The kids are not alright.

We have been biting our tongues for months.

Honestly, we didn’t know how to responsibly start the discussion.

And we knew just how important it was to do this right.

We know you have been worried, too — because you have told us, repeatedly.

But recent incidents at several Wayne County Public Schools, some of which went viral on social media, have left all of us no choice.

We can no longer stay silent while our children slip away.

There is drug use at local high schools, sometimes in plain sight. Students and school personnel tell us hallways and bathrooms reek of marijuana, and there have been at least two overdoses that nearly claimed students’ lives.

There have been reports of a dramatic increase in bullying. Some of those victims have even confided in their teachers, parents and peers that they have contemplated suicide.

And there is brutal fighting — broadcast over Instagram on a page created by students on one local campus and on TikTok by students on another.

One of those videos showed a staff member getting knocked to the ground as she tried to maintain order — and students laughing as they recorded the event.

We know you are talking about that one around water coolers and dining room tables across the county.

But did you know that an elementary school student — yes, we said ELEMENTARY SCHOOL — made a “burn book” and in its pages, threatened to kill one of her classmates?

And there’s more.

Teachers, and bus drivers, are being verbally abused daily by students and parents.

School officials will tell you this is a result of the pandemic — that these children have simply been away from the structure of school for too long and no longer understand the proper way to act.

And they are right about one thing. The pandemic did a number on our children. We all know that.

But that is no excuse for the lawlessness we — and you — are seeing.

There are hundreds and hundreds of Wayne County students who are thriving since returning to campuses full time. They are suffering as their classmates disrupt learning and flaunt rules seemingly with no consequences as teachers try to keep order.

It is affecting their futures, too, and it is not fair.

We have to speak up for them — and to fight for them. But buildings, books and money are not the only demands we should make.

A recent New Old North report on the physical conditions of historic Goldsboro High School went viral, as local residents, GHS alumni, students and parents sounded off on what they characterized as the deplorable state of classrooms.

But what if we told you that a 69-year-old teacher inside that same building was assaulted last week as she attempted to break up a brutal clash between three teenage girls — that she was, according to the video and police report, “thrown to the ground” and trampled, shattering her smart watch?

You might also remember that those same students who brought the conditions at GHS to the Goldsboro City Council also mentioned something else — classmates who were out of control.

We should hear that call and act on it, too.

And we should also address the overwhelming stench of marijuana inside several local high schools and the “Eastern Wayne Shaderoom” Instagram account that posts videos of EWHS fights and screenshots of lewd text messages in an attempt to “out” classmates for a myriad of behaviors?

Are you one of the dozens of parents from Rosewood Elementary who has reached out to the New Old North to talk about the “burn book” incident — or the fact that the child accused of threatening to kill a classmate on campus only got a three-day suspension?

Or are you one of the parents who let us know that some students who have been suspended at several local schools showed up at extra-curricular events the same day?

Are you one of the 17 Wayne School of Engineering parents who told us that you were not notified that the “social media threat” you were called about long after your children were already on their way to school was, in your view, a “credible” threat of retaliation via gun after a GHS student was nearly shot to death the night before?

Perhaps you are one of the 63 people who has sent us the video, via Facebook Messenger, of that 69-year-old teacher being assaulted.

We think that you, like us, agree that just talking about it amongst ourselves is no longer an option.

We are losing these children. We are losing control of our schools.

The remedy is the hard part.

How do we restore order and get back to the business of preparing the next generation for the real world?

How do we send a message to these students — and their parents — that drugs, violence and threats have no place on Wayne County Public School campuses?

Do we demand, as members of the Board of Education begin their annual budget discussions, that more funds be allocated for mental health support in our schools?

Do we decide it’s time for metal detectors or additional law enforcement on campuses?

Do we tell our representatives to increase staffing at the district’s alternative school and adopt a zero-tolerance policy to send a message to our young people that enough is enough?

Do we quit blaming everything on COVID-19 and realize that the “villages” that are supposed to be helping us raise some of these children are failing to live up to that responsibility?

We have heard your thoughts over the last several months — via email, Messenger, during phone conversations and when you bump into us on the street.

You are genuinely worried about the future — and that a real tragedy on one of our campuses might happen before we close the book on the 2021-22 school year.

And you are right.

It is time to have this discussion out in the open now. And those who are charged with leading our schools should be where it starts.

Board member Jennifer Strickland warned Wayne County a few months into the pandemic.

We didn’t always agree with her, but when it came to the impending mental health crisis she foresaw, it seemed inevitable.

Well, now it’s here. It’s right here on our doorstep.

Drugs, violence, and the complete lack of respect for authority consuming many of our schools are converging. There is, according to parents, students and staff, seemingly zero severe consequences being handed down.

The wick has been lit and it’s inching ever closer to the powder keg.

It’s time to shine light on these stories — as uncomfortable as it might be — before it’s too late.