An ongoing sex scandal among fifth-graders gets school officials and media attention in Spearsville, La. The story presented by CBS 11 within the past week has undoubtedly startled parents all over the nation.

School officials need to regain control in many American schools. We cannot continue to let students do whatever they please just because we, as a nation, have begun to fear discipline in the classroom.

“They cuss at the teachers and throw things at them, and nothing is done,” said Michael Walker, a first-year teacher at the school. “There was even one student who grabbed a teacher in the butt and nothing was done. The students run the school.”

A teacher admits he has no control, which could be translated into a fear of his students.

Students today can be intimidating; some have no manners, and others are raised in families that do not care about their children’s success. It has to be hard to be a teacher in some schools today.

Regardless, it is up to school officials and those in charge to step-up and discipline. These students will never be able to adapt to careers if they are not taught in school that it isn’t all about them and their desires.

The students in Louisiana were left unattended for up to 30 minutes before faculty realized their error. There was an assembly for older students, and the high school teacher that usually watches the fifth-graders during that period was still at that assembly when the fifth-graders got to the classroom.

Taking matters into their own hands, four students began having sex or fondling each other in front of numerous other students, while one served as a watch-out for teachers.

If it isn’t enough that fifth-graders are having sex, it is enough that their misbehavior cannot be stopped. The students had no respect and no regard for where they were or what they were doing.

The four students having sex were arrested for obscenity, a felony, before being released to their parents, and the watchdog student was charged as an accessory.

Hopefully, this will send a message to other unruly students at the school, but more than likely, the students who were arrested will be talked about for years to come, possibly what they wanted in the first place.

The school system needs to take control out of the students’ hands and place it back in its own. Discipline may be harder than it has been in the past because of lawsuits and parental complaints around the country for some disciplinary actions.

It shouldn’t matter. There are ways to discipline students without using physical force, and there are ways to take control of classrooms. Teachers just need to accept that their classrooms need change.

There are many schools doing well at keeping their students under control, in the classroom and studying hard, but others need some help.

When teachers allow their students to run wild and to control the setting of the classroom, students will not learn because they will assume they are the teachers and the leaders of the room.

Marissa Warms is a junior advertising/public relations major from Irving. Her column appears Fridays.