EDUCATED IDIOTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

I have written several blogs on the educated idiots in academia. Yo and behold, it seems that the public schools have their own share of educated idiots among both teachers and administrators.

Since October, at least a dozen Houston school district teachers have been arrested for the possession of illegal drugs on school grounds. Most of the arrests were for possession of marijuana. All the drugs were discovered in the cars of those teachers by drug sniffing dogs. Three teachers were caught on the same day at different sites in one of the latest arrests. Up to now, the searches were conducted by school police acting upon tips that those teachers were using drugs.

In fairness it must be noted that the Houston school district employs 12,000 teachers for its 300 campuses. Thus a dozen teachers represent a miniscule number. But it stands to reason that the number of teachers caught with drugs is just the tip of an iceberg. Also to its credit, the district has not shied away from publicizing the arrests.

Other school districts in the Houston area refuse to divulge any teacher arrests and refuse to do random searches of employee parking lots, using the lame excuse, as one district put it, that "We view it as a constitutional privacy issue - just simply going out there not having a tip on a particular teacher or teachers." What a crock!

School grounds, including their parking lots and adjoining streets, are mandated drug-free zones. Random searches with drug sniffer dogs, such as those of student lockers, are one of the best means to ensure that school grounds remain free of drugs.

Under the principle of "in loco parentis" (Latin for "in the placeof a parent") public schools are legally responsible for the children in attendance. As such they are obligated to protect students from any danger, including exposure to illegal drugs. It requires that those on school campuses - students, teachers and other employees, administrators and visitors - relinquish some of their privacy.

Those teachers who continued to bring drugs on campus following the first publicized arrests deserve to be described as educated idiots. What part of "drug free zone" don't they understand? Could it be that their brains have become potted after repeated marijuana use? Add to the list of educated idiots those administrators who put the privacy of teachers above their use of illegal drugs.

The superintendent of the Houston school district, Abelardo Saavedra, has announced that the district will start sending sniffer dogs to every campus to search for illegal drugs in employee parking lots. If those searches are designed to catch teachers who are illegal drug users, then he is also an educated idiot. His announcement has forewarned teachers to leave their pot at home and leaves them free to continue using illegal drugs.

I suspect though that Saavedra is really clever again by a half, rather than an educated idiot. I believe his real motive is not to catch any employees, but to prevent the arrests of teachers, thereby eliminating the embarrassment those arrests have cost the schoold dristrict.

According to one of the local TV channels, the teachers union contract requires it to provide the arrested teachers with a lawyer, both during pre-trial proceedings and during any trial. Instead of helping to rid the schools of lawbreakers, the unions choose to defend them. That is just another example of how teachers unions impede learning.