The Jefferson County Public Schools school year is completed. Because of its size, because of its board, because it drives busses over 78,000 mile a day, which is more than three times around the world every day, because of a lot of things, JCPS is easy to pick on. They also do a lot of things right.
Remember, they take almost all students. Private schools don’t. JCPS is required to take students with profound mental challenges, students with less than desirable behavior and delinquent tendencies, non-English speakers, and kids who would rather be anywhere but school.
Public schools also have to defend against violence more than private schools, but here’s a story that is very good. With over 90,000 students of all kinds, in this past school year, only four guns were discovered at the gun detection stations and none made it inside a school. For perspective, two years ago 28 guns were found on school property, and one school year ago it was 11, so in this age of copycat kids, four is remarkable improvement.
With the challenges facing schools today, especially in public schools, JCPS did an A+ job in this area. I am grateful for their diligence and thank them for their results.
I’m Bill Lamb, and that’s my Point of View.
