While many schools are confronted with a plethora of issues on a day-to-day basis such as inappropriate use of cell phones, lack of parental involvement and low performance on standardized test, the critical questions to be asked are: How should school officials address issues in the educational setting? What is a resource to support schools regarding educational issues?

As a practice, school officials should avoid turning a minor situation into a major situation. They should clearly distinguish in the educational setting minor occurrences from major occurrences. For example, a student in possession of a weapon, selling drugs or participating in a fight are major occurrences and should be handled appropriately by the school resource officer. On the other hand, a student chewing gum in the classroom, refusing to participate in a class assignment and being in possession of a cell phone in the classroom are minor occurrences and should be handled appropriately by the classroom teacher.

In essence, a school official such as a principal or school resource officer should not be called to the classroom to handle minor occurrences. They should only be notified to address major occurrences. In the event that a principal or school resource officer is called to address minor occurrences, they should address each occurrence in accordance with acceptable school board practices.

To support schools regarding educational issues, The Holmes Education Post (THEP) serves as an invaluable resource. Schools can find on THEP (1) educational articles to support students, parents, teachers, school administrators, professors and college administrators; (2) ideals and educational best practices and (3) books that focus on providing solutions to addressing more than 75 issues in our educational settings. The names of these books are: Your Answers to Education Questions; Current Issues and Answers in Education and Education Questions to be Answered. To the order the books, visit: Amazon.com; Authorhouse.com; or Barnes and Noble.

Dr. Ronald Holmes is the author of 10 books, “How to Eradicate Bullying” “Education Questions to be Answered,” “Current Issues and Answers in Education,” “How to Eradicate Hazing,” “Professional Career Paths,” “Your Answers to Education Questions,” “How to revitalize the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.” “Completing the Dissertation: Tips, techniques and real-life experiences from Ph.D. graduates.” “Jacob’s Dream, A Story of Careers for Children” and Jacob’s Dream, A Story of Animals in Africa. He is publisher of “The Holmes Education Post,” an education focused Internet newspaper.  Holmes is a former teacher, school administrator and district superintendent. He can be reached at [email protected]