Cops in the classroom?

Students at a Chicago School are requesting just that. The students are upset about a recent beating and understandable. Where the heck were school officials and teachers? Standing by and watching? I could see that happening. While growing up me and my younger brother got beat up by about five neighgborhood teens. Our two best friends stood by and watched instead of going in my home and telling our parents.

Where is our society going when our schools have to be policed in such a way? God help us.

Hat tip- Betsy's Page
Open Post- Cao's Blog, Third World County, Adam's Blog,

At least 150 students played hooky from Kennedy High School on Tuesday to demand extra security in their Southwest Side school, saying they'd even welcome cops in the classroom to stem rising violence.

Toting signs reading "Does Someone Have to Die?'' and "We're Scared of School,'' kids rallied across the street from Kennedy in the wake of a brutal beating last week that stunned the school.

Even Jesse Ruiz, State Board of Education chairman, called the assault "disturbing'' and asked the board staff to examine the state's spin on a federal law meant to help students who are crime victims.

Four Kennedy students have been charged with misdemeanor battery for pummeling a senior honor student and breaking his nose during a March 29 meeting of all seniors in the school auditorium. Witnesses said the attackers threw feces at the victim. The motive was uncertain.

The week before that, a loaded gun was found in the bushes outside the school auditorium.

"Kennedy is a good school,'' Ibtesam Nasser Saleh, 19, senior class president and a National Honor Society member, said during Tuesday's protest. "The only problem is, it's on the verge of becoming a bad school.''

During her freshman year, Saleh said, barely a fight a week broke out in the school. Now one a day is not uncommon.

Saleh was among a group of honor students who took the day off to protest. About 100 others walked out of class to join them. A handful of mothers cheered them on.

"They are fighting for their rights. You can't study if you're looking over your shoulder and wondering 'Am I going to get stabbed?' They want to be safe,'' said mom Anna Schubert.

'We don't feel safe'

Protesters blamed Kennedy's 56 percent rise in reported violent incidents this school year on 190 students who have joined the school since Oct. 1.

"We don't feel safe. We have certain individuals . . . who refuse to wear IDs, who won't sit down . . . who stand in the hallway. They do not want to be in school. Kennedy is a social gathering for some students,'' Saleh said.

"We'd like to have more security guards and know we're safe in the school. If there was a way of having policemen in the classroom, that would be wonderful,'' Saleh said.

Almost every protester raised a hand in agreement.

Chicago Teachers Union President Marilyn Stewart fears turning Kennedy into a "police state.'' Stewart said CPS needs to attack the root cause by offering more social services to students and adding counselors. High school counselors now serve as many as 350 students each. "If a child is picking up feces, he needs counseling,'' she said.