This is Viewpoints for Sunday, June 10, 2018

The problem with classroom discipline

I read with amazement and disbelief that a teacher in Bibb County was arrested and charged with battery for attempting to restore a little order in her classroom. Then, further in the story is the fact that the mother even called law enforcement to report it.

The whole problem with classroom discipline today is that many parents have failed to teach their children to respect adults in authority, whether it is a teacher or policeman. Rather, they take the position that they are picking on their little darling because they would never do anything wrong.

What the school board should do is reward Jessica Garcia Stevens with a letter of appreciation and develop a training program for all teachers that will allow them to control their classroom. Because one disruptive person in a class size of 30 means that 29 other students aren’t receiving the attention that is required.

What this mother should have done is called Ms. Stevens and thanked her for the steps that she took to restore classroom order.

My hope is that a judge sees this as just a lack of discipline being taught in the home and tosses out all charges.

One of the main problems is that if a discipline problem arises and it is a little controversial, the first thing that happens is the administration abandons the teacher.

Build it somewhere else

Centerville is predominantly a community of individual housing units located on one-quarter-acre lots or larger. There are five trailer park areas, some with smaller lot sizes. As I observe, there are two multi-story apartment developments. The Meadows has four to six families each in five or six two-story buildings spread over at least two to three acres. I have no figures on Lexington Place and am assuming it is in Centerville.

Someone mentioned that low-income housing would be great for the workers at the new Amazon warehouse being built in south Bibb. It seems like if that is the target population, then these apartments should be built on Houston Road, Sardis Church Road or Skipper Road in south Bibb. Oh yeah, taxes are higher there, and the public schools don’t compare.

Before Houston County and Centerville accept these projects, they should ensure that the taxes on the property will support the infrastructure demand on roads, transit and schools. Oh yeah, we don’t have a public transportation system. If we are going to house low-income workers so that Warner Robins and Bibb County can have labor for their businesses, we should at least get some land to add to our city limits or some Bibb County tax dollars for police, fire, schools and roads.

Surprise, surprise

So proud to see that finally the Macon-Bibb County commissioners are taking a stand against “Sir Robert” (Mayor Robert Reichert) and taking a stand for the already over-burdened and abused property owners. Anybody who is against a deeper audit of county finances maybe shouldn’t hold office. Commissioners, keep up the good work, and some of you might have a chance to get re-elected.

They have no answers

Once again our Macon-Bibb County commissioners say they are not able to balance the budget. Remember they have had over a year. What do they do? Like most commissions that have too many long-term members, their obligations to their money lines run deep. Nepotism is bad, but having indecisive members is pathetic.

First of all, why not revamp the tax code, whereby those with large acreages pay for it all? Revenue roughly $3 million to $5 million. Unite offices that are overlapping and not viable as stand alone or are seasonal. Place all garbage under the private company already in place. Savings $2 million through eradication of staffing and retirement costs.

There are many more obvious divisions that are grossly over staffed and pointless considering their ineptness.

Term limits of two terms. Drug tests to all members of county. Financial accountability of all commissioners.

Save millions by getting sealed bids on every project over $3,000. Two many sweetheart deals like the $10 million-plus already spent on South Bibb Recreation Center. Pure nonsense, and they are proposing more wasted funding down there.

Now get ready to pay hundreds more in taxes since most of you did not vote out the problem members.

A miraculous change

I arrived to begin work at Milledgeville State Hospital in 1963, fresh from my studies at Southern Baptist Seminary and Carver School of Missions and Social Work in Louisville, Kentucky.

Volunteering with the Baptist Student Union campus ministries at Georgia College and Mercer University, I transported a group of students to a Southern Baptist Home Mission Board-sponsored conference for foreign students in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, over the Thanksgiving holidays.

Sam Oni, the first black student to attend Mercer, was among my passengers. He had been carefully recruited by the Mercer president and trustee to intentionally integrate the school. Ironically, all the well-made preparations to receive Sam with hospitality failed to anticipate an off-campus influence. Sam, a direct product of Southern Baptist missionary evangelism in Ghana, was denied this request by Tattnall Square Baptist Church located adjacent to Mercer’s campus at the time.

On learning of this from Sam, I was devastated, and the long-cherished affection with the church of my youth and family tradition was shattered.

Having recently moved to Macon from Savannah, I am happy to say that after visiting several congregations in Macon of varied denominations, there is nothing short of miraculous redefinitions of how the Body of Christ is now constituted since those long ago days.

This story was originally published June 10, 2018 at 12:00 AM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Sunday, June 10, 2018."