The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's online edition has this headline:
Well, there's breaking news.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is always a step ahead and on top of things in the community. (Sarcasm alert)
The publication is doing a four part series about increasing violence in the Milwaukee Public Schools.
The first in the series details an extremely troubling list of recent violent incidents in the city's schools and points out their costs and the strain on the MPS system.
None of that's news. Some thug students and their thug parents, too many, are soiling the Milwaukee Public Schools. We know that.
Part one of the series does mention something interesting.
Nationwide, school violence peaked in the 1990s and then declined.
In Wisconsin, however, violence is on the rise again. Between 2003 and 2005 there were increases in school fights and weapons possessions on school grounds, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey filled out by students statewide.
This mirrors the increase in violent crime in Milwaukee.
The trend in many cities around the country has been a decrease in crime. Not Milwaukee. Violent crime has skyrocketed.
Read more here and here.
I suppose it should come as no surprise that the city's schools would reflect the city's general deterioration in terms of violence.
...The problems are growing in some rural and suburban schools, too.
In Whitefish Bay, Shorewood and Wauwatosa, the number of weapons and drug-related incidents resulting in suspension or expulsion at least tripled between 1999 and 2005 - a greater percentage increase than in the city.
In West Allis, a mother was charged with punching a 14-year-old boy in the face in front of his school and threatening to kill him. The state's most recent school gun killings were of a principal in rural Cazenovia last year, and an assistant principal at Wauwatosa West in 1993.
But on a daily basis, the situation is more dire in Milwaukee Public Schools.
In recent weeks, the city has been rocked by a series of high-profile cases. A seventh-grader was arrested with an unloaded gun and ammunition. A staff member at Walker International Middle School was knocked unconscious while trying to break up a fight. On the same day, a series of fights at Hamilton High School led to a lockdown.
The always politically correct, always lib Journal Sentinel highlights the problems in suburban schools. Violence has increased there, too.
Fair enough, but it's not at a crisis stage at those schools.
The reality is the level of violent crime in Milwaukee and the level of violence in its schools cannot be tolerated any longer.
Nonetheless, The Journal Sentinel Editorial Board routinely endorses candidates that DO NOTHING, other than hand-wringing and meaningless expressions of outrage, to address the crisis.
Yes, I'm talking about Mayor Tom Barrett and members of the new anti-flexicuffs school board. Throw in haters like Alderman Michael McGee, Jr.
When are the city's residents going to hold their leaders accountable for failing so miserably?
There are only a few lone voices calling for action and personal responsibility. Sheriff David Clarke and Alderman Bob Donovan come to mind.
When will the others, the "pass the buck" bunch, join them in offering real solutions and taking meaningful action?
Meanwhile, the city continues its death spiral.
It's very sad that so many have decided to surrender to the thugs.
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