GREG DERR/The Patriot Ledger

Weymouth High School security liaison Michael Salvi oversees a team that patrols the hallways before, during and after school.

How violent is your kid’s school?

Fights, attacks and weapons
are threats even in the suburbs

By KAREN ESCHBACHER
The Patriot Ledger

First of two parts

Fifth period had just let out at Plymouth South High School when a fight erupted in a hallway between two trash-talking teenagers.
By the time teachers could pull them apart, one of the boys was a mess. He was taken to the hospital with a gash on his face and a possible broken nose.

The other wound up in court, charged with aggravated assault and battery.

The April 12 incident in Plymouth is just one of hundreds of fights and other acts of violence that take place every year at schools on the South Shore.

A Patriot Ledger review of data submitted by 29 local school districts about violent or criminal offenses on school property during the 2004-2005 academic year found:

• 681 fights involving 1,394 students
• 544 physical attacks or assaults and 280 threats of physical attack
• 113 weapons offenses
• Five sexual assaults and 51 cases of sexual harassment

The number of students involved in such incidents represents a fraction of the school-aged population, and parents, students and administrators interviewed for this story said South Shore kids have little cause for concern when it comes to school safety.

Still, experts say even minor altercations - the kinds viewed by some as “kids being kids” - can have a chilling effect on learning and in some cases can escalate into more dangerous episodes if not handled properly.

“When fights are allowed to take place on the campus, it diminishes the ability of teachers to provide a safe and welcoming environment for students,” said Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center. “It’s just hard to learn. If you have to watch your backside, it’s hard to concentrate on algebra and geometry.”

Every grade level

Violent incidents occurred at schools up and down the South Shore, at every grade level. The offenses can be anything from shoving between elementary school students during recess to blows exchanged between older students over relationship drama.

Among high schools, the highest reported rate of physical violence was at Holbrook Junior-Senior High School, which tallied 29 fights, attacks or assaults last school year. That’s one offense for every 20 students.

One of those students involved was Mike, a sophomore who admitted getting into a “crazy fight” after another student snitched to police about trouble he caused outside of school.

“I hit his head off the wall in the bathroom,” he said.

Mike, who would not allow his last name to be used, said he was never caught for the restroom brawl, but was slapped with a three-day suspension when he tangled with the student’s friend the next day.

Such stories notwithstanding, several Holbrook students said violence is not a big problem at the school.

“You see your occasional fight, but we have a good group of faculty and staff, and they handle it well and take action very quickly,” said Brian Stone, a 17-year-old senior.

Added Jenna Mumme, another senior: “There’s more verbal fights than anything else. They get handled quickly.”

From scuffles to brawls

While some fights or attacks end with injuries - like the one earlier this year at Plymouth South - the overwhelming majority do not, administrators said.

Mary Dorey, a nurse at Weymouth High School, said fights seldom require medical attention, and even then it’s typically for a bloody nose or scratches.

In fact, some incidents are so minor they barely qualify as physical altercations, said Rockland High Principal Stephen Sangster.

“If someone throws a pencil and hits the kid we call it an assault,” said Sangster, whose school reported 11 fights and 36 attacks or assaults last year. “It doesn’t mean the pencil hit the kid and hurt the kid. ... An assault is whenever someone does something to another person.”

Crime in the Corridor During the 2004-2005 school year, 29 South Shore schools districts reported 1,225 Fights, attacks or assaults 280 Threats of physical attack 197 Incidents of property crime, such as theft or vandalism 113 Weapons offenses 51 Incidents of sexual harassment 5 Sexual assaults Source: Department of Education

Stephen Eshner, 17, a junior in Holbrook High School is involved in peer mediation.

Rockland High senior Christine Patterson said fights in school are rare. When students do tangle, she said, it’s often girls doing the fighting, as was the case with one recent dustup.

“By the end of it they were both on the floor,” Patterson, 18, said. “There were teachers trying to separate them. One of the girls got loose and smacked the other in the face with her purse.”

Still, serious incidents occasionally occur.

At Randolph High School, for example, a series of fights broke out inside and outside of school one day this past February, apparently over a stolen iPod. Six people - including three students - were arrested, and police say a billy club and box cutter were used as weapons.

In another incident at Randolph High earlier this school year, four girls allegedly attacked a 16-year-old female student in the hallway, leaving the victim with a laceration that took more than two dozen stitches to close.

Weapons in schools

Weapons also make their way into South Shore schools.

Local administrators reported 83 offenses involving knives or cutting weapons on school property last academic year, including four in elementary schools and 21 in middle schools or junior high schools.

Plymouth North High School reported the most weapons offenses: nine involving knives and one involving what was classified as “other firearm.”

As with assaults, administrators stressed that students were not necessarily in danger as a result of the incidents.

Cathy MacLeod, the principal of Bryantville Elementary School in Pembroke, said her school reported a case in which a boy accidentally brought a knife to school after using it while fishing. The boy notified his teacher as soon as he realized the mistake.

No one was ever in harm’s way, but the school still treated the incident seriously, MacLeod said.

“There is zero tolerance for possession of anything that could be perceived as a weapon,” she said.

Violence and learning

Although the number of violent incidents at South Shore schools is not altogether alarming, experts say the presence of fights and weapons on campus - no matter how minor or infrequent - is always cause for concern.

GARY HIGGINS/The Patriot Ledger

Abdoul Dyfan, 16, is a peer mediator at Holbrook High School.

In some cases, fears of being bullied or injured are enough to keep kids away from the classroom. In 2003, the most recent year for which data was available, 5 percent of Massachusetts high school students said they skipped school in the previous 30 days because they felt unsafe, according to a state survey.

Even when kids do make it to class, students who get mixed up in fights or other violent episodes take an academic hit.

Roughly 73 percent of high school students involved in a fight on school property received grades of C or better, the 2003 survey found. By comparison, 89 percent of students who weren’t involved in school scuffles earned marks in that range.

Similar trends were true of students who were bullied at school six or more times, or who were threatened or injured with a weapon at school.

Until such problem behavior is addressed, there will always be students who suffer academically and emotionally, experts said.

“You want a classroom and a school where everyone feels safe,” said Thomas Cottle, an education professor at Boston University. “Nobody does well in an unsafe environment.

“School after school I visit, it is near the top of the lists of counselors, principals, assistant principals,” he added. “People are deeply concerned about it.”

Reach Karen Eschbacher at keschbacher@ledger.com.