posted April 23, 2008
"If we don't enact this legislation the State of Tennessee stands to lose over $200 million in federal funding."
I was sitting in the peanut gallery when Sen. Curtis Person introduced legislation, SB1707/HB1810, ultimately enrolled as Public Chapter 551 (1997), that put into law the current system of child support collections. You know, the system that has ladies like a divorced mother I know who has received $400 in the last two years with no assistance from the state in going after her ex-husband even though she has provided everything they need to find him, or the man I know, one of many, who was assessed with a child support arrearage even though he had canceled checks to verify he had paid as ordered.
I respect Sen. Person very much. However, just as my second favorite politician asked at the time, we abide by federal requirements at what cost to our own wallets? What is the cost to the citizens of Tennessee to comply with federal mandates? Often it's significant, but it comes from the pockets of taxpaying and property owning, sometimes voting, citizens, so it really doesn't cost anything. Right? The rest of us can ante up for any deficits, can't we?
We're told there will be no child left behind, that every child will be included in all school programs and activities, that we need to provide lunch and breakfast for children who could care less and waste most of it. Many of us can remember being told "kids in China would love to have that for lunch (or breakfast, or dinner, or snacks)."
No child left behind.
"Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Forty-five or so years ago I learned that some tall, lanky, bearded dude wrote this, and more, on the back of an envelope on his way to a place called Gettysburg. What do our children and grandchildren learn in school today? They learn about "Freedom Riders" and are told to lobby for them to be given, yes given, a college degree for riding a bus.
And I just learned there's something I need to go back and memorize because I can only remember the first sentence.
"Listen my children and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere." And what do ours learn today? There's a young lady at Hixson High School who might have an opinion about that. There are also some boys who aren't going to be charged with a criminal act, because she apparently did it willingly in the past. Does that mean assault is no longer a crime?
That's two I need to re-memorize.
Guns in school in Brainerd. Guns in school at Hixson. Assault and forcible simulated sex acts upon a girl at Hixson. A riot at Tyner. Girls fighting at Brainerd. A Tyner teacher laying hands upon a cop, and I don't think it was to heal him. Fights at Howard. A six-year-old little girl, who had already missed over 50 days of class this year, critically burned when she should have been in school. All of this, just during the current school year.
But according to our superintendent of schools, who was hired from out of town by the eight to one school board, there isn't that big a problem. We have accountability. Students at Howard are going to pull up their britches, and the teacher has been "appropriately disciplined."
An assistant principal canned because he needed to use pepper spray on fighting students at Brainerd. A coach transferred with loss of position because he enforced school policy, and solely upon the accusations of untoward comments by a heathern child. Teachers, as reported in the news media, who are afraid of retaliation not by their superiors, but by the students in their schools. A teacher assaulted and knocked down in her own classroom by another heathern child.
Our superintendent of schools has told us that it's better to have these heathern children in school than out on the street. How about putting them in jail when they break the law? How about excluding these "children" from our schools who have been convicted of crimes. No room in the inn, the crossbar hotel? Our nation's finest sleep in tents. Give these heatherns a tent to sleep in, pink skivvie drawers, peanut butter sammichs for lunch and they may sit up and pay attention.
There was a time when someone convicted of a crime was not allowed to attend school with the rest of our children, particularly if that crime involved drugs or acts of violence. What happened to those policies? Could it be the grab for those federal dollars the school system receives for each student is more important than the safety of our children and grand children? One must wonder. At what cost is eight to one willing to put our children at risk? At what cost do the rest of our children have to fear for their own safety? What's the cost for our teachers to have a safe place to work?
When do we begin to hold parents both legally and civilly liable for the poor behavior of their little heatherns, their precious progeny? The law allows this. When will our judges, and the HCDE attorneys, begin to press and enforce the law? When will they demand true accountability rather than lip service?
When do social service agencies begin to enforce the law and toss people out on their ear, off the dole, when their children don't behave, when their children are criminals?
Mrs. Kacina taught 4th grade at Mayfair Elementary School in Dearborn Heights, Mi. way back when. She tried to introduce us to French. That was a drag. She laughed at us boys when we got our tongues stuck, frozen to the swing set on the playground, and carried a bottle of water in case we did. She tried to teach us to play the piano she kept in her room. Lord help us if we laughed at someone else for trying. She read poetry to us, and encouraged us to do likewise.
Gaily bedight
A gallant knight
In sunshine and in shadow
Had journeyed long
Singing a song
In search or Eldorado
"Ride, boldly ride"
The shade replied
"If you seek for Eldorado!"
I remember that one. I also remember that it's tough to soar with eagles when we flock with ducks.
So, the question to our superintendent of schools and our eight to one School Board is this; what's more important, the safety and education of our children and grand children, as well as our teachers, or a few federal dollars that cost us more then what we receive?
I can see already this is going to be an instant coffee by the spoonful day.
Royce E. Burrage Jr.
Royce@OfficiallyChapped.org
| Dining Out | Business | Movies | Focus | About Us |
| Church | Living Well | Memories | Outdoors | Real Estate | Student Scene | Travel |