I have been to every elementary school in this town. Wilson has the best staff in town. They are caring and loving, very patient. The kids they have to deal with are challenging. These kids are wonderful kids, some have problems. It only takes a few to disrupt an entire classroom. I have witnessed a physical fight between two boys. It was sad, they were only trying to defend themselves as men. What started as 2 kids disagreeing with each other, just exploded. So, where did they learn this? Who knows, you can blame the parents, but to what degree? Can you seriously take a 5th grader over your knee? Is that even legal? My point is that the problems at Wilson are so diverse, and the staff there knows how to handle each individual case with positive outcomes. Hats off to the Wilson staff as they do believe these children have the ability to be assets to society. They do so much more than teach.

"Laying down the law" is not the way to handle this, it will only drive them to do what they are already learning from siblings or even parents. I have a child in the Janesville school district (not at wilson) and I love how she is becoming a learner and good role model in her room with out "laying down the law". I praise the principal at Wilson to take action and try to split up the 59 kids and possibly make it better for them. I remember when I was a kid and I sat with my friends and got in trouble,yes I know its different times and penalties, but splitting them up at school could actually help. Split them up, it could help. As far as the comment what happens when they get to 6th grade, discipline is different in middle school and the kids that are in Wilson "should" be at edison, and the principal Mr. Sperry does not put up with "BS", teaching them now, that what they are doing wrong now will be hard but this is just the start of trying to prevent a life of crime. Sorry for the rant but atleast the school is doing something. They could just turn their back and let the kids get crazy. My 2 cents

for those of you who said to lay down the law, show these kids who is boss, etc: do you work with troubled or "at-risk" youth? do you understand how hard it is day in and day out to reach those kids? you would know then, that laying down the law is not the answer. we have to find other ways to get to these kids. do your research as to why most/some kids join gangs in the first place. i am not saying that these kids dont have attitude issues and/or lack of respect. what i am saying is that we need to come up with another way than just going right back in their face.

Do these parents have no control over 11 year olds? Obviously the problem begins with them at home. Work with the parents and if they don't comply make the next gang sign or tag be their last day in the district. They may be wannabes now but in a couple of years it will only be worse in this city.

small setting with a high teacher-student ratio. Staff builds relationships with the kids and that makes a huge difference.

Nothing with save every kid but it seems like programs like TATE do a great job and are worth it.

the thing is, even with an alternative program, it wouldn't be long before that's over run with unruley, undisciplined kids that have no respect for authority, which educators do have and are already in a compromising position... then what??

I believe you are confusing TATE with another program.

TATE serves expelled, suspended and students transitioning from a mental health/correction facility.

What do you mean by "borderline" kid and "diluting" the program?

Well, the school district already uses TATE and has a pretty good system in place for determining which individual students need that sort of treatment. The existence of a staffing problem does not indicate that the kids need to be taken out of the environment wholesale. TATE also would work less well if its student body were diluted by borderline kids.

your right, no one has to deal with this behavior, especially those kids who want to learn and be there, but right now they are letting the little wannabe gang kids run over them, a kid throws up a gang sign, slap the hand of the kid, caught doing graffiti make the kid scrub it off with a toothbrush, the wannabe gang kid hits a kid, well thats self explained.... o im sorry thats not right and teachers arent allowed to do that anymore, more political b.s.

Dude

What does that mean? How do school administrators and teachers put "fear" in 5th graders?

Remember, many of these kids who are already entering gangs come from families where that is the norm. Gang behavior and that family is more important than school.

Perhaps the district should offer an alternative school for these kids. Expand the TATE Center and allow elementary students to attend. The rest of Wilson shouldn't have to deal with this and the staff at TATE is trained and are experts at working with these types of students.

come on people, lay your foot down on some punk 5th graders, gang activity, yeah right, most gangs in janesville and in the country are a bunch of babies, talk but dont walk, they are nothing but big babies, lay the foot down on these kids and show them whose boss (meaning the adults need to put fear in these kids eyes, for acting like idiots).

thank you for doing the right thing with this very dangerous issue... our son will be attending Kindergarden at this school, and his safety along w/ the other students and staff, to me, would take priority... go wildcats!! :)

I agree, praise to the princpal for noticing a problem and finding an answer...but what happens to these problems when they enter 6th grade and on.

Yes, thank you to the principal and to the board for taking quick action. I hope this helps make for a better learning environment.

Thanks Mrs. Bicha for going to the school board
regarding this situation. You definitely did
the correct thing. That is far too many students in a fifth grade setting. I'm in total agreement with you. Thanks for being a
strong principal for the Wilson community.