Time for a little rant:
Alright, what school is this?
Me: "My son's stuff was stolen, along with belongings of two other students. The thefts happened at the same time, during gym class."
Staff: "Yup, stuff around here is always getting stolen. We can't keep on top of it."
Me: "The fair market value of the stuff is significant. It's in the felony range."
Staff: "That's a bummer, Eric, but we can't keep up with all of it."
Me: "You're saying you're too overwhelmed administratively to look into felonies?"
Staff: "Basically, yes."
Me: "You even caught two of the kids with some of the stolen goods, but you didn't pursue the possibility that they might have my son's stuff?"
Staff: "Apparently. We should have followed up more in that instance, but like I said, we have a lot of issues we're dealing with here."
Me: "I have the phone numbers they dialed with the stolen cell phone. One of the numbers dialed belongs to someone with the same last name as one of the kids who had possession of the other stolen goods."
Staff: "Good luck with that."
The quotes aren't exact, but they're fair paraphrases (alright, the last quote is a gross exaggeration, but the sentiment is fair). The dialogue took place with an employee at my local public middle school.
To their credit, just as I started to get mad, the administration contacted the police. I don't know if they heard that I was getting ready to file a criminal report (and possibly call an acquaintance at the local newspaper about the candidly-admitted, out-of-control crime wave at the local middle school) or whether they acted because it was the right thing to do. Nothing came of the police investigation, but given the five-day gap between the felony (which we reported immediately) and the administration contacting the local police, I'm not terribly surprised.
I quickly cooled off after the administration contacted the police (better late than never; I ain't no hard guy). But then Alex's stuff got stolen again: two pairs of drumsticks that he received last week for his birthday, his tennis racket, and his backpack. This time, it happened in the band room. The band room! This room is supposed to contain the nicest, best-behaved kids. Alex's initial report of the missing items has been ignored. I'm still hoping someone took the stuff as a prank, but that hope is wearing out.
I thought about reporting it to the administration, but the fair market value of the stuff makes the crime a mere misdemeanor. I can't possibly hope for a reaction. Maybe I'll allege that Alex is transgendered and that the incident has the markings of a hate crime. That'll get 'em moving.
Aside: This is a small town, population 11,000. I think we have a pretty good public school system. I know a lot of people who work there and consider many of them friends. They're dedicated to their jobs. But I thoroughly believe the entire public school concept is broken.
You disagree? Then riddle me this, Robin: What other segment of society shrugs off felonies? Prisons don't count.
I just hope shower rape doesn't become a common problem. "Mr. Scheske, be reasonable. If we investigated every act of gym class forcible sodomy . . .".
Addendum: Alex came back from school and reported that the band teacher is pursuing this diligently. They've already figured out what happened: another student put the backpack in the hallway as a joke. An hour later, the backpack was gone (stolen, but can you really expect a trashy kid to resist something that's just sitting there unguarded?). I guess it's near a security camera, so they're hopeful they'll see who did it.
Although I certainly appreciate the school's help on this, I don't retract anything I wrote above. The initial theft is still unresolved (as is this one, for that matter, but I'm hopeful that they'll catch the creep), and the school is still plagued with rampant theft that it can't control.
