The Department of Education (DOE) provided new guidance to all states Wednesday reinforcing the federally mandated “Unsafe School Choice Option” that requires states to allow students to change schools if they face violence in the classroom.
DEO explained that the “Unsafe School Choice Option” is a provision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 that “requires each state to establish and implement a policy designed to ensure students in persistently dangerous schools are provided with an opportunity to attend a safe public elementary or secondary school, including a public charter school.”
DOE is requiring states to define what qualifies as a persistently dangerous school, identify those specific schools, and offer school choice to affected students. Five states were already able to identify persistently dangerous schools in the 2023-2024 school year. States have the flexibility to create definitions for these schools based on their local needs.
“The Trump-McMahon Department of Education is committed to ensuring all children can attend a safe school in which they can focus on mastering the reading and mathematics skills necessary for success in school and beyond,” said Hayley Sanon, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. “In today’s guidance, we encourage states to build on the work they have done to maximize parent options for choosing the safest school setting for their children.”
States are required to provide options for parents to change their children’s schools under two circumstances. The first is if students “attend a public elementary or secondary school that the State has determined to be unsafe (i.e., to be persistently dangerous) based on State-determined criteria established in consultation with a representative sample of LEAs.” The second is if students “become a victim of a violent criminal offense, as determined by State law, while in or on the grounds of a public elementary school or secondary school that the student attends.”
The DOE explained in the letter that the number of persistently dangerous schools currently reported by states appears low compared to “the number of violent offenses in schools reported through the Department’s Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC).” No schools were designated as persistently dangerous in the 2021-2022 school year despite public school districts reporting “through the CRDC approximately 1.2 million violent offenses in that same school year.”
Virginia and Arkansas are two examples of states working with DOE to ensure that they properly follow the guidance. Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction Emily Anne Gullickson praised McMahon’s work on the issue.
“The Unsafe School Choice Option empowers students and families by providing additional pathways to safer educational environments, giving every child the opportunity to learn and thrive in a secure setting,” she said. “Virginia is committed to providing all students with a safe and vibrant learning community. We appreciate Secretary McMahon and the Department for providing guidance as we work to expand education freedom in the Commonwealth.”
Alan Jamison is the pen name of a political writer with extensive experience writing for several notable politicians and news outlets.
Seems to me it would be better to fix the school, Vs moving students around. It is very stressful to change schools. One would think there would be less stress, and better for all, to remove the “dangerous” issue?
We all know what and who makes the school unsafe. Legacy of democrats who fight for equality and justice and welfare for out of wedlock children are around us. There is not one politician who would dare to touch the legacy of LBJ with a 10 foot pole, Dem. party needs it as do the race baiters. Saddest of all is the fact that there are so many who should and could speak the truth but choose to lie and put the blame on the “system” which means the white man.Unless there is a personal responsibility expected and demanded it will never change,supply of fodder for the prisons will continue.
Solutions:
School choice
Turn schools into Voc Tech Ed centers
Privitize schoiols
Arm staffers
One way Exit entry area
CCTV array
Employees wear ID badges
Sensors campuswide
roving security force
There is citizen arrest, so when non-compliance and a breaking of the rules takes place, any hands of policy, like “do not touch students” student should be physically apprehended, removed and rule upheld. We have to many people with their hands tied because of idiotic school policies. And that is why children are so arrogant. Worked 10 yrs as campus supervisor.
How about protecting the teachers from violence? School district needs to be legal or responsible if they can’t control the violence and the students attacking the teachers. School districts need to be wide open for lawsuits from the teachers that get attacked by violent students. They need to throw those students out of school. And if they can’t control the problem then they should be legally responsible to the teachers for being attacked financially as well. If it breaks the school districts too bad shut the schools down I’m sick of this stuff.
The trouble makers in school are the product of a dysfunctional home… All of those who are under that roof are accountable and must be held responsible… Remember reform schools? Spare the rod and spoil the child?
Does brainwashing kindergartners and first second and third graders into trans drugs and or surgery considered dangerous or violent school environments. If not it should be added in those school districts where teachers have taught this to children and told them not to say anything to their parents. There were a million complaints but nothing was done under Biden. How safe were our children the past 4 years. Secretary McMahon kudos for looking into this. It’s not only the MAGA people the dems go after it’s the children as well. The Nazis are busy culling those who are not woke. But have common sense.
If ever anything was elementary, this is. And school violence is not a recent thing, it has been going on for as far back as I can remember. Now its become noticeable because of the lethal violence, often victims of this continued mistreatment, thats left unattended by staff and the legal community, will bring a fire arm to school, and he/she becomes the criminal, not the lazy staff, or the perp of the violence. A sad reality
Often it’s a school’s administrators who enable bad behavior by not doling out meaningful consequences, or ignoring complaints. Until the whole system is changed, the behavior continues.
If a school is unsafe, it’s most likely students making it that way. Get them out of the school. Here’s a thought: a student who gets suspended from school because of violent actions toward school staff or other students gets sent to a boot camp similar to army training boot camp to learn respect and dignity.
Leaving the Progressive Left in charge of schools has been an unmitigated disaster, from failing test scores to 16 years of Marxist indoctrination, to violence and unsafe environments. Thank God, President Trump is addressing this issue.
How about if we just remove the “dangerous” kids committing acts of violence from the schools? These kids and their parents need help getting their lives straightened out. The rest of the kids deserve to be able to go to school without having to worry their going to be victimized by a few bad kids
Clear out the Violence. Do not allow violence to occur, and ensure the Perpetrators are sorry the did commit violence, by changing their Life Path.
Suppose teachers, Principals, Deans/administrators in higher education, School Boards, and Superintendents cannot maintain a safe school, address learner needs, remove troublemakers, and stop the flood of money into schools that now beats municipal taxes. In that case, we have a giant problem.
I thought the DOE was going away???
If you ever hear your doorbell ring one Halloween night only to find a lone flaming paper bag standing there at the threshold, you might want to avoid reflexively stomping out the fire!
You said what I have been thinking most of my life. Thank you for validating the few of us who feel this way.
Chicago Public School should empty out in no time allowing the CPS to cut their salary increases
Too bad you can’t be retroactively aborted