Amen on bullying. I saw so much in Seattle schools, granted decades ago, and an absolute unwillingness on the part of teachers and administrators to even admit it was their responsibility to do something about it. They wouldn't even call the police in situations that would have been clear assaults out in public.

Other issues: there used to be..maybe still are..about 6 to 8 groupings of occupational interests...conventional (routine, clerical etc. work), intellectual, social, creative, entrepenurial and "realistic." Most teachers were found to be intellectual/social, if I am remembering correctly, and most students were "realistic." That means they are drawn to occupations, or studies, that would use hands on, actually doing things, spatial things..engineers, truck drivers, mechanics etc.,, and nurses surprisingly, were drawn from this group (everything I say is pretty old research by now and might not be current). So from the getgo you had teachers teaching the majority of the group in ways that made sense to the teachers, and the minority of students who matched them, but were highly unoptimal for the "realistic" majority of students. Not only was there this disconnect, I can say from watching in person that there was a disrespect for this type of learning, for people in these professions, for the students themselves. Maybe only in Seattle, but for sure there. So you really need to teach these kids in their preferred learning style, and you need to have preferrably a majority of teachers who are this way themselves, which you don't, and until you even the playing field here, you are going to always have trouble.

Some quick fixes: lots of outdoor education, home economics, hands0on learning, occupational education starting in kindergarten..building and designing in three dimensions.

Some students do fine with 30 to a teacher...they tend to be compliant girls with the same learning style as the teacher. They would probably do fine with 40 to a teacher. For some classes, arrange it like this and have some classes part of the day 10 to a teacher.

If you are in a district so idiotic as to have abandoned recess, pretty much abandon hope. Fight if you have the strength, but they are too dumb to do much there I have to say.