> Urban schools were and are hellholes. <
I certainly agree. But I must mention something. As I noted earlier, I taught at an urban high school. It had all the expected problems: poor student attendance, fights in the hallways, kids running wild in the classrooms, etc.
Ah, but then by some miracle we got a tough principal, an ex-army paratrooper. He turned that place around. He walked the halls constantly. He suspended bullies and troublemakers. And he called the city police. Those were golden years.
He committed lots of no-no’s there. You’re not supposed to suspend disruptive students. High suspension rates make the district look bad! And you’re not supposed to call the city police. You’re supposed to call the school police (better to bury the incident).
The central administrators hated the guy, and told him so. But they couldn’t fire him because he had the strong support of a school board member. Finally he retired. And then it was back to the chaos.
Sounds like the principal you speak of took the Rudy Giuliani approach. Good for him. Wish there were more like him.
>> And you’re not supposed to call the city police. You’re supposed to call the school police (better to bury the incident).
This is why I am against school system police forces, which are a thing in many states, including mine.