My Father was in education for 40 years, and for the majority of that time he was a high school principal and a Superintendent. He personally put some smoke on allot of kids ass with the real "board of education", ran the school like it should be run instead of letting the kids run it, and rarely ever suspended kids and almost never expelled. Of course everyone can sue for everything and anything now, so that in itself is a huge issue "spineless management let it get to this point IMHO". Kids today are a bunch of punk asses, and their parents are allot to blame for that. But I grew up when kids were allowed to stand up for themselves without real consequences, teachers and principals knew who the good kids were. Kids now can't defend themselves against bullies without themselves getting into trouble, and that sure isn't how I remember things. Taking out all the soda and snacks is ridiculous, as is the so called healthy slop that many schools are trying to pass as food. You are a saint for still being a teacher, and I know you have seen allot of negative changes over the years. Times are tough for many people right now, and the public schools are right in the cross-hairs. Our state does a very poor job of helping fund the schools, so the majority of that funding ends up on we the taxpayers. So I reckon my point is that nobody except for the lawyers and state/local governments have all the power.......and we see how that is all working out. My son is going to be a Junior, we live in a nice community with top schools.......and he can't wait to graduate so he can get the hell out of there.