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Obama's Hug-A-Thug Policies Backfire In NYC, St. Paul Schools

Mayor Bill de Blasio, center, listens to teacher Victoria Bozeman instructs a 12th grade English at Brooklyn's oldest high school. But such scenes have been disrupted in recent months as lax rules governing student behavior have gone into effect. (AP)

Education: As serious crimes in schools soar, teachers unions in New York and other cities are pushing back against new softer student conduct codes inspired by the president’s national anti-discipline strategy.

New York public schools are dealing with escalating classroom chaos after adopting minority-friendly discipline policies that the Education Department pushed to close so-called “racial disparities” in suspensions and expulsions. Educrats have been threatening school districts with lawsuits and funding cuts wherever if finds disparities.

High-school kids are getting “warning cards" for offenses that normally would result in a criminal summons and suspension, such as drug possession and disorderly conduct.

Liberal New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says crime is down in the schools, but it’s not. It’s just that schools are ignoring it. The only thing that’s down is suspensions.

In fact, “Forcible sex offenses are up 69%, and assaults are up 40% in New York schools after de Blasio implemented the Obama administration’s policy of replacing suspensions with ‘restorative justice,’ a kind of talk therapy — even for serious offenses such as fighting, arson and assault,” former Education Department civil-rights attorney Hans Bader said.

“This type of turning your back on illegal behavior is grooming criminals,” complained the head of Teamsters Local 237, which represents New York school safety ­officers.

Meanwhile, in a shocking election, the St. Paul, Minn., teachers union led a campaign to oust the city’s liberal school board that has allowed unruly students to bully teachers and students.

Classroom violence in St. Paul is so bad that the 3,800-member union has threatened to call a strike until school safety's restored.

“Ask yourself this,” St. Paul Federation of Teachers President Denise Rodriguez said. “Do students and staff deserve to come to work every day and not expect to be assaulted? Teachers want to know who has our back with this violence.”

Earlier this month, a popular St. Paul Central High teacher sued the district for “negligence" after a 16-year-old African-American student choked him and slammed him onto a table, forcing him to be hospitalized with a concussion. His assault was one of 27 against district teachers and administrators just over the past 12 months. Cases have almost doubled in the past year, and are up 60% over the previous five-year average.

Since Obama’s lenient discipline policies were adopted, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune said, “teachers increasingly talk about being shoved, punched and threatened by students in what they call an escalating hostile environment.”

“There’s no consequences,” complained a veteran St. Paul high school teacher. “We are teaching our kids it’s OK to disrupt the learning environment, and all they’ll get is a slap on the hand.”

Obama’s racial bean-counting is just making inner-city schools more dangerous. And the biggest losers are minority kids who can’t afford to escape them.