What good is a good school?

My second period came in quietly, sat down in the correct seats, opened up their books, began their warm-ups.  They listened respectfully as I outlined the day's lesson, and it made me sad.

"How long has BB been suspended?" I asked.

"Permanently."  KJ handed out calculators.

On Monday, BB got in his second fight of the school year.  This was his first year back to Potts Camp after being expelled for bad behavior two years ago.  Rumor has it that his time here was probationary... in other words, two fights is one and a half too many.

Honestly, I'm okay with my students settling down quicker and listening closer now that BB is not in the room.  One troubled student can quickly derail a lesson and distract the eagerly distracted.

But what happens to BB?  Like so many of my HSHS students, BB is well-intentioned, smart, and caring... and uncensored, loud, and energetic.  Potts Camp was a great place for BB to grow and succeed because he never slipped through the cracks-- all of the teachers know him, his family, his history, and his missing homework assignments.  If BB stayed at Potts Camp, he would graduate and probably go on to college should he cooperate with our amazing school counselor.

But now that he's not here? 

This is how it works: Potts Camp is a highly functioning school.  It functions so well partly because students who do not behave according to policy (ie by fighting) are expelled or taken to jail or get tired of being in trouble and transfer.  That means that the students who would most benefit from the structured and respectful environment at Potts Camp do not or cannot stay in the school.  But what good is a good school if it can't help BB?

How do we make good schools for the emotionally unbalanced/unparented/overly energetic students?  It's like that silly quote, "I wouldn't want to be a member of any club that would take me."  Who said that?  Karl says Marx Brothers.  Anyway.   What I mean by that is, I don't want BB at any school that would take him.  He belongs at a school that is so highly functioning that it would kick him out. 

BB will have his best chance of success at schools that won't keep him.  Something's wrong here.