Carolyn Fath Ashby
Fights at East High School have reignited the debate over school resource officers.
In late October, a fight between about 100 students and parents broke out in front of East High School. Another lunchtime fight on Nov. 9 involved 250 students. Both incidents brought police officers to the school and returned the issue of school safety to the limelight.
While fights are often common to the high school experience, these seem to have shaken the city awake.
Parents have taken to social media to voice concerns about the safety of their children and alarmed community leaders have urged restorative justice practices be implemented to prevent future fights from breaking out.
As a result, Madison schools Superintendent Carlton Jenkins announced plans on Nov. 15 to conduct a district-wide analysis to study the underlying factors behind the recent increase in violence not just at East High, but throughout all other area schools.
Whatever those specific underlying causes may be, one thing is already very clear: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the lack of adequate resources at the disposal of educators and school personnel. What’s more, it has greatly fatigued our children.
The solution to violence then is holistic. We can’t just blame our children alone when it comes to the uptick in fights during school hours — it goes much, much deeper than that.
Our children, their teachers, and their classrooms have been woefully neglected for years — this violence is just one symptom of the larger crisis our public schools are in.
We cannot continue to only pay attention to our schools when fights break out. Our care must be 24/7. And that care must include an understanding that the system has largely failed our most at-risk students, that the violence we see at East and elsewhere is a public health crisis.
And like all public health crises, this one must be met with professionals trained in counseling, behavioral psychology, social work, and education. Increased law enforcement presence, as suggested by some since the fight at East, is a reactionary response and will not address the root causes of violence.
The return of school resource officers will do very little to prevent fights from breaking out. What they will do is stop them after they are already underway and perpetuate feelings of unease for our most marginalized students. These students deserve to feel safe at school too.
Aggression in children cannot be met with aggression by adults. And while strict, fair and immediate disciplinary procedures should be in place, that discipline must be built on the principles of restorative justice and with children’s emotional and mental health a priority.
Stopping the violence before it even takes place is the best safety plan.
We need to remember that our students are not only the ones perpetuating this violence, but that they are often on the receiving end of it. They know better than all of us what’s at stake and they will always be the solution and not the problem. We must encourage, not hinder, their agency during these difficult times.
Nada Elmikashfi is chief of staff to state Rep. Francesca Hong and a former candidate for state Senate.
