Teacher, here. In AACPS, not HCPSS. At our middle school, we have constant fights, recording of fights, gang related activity, weapon carrying, harassment of one another and adults, and just general assholeishness. I know that kids need a place other than school and home to hang out, but a LOT of the activity that I see on a daily basis from my students today would have been a straight trip to a JDC when I was their age.

I don’t have a solution aside from a societal shift that feels impossible, but I understand why the businesses at the mall don’t want this happening outside of their shops.