughter begging for a meeting with the principal, a meeting has been set for Monday. Students, parents, grandparents and the media need to continue with awareness to stop bullying. - Stacey Lively Ivey
If it is mutual, mediation and consequences usually work. If it is bullying, for the bullies who assault or assist in an assault, severe consequences need to be enforced every time. An assault is a police issue. - Kathleen Husung Mouzakis Brumm
Arrest them and let the court deal with them and expel them for at least a year. - Beth Love
If parents don’t get real about their own children and whipping their butts, taking away their electronics and just plain doing an attitude adjustment, everyone is fighting a losing battle. God’s law is children must obey their parents or elders. - Gregory L. Hart
Hold the parents accountable. - Marcia Hawk
Charge parents a hefty fine. They obviously didn’t raise their kid right. - Beverley Cunningham
Start prosecuting/fining the parents along with the kids fighting. - Tim Nasworthy
Shouldn’t the question be: How can the students in Cobb schools, who don’t fight, best be served? They show up for class and are ready to learn, but all the time and attention are given to the other kind. What if, after a warning, the offenders are moved to an alternative environment for the school year? Then FOCUS on the students who want to learn. Then test scores might improve and Cobb’s reputation as well. - Janice Morris
Throw them off the bus. Make parents responsible for getting them to and from school. Only way to get everyone’s attention. - Merritt Hinkle
Expel them permanently. There is free home school K- 12. If their parents can’t teach them to respect other people and act like humans at school, let them deal with them at home. - Char Hagy
As a father of a now high school teacher, she has taught at different schools and one thing is a constant: lack of parental involvement. I think that is a root cause of most of these issues. Schools/teachers all are prevented from handling trouble as it occurs from fear of lawsuits, etc. Then most of the time, the absent parent is in full attack mode when their child is made to answer. They don’t show up for teacher/student/parent meetings. They don’t return phone calls or texts. But they can show up for a TV camera in full rage. That rage could and should have been directed at their child! Maybe then some of the problems would have been addressed. It is always easy to blame the system, but the real problem and the cure are at home. Also don’t buy into that “problem” of a single-family house. My daughter was raised by one parent during those teenage/high school years. It was hard sometimes, but we made it work! - Hugh Spears
It’s lazy parenting! Children need to learn boundaries. None are entitled and they need to know that. If parents weren’t trying to be their friends instead of parents, children would know how to behave and not be bullying others who someone told them and showed them they were better than. All this starts at home, and children learn to manipulate by age two! Be parents, not friends to your children. Even if you are a single parent, then be mom and dad! The friendship relationship starts when they are grown and responsible adults with their own children! - Patricia Jordan-Woods
Carolyn Cunningham for the AJC
“For Sale” signs popping up on local lawns are as much a sign of spring as dandelions. It’s the time of year when real estate listings peak as families aim to move during the summer school break, empty nesters think of downsizing, newlyweds look for their first home and renters turn into buyers.
The real estate market in Fayette County has long benefitted from the highly rated school system, but during the recession, it too suffered setbacks in both the number and list prices of homes available. Home prices are still not back up to their pre-recession levels, but the volume of sales is increasing.
According to a recent Georgia Multiple Listing Service report, the average list price for a single-family home in Fayette County in March 2015 was $315,260, and 134 homes listed on MLS sold for an average of $306,519. This March, the average list price was $309,777 and 147 homes sold at an average price of $303,191. The report said the total MLS sales volume in Georgia for all property types was up 22.08 percent in 2015 over 2014.
This past week, statistics posted on Realtor.com noted that 780 homes are for sale in Fayette County, and only 51 for rent. The median listing price for these homes is $316,000, with a median closing price of $250,000. Fayetteville tops the list with 534 homes for sale; the next is Woolsey with 249, then Peachtree City with 139 and the fewest in Tyrone, with 71 currently on the market.
We’d like to know how our Fayette readers are feeling about the real estate market in their neighborhoods. What’s your take on the number of homes now offered for sale, and the price range? Are properties near you keeping or gaining value? Will you be making a move? Let us know at communitynews@ajc.com.
About the Author
