What about public boarding schools?

Schools have been expanding their reach for many years, adding kindergarteners and then preschoolers to their primary school program. Many offer after-school care and summer school, and some offer year-round schooling.

Maybe it shouldn't surprise us, then, that Chicago Public Schools is considering offering a boarding school program for kids who are from unsafe or troubled homes, and for children who are homeless.

The idea is still in the planning stages with a call out for proposals.

On one hand, it's not a surprising development given how often school staffs talk about their frustration with all the factors outside their control -- from parents on crack to children who are left alone or abused.

But should public schools take on the parenting role to this extent? Is it a wise expansion of services for an institution that is already involved in children's lives, or is further shifting the focus from a school's main purpose -- to educate children?