An article published March 28 (“Local Advocacy Group to put on School Discipline Workshop”) is concerning.

This workshop is advocating one of President Barack Obama’s pet projects that has been one of the most dangerous and damaging policies for the school systems across the country.

As a result of this policy, teachers have been forced to ignore disciplinary problems in their classroom, particularly if it involved a minority student. This escalates to more serious problems when you leave a disruptive, oftentimes aggressive, child in the classrooms.

Since these policies have been set in place throughout the country, assaults against teachers and students have increased and bullying has run amok.

Teachers are more likely to get fired for disciplining a problem child than the child getting punished for his disruption. Arrests and suspensions have gone down as a result of this policy, but so have the academic standards because disruptions caused by one or two problem children cheating the others out of classroom time and knowledge.

The Parkland, Florida school shootings last year that killed 17 students and teachers was committed by a young man that was coddled, protected and returned to school repeatedly by the very policies that Salisbury’s Actions in Faith and Justice are advocating.

It seems ironic that this group has decided to push this policy at the time the school board and parents of students are distracted and preoccupied with school closings.

I suggest the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education watch this carefully.

— Vera Cope

Salisbury