Today’s moderator: Maureen Downey

Maureen Downey has written about local, state and federal education policy at the AJC for 12 years. She’s also taught college classes in mass communications and journalism. However, she’s learned more about schools from having four children in them.

»Join the discussion online today: Share your opinions and ideas on Maureen's blog Get Schooled.

Parents applaud get-tough policies in schools — until their own child is on the receiving end. I examine the no-win situation that schools face today in doling out discipline. In a guest column, an Emory professor notes that the performance of U.S. students in the early grades peters out in high school. What are we doing that slows the progress of our students once they reach high school? And readers sound off on the stiff prison sentences handed out last week in the DeKalb County schools corruption trial.

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Austin Walters died from an overdose in 2021 after taking a Xanax pill laced with fentanyl, his father said. A new law named after Austin and aimed at preventing deaths from fentanyl has resulted in its first convictions in Georgia, prosecutors said. (Family photo)

Credit: Family photo