Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report; Hard Lessons /; the Struggle to Keep Milwaukee Schools Safe; When Is a School Dangerous?; Under the No Child Left Behind Law, the Definition Varies From State to State. In Wisconsin, That Means Some Troubled Schools Escape the Law's Scrutiny.

Summary

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Last of a four-part series

At Todd County High School in South Dakota last school year, 16 calls to police helped earn the school an unsavory distinction in the eyes of the state and federal government: The rural school was slapped with the label "persistently dangerous."

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Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report; Hard Lessons /; the Struggle to Keep Milwaukee Schools Safe; When Is a School Dangerous?; Under the No Child Left Behind Law, the Definition Varies From State to State. In Wisconsin, That Means Some Troubled Schools Escape the Law's Scrutiny.

Under the 6-year-old No Child Left Behind Act, each state must define a "persistently dangerous" school and allow parents to transfer their children out of them.

But at Milwaukee's Fritsche Middle School, 187 calls to police over a recent six-month period did not make the school persistently dangerous under Wisconsin's definition.

Neither did 263 calls at Bay View High School, nor 299 at Custer.

The fact that Todd County's high school is "dangerous" while many of Milwaukee's high schools do not come close to earning the designation highlights dramatic inconsistencies in the way the federal safety provision is applied, a Journal Sentinel analysis shows.

The analysis also found tha...

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