We had a near riot in school yesterday. I don’t exactly know what happened but I walked into the caffeteria in the midst of a food fight, or at least flying red soda. And the students were running back and forth between the doors like they do if there is a fight. I am not describing it very well, and I am not sure how to exactly. What i do know was that the tension and energy in the room was explosive. One spark would have set it off. Fortunatly that spark didn’t happen and we got them all back to class.
The police arrived in the caffeteria shortly after I did. Actually I think those were back-up police. I think there were already some there. They came in with mace drawn, but didn’t use it. They stood at the doors and kept people in. Eventually the tension sort of settled and we were able to get them back to class although we spent the rest of the day on lockdown. After they sent almost all off to class they took at least two girls off to jail (one of them was one of my students.) There may have been more arrests, those were just the ones I saw.
I do not know what set this off. The kids have conflicting stories and seem to be as confused as I am. They have been on edge since monday. I am not sure why. Strange fights and dissagreements. Strange, as in unexpected students being involved.
I believe that the biggest contribiting factor to the whole event was that the school had its funding cut drastically. It is hard to get supplies. Each teacher has two reams of paper that is supposed to last the year, but more importantly there are half the security in the building and fewer teachers, paraprofessionals, support staff, administrators, and maintenance people. That shortage of adults creates a dangerous situation.
I am frankly frightened. I feel like I am in a sinking boat, and the more we bail the more water we are expected to carry. I am somewhat scared for my career. How will a failed school look on the resume? Mostly though, I can’t see this going anywhere good without some resources. I am afraid all the guys in suits from central offices will just cover their asses and make our principal the fall guy. We will have no more money or security.
I forgot to say a couple things. One teacher got injured in the fracus. Torn shoulder ligaments we think. He is one of the favorites. The thing i was writing but didn’t say was that i am terrified for our students. I think that if we can’t get help soon one of them will get hurt badly. I think we in the building know this, so do the police that were there. I don’t like that my student went to jail but she is safe for the moment. I don’t want to start sending them to the hospital as part of how the school works.
You know, our school keeps cutting funding for things students use (computers, auto-scheduling), even though its mammoth budget keeps getting raised - mostly for a 17% increase in teacher benefits. I think I just got some ideas from your post…
There are some who certainaly had family affected, but no direct Katrina survivors as far as I know. I am teaching in an American inner city, I think identifying it farther than that wouldn’t be wise. We did get a pay raise after an extended period with no contract, but the corasponding cut in or benifits mostly offset that raise.
Pardon me if this is rude but this IS a school for special kids right? Not just a normal school?
The reason i ask is i’m just so shocked that the police would have to turn up. I am reading between the lines i know but from what you say, are fights common? Between so many kids? Yikes!!
We used to have police show up at our “normal” suburban high school when there were fights and riots, and this was 1992-96 in Miami. We drew from a pretty wide segment of the city, and kids from all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds went there. (The population was probably about 2/3 Hispanic, the rest white and black.) There were the usual drugs and stupid macho posturing at our school, but we also had some gangs. When fights got out of hand, the cops would definitely get called to keep things from getting worse. And the girl-fights were much more brutal and vicious than the guys.
At my completely normal, middle-sized public school in suburban NJ, we had fights about once a month, and the police always ended up there. If it’s an assault, why wouldn’t the police get involved?
These are real fights - not nessecarily massive riot-like brawls, but not playground-level shoving, either. Usually it would be something like one-on-one and escalate from there as friends got involved. It wasn’t elementary-school-type namecalling and pushing, but serious punching, wrestling, clawing at eyes, etc.
Sure if it’s an assault the police should be called. Just from my UK perspective it sounds like a school that is basically locked-down - for problem kids. Obviously we get fights and whatnot but not at that level of severity. If a school did get that out of hand it would be closed.
They could close the school, but that would leave 1000 students needing schools. Many of the other options are no better even if there were enough slots. Then again, we seem to have been set up to fail, so I have no idea what central office is thinking.
I know there are a bunch of kids who will be expelled for the events of wednesday, and our principal spent yesterday in confrences with parents, so we might lose a bunch of good kids too. I guess that might solve some of my class size difficulties.
At my completely normal, middle-sized public school in suburban NJ, we had fights about once a month, and the police always ended up there. If it’s an assault, why wouldn’t the police get involved?