Students at one of America’s most violent high schools — where administrators have implored the National Guard to help quell the chaos on campus — are organizing a fight club, the Post reported.
Meanwhile, at Brockton High School, 40 miles south of Boston, several faculty members were severely assaulted while trying to break up a fight, leaving overwhelmed teachers to turn a blind eye to the violence fearing for their own safety. .
“Kids start fights between two people out of boredom, set up a place for them to fight, and everyone watches,” said Jamal Gooding, an activist in Brockton, Massachusetts. He spoke with parents and students since the struggling school made headlines in early February.
Gooding told the Post that these fights are causing more violence in the hallways, which could turn deadly.
“What happens when you lose a fight and go to school the next day? That’s when you let your friends come in through the back door and catch the person who hit you,” he said.
“They don’t deal with fist fights like our generation does. No, if you lose, now you want to go for weapons.”
Cliff Canavan, a math teacher at Brockton High School for 22 years, said he had never heard of fight clubs, but since brawls are so common in school hallways, he was “not necessarily surprised” when they happened. No,” he told the Post.
Canavan broke his arm last year when he stopped an assault in which an unconscious student was kicked in the head, but the violence became so aggressive that he and many of his colleagues intervened on their behalf. He said he stopped trying. safety.
“If I’m in the hallway and a fight starts, I don’t get involved. I turn around and walk in the opposite direction, because I’m not going to put myself in a position where I get seriously hurt again,” he said.
Canavan’s injuries were just one in a long list suffered by teachers at the Brockton school, and were relatively minor compared to some attacks on staff.
“A friend of mine who was a science teacher had a fight break out in front of his classroom a few years ago. And he got slammed to the ground and hit his head so hard that he actually suffered internal damage to areas of his brain.” Canavan said.
“He will never be able to work as a teacher again. As far as I know, he will never drive a car again.” I walk around wearing sunglasses because otherwise my head would split open in normal light. It’s scary.”
Canavan said another teacher was out of work for a year after breaking three discs in his back when he fell during a fight.
In addition, a hall supervisor who was seven months pregnant was pushed against a wall by a student she was accompanying for discipline.
“He turned towards her, pushed her against the wall and slammed her against the wall. She did not return to Brockton after going on maternity leave,” the teacher added.
At an emergency school committee meeting in February, Canavan and many other teachers spoke out about the challenges they face every day as they struggle to control the 3,500 students who roam the hallways of Brockton High School. Explained the confusion.
They reported witnessing students fighting, dealing and using drugs, and having “sex” in empty classrooms.
Recent budget shortfalls and layoffs (about 120 district teachers were laid off last year) have left schools severely understaffed, according to Canavan. Those who remained were powerless to maintain order, he said.
In a desperate move, four members of the Brockton School Committee formally asked the mayor of Brockton and Governor Maura Healey to deploy the National Guard to quell the situation.
Mr Healey refused to send in security guards and instead earmarked funding for safety audits, a move Mr Canavan said was highly effective in getting people to look at the problem.
“When I first broke my arm, I was so frustrated by the situation and the lack of help I needed that I sent photos and descriptions of what happened to various local news agencies,” Canavan said. Told. “And I never got a call or an email. And now suddenly everyone wants to talk to me.”
While it may have been effective in getting attention, Canavan said the involvement of the National Guard was “stupid” and a “short-term solution,” under Section 222 of the Massachusetts School Discipline Act of 2012. , saying that was the beginning of the problem and would prevent the National Guard from intervening. Start by taking actual action.
Article 222 requires that suspension be used only as a “last resort” to discipline a student. Critics say teachers and administrators are forced to jump through difficult bureaucratic procedures before meaningful discipline can be achieved.
“This handcuffs and impedes the administration’s ability to effectively discipline students,” Canavan said. “We’re now at the point where misbehaving kids feel enabled more than anything else, because they don’t feel like the consequences are effective.”
Brockton activist Gooding is a born-and-bred Bostonian who grew up in the shadow of the state-sanctioned desegregation of the city’s public school system in the 1970s and the violence that followed. He also agreed that the National Guard is not the answer, especially in one of New England’s most diverse cities.
Brockton High School’s student body is 61% black, 18% Hispanic, and 13% white.
“There’s a lot of mistrust in the community for people with guns,” Gooding said, referring to both police and security personnel.
“One of the things we’re hearing from these young people right now is the psychological trauma that they’re going through on a daily basis,” he says.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Gooding offered to send 50 volunteers from his nonprofit, People Affecting Community Change, to assist with the situation in lieu of outside forces such as the National Guard. Gooding said bringing in people from the community is essential to solving the real issues that are causing problems at Brockton High School. He has not yet received a response to the offer.
Meanwhile, Canavan believes the solution is for schools to rescind Section 222 and ban phone calls during class. He believes this is helping students incite violence and organize retaliation on social media.
Despite the gloomy headlines surrounding Brockton High School, both Canavan and Gooding emphasized that the majority of students are not the problem.
“The negative atmosphere surrounding Brockton should not overshadow our tremendous success in producing many students and outstanding graduates who go on to college and college,” Canavan said. said, noting that 95% of the students were excellent students. “Great kids who do the right thing on a regular basis.”
“We’re trying to do what’s right for them, because they deserve it.”
However, more and more of these good children are dropping out of school every year as the problem remains unresolved. Canavan said Brockton High School, which typically enrolls about 4,300 students, has hit an all-time low in its 22 years at the school.
“A huge part of that is because parents are choosing to send their kids to districts near Brockton rather than Brockton because they don’t feel confident sending their kids to high school. ,” the teacher said.
