Reposted with the permission of the American Federation of Teachers
http://www.aft.org
(This letter has been sent to the Washington Times, The New York Times, USA 
Today and the Lexington Journal.)
September 26, 1996
To the Editor:
     The irony is too great to let pass unnoticed.  Lexington, N.C., school 
officials punish a 6-year-old Romeo for kissing a classmate, while school 
officials across the country do nothing about the hundreds, even thousands, 
of chronically disruptive students who interrupt classroom instruction 
every single day.  Contrast the incident in Lexington with a recent case in 
New York City.  School officials there who tried to do the right thing by 
disciplining a student who brought a gun to school had their efforts 
completely undone by the courts.
     Young Johnathan Prevette's kisses, called sexual harassment by school 
officials, may have been unwelcome, but a discussion with him about ways to 
express friendship might have done the trick.  Lexington school officials 
must have nothing else to do than to intervene in cases of affection - 
unrequited or consensual - among first graders.  What school officials in 
Lexington and elsewhere should be doing is dealing with the very real 
discipline problems that are undermining the education and academic 
achievement potential of all of our students.  Schools need a set of 
discipline standards to deal with the overwhelming problem of kids who 
constantly disrupt instruction and learning.  Principals and other school 
officials must give teachers the tools to deal with the problem, such as 
alternative classrooms or schools for kids who consistently violate the 
rules of conduct or even expulsion for dangerous behavior or possession of 
weapons. 
     Schools have to let students know what is expected of them and what is 
truly deemed unacceptable.  Innocent kisses are one thing.  Weapon-toting 
students and the constant interruption of the education of  those who have 
come to school to learn are another.  The public wants schools to deal with 
the latter rationally, firmly and now. 
Albert Shanker
President, American Federation of Teachers
Chuck Beams
cbeams@dreamscape.com
http://www.dreamscape.com/cbeams
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* UniQWK #5290* A closed mouth gathers no feet.
--- Maximus 2.01wb
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