Youth violence has grabbed headlines this week. But the president of the Chicago Teachers Union says teachers face aggressive behavior from students in classrooms every day. She’s proposing a solution.
CTU president Marilyn Stewart says disruptions are chronic and widespread.
STEWART: Striking and assaulting a teacher or support staff, verbally abusing a teacher, fighting with other students in the class, throwing objects like furniture.
Stewart wants Chicago to create an alternative school for kids who consistently misbehave—and she wants a fast-track way to send them there.
She says traditional forms of discipline—like suspensions and detentions— are not working.
She says maybe an alternative school with counselors and social workers… could get at kids’ social and emotional needs. And allow the rest of the kids to learn. Chicago has a network of alternative schools, but they’re targeted to dropouts, delinquents or kids with diagnosed behavior issues.
