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Parents, students take issue with handling of violence at Medford High School
Students walked out of class on Wednesday to protest what they described as an unsafe learning environment.
Tensions flared at a meeting of the Medford School Committee Monday night, just hours after a Medford High School student was stabbed during a fight, sending the school into lockdown.
The meeting grew heated as parents and students shared concerns about school safety, occasionally raising their voices and speaking over others as they demanded action from school officials.
“What we’ve seen today was horrific,” Medford City Councilor George Scarpelli said. “What I hear and see from this committee is just as bad.”
He added: “Our kids are afraid; my daughter doesn’t want to go back to school. Where is the urgency?”
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Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said the School Committee recognizes there is a systemic problem within the schools. She said the city is working to get the ball rolling on a culture and climate study as one way to address the issue.
“Please know we are taking this extremely seriously,” Lungo-Koehn said. “Safety of our students is our utmost priority.”
On Wednesday, more than one hundred Medford High School students walked out of class to protest what they described as an unsafe learning environment, WCVB reported.
‘Do your job’
At the meeting Monday night, Scarpelli urged school leaders not to wait for study results before taking action.
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“Whether you want to see it or not, our children are telling us that they feel that you’re protecting the bullies, you’re allowing them to run the show,” he said.
Medford resident Sean Beagan said there’s a common belief that there are no consequences for misbehaving students — a misperception that needs to be corrected immediately, he said.
“Right now, there seems to be a perception among some of the students at the high school that the high school is an acceptable and maybe even the preferred place to settle your differences by having a fight, and those fights are becoming more serious, there’s no doubt about it,” Beagan said.
High school student Gabriella Puccio said the recurring violence at her school “leaves me left to wonder what’s to happen to me each day as I walk through the doors. Will I be body-slammed into cold floor tiles, or will I be repeatedly stabbed with a knife?”
She added: “I think you’d all rather listen to our concerns than attend our funerals.”
Stepping up to the podium with her mother, another student recalled being assaulted at Medford High School in October.
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“Do something; do your job, and if you can’t do your job, step down and let someone else do it for you,” the 16-year-old told school leaders.
“Superintendent, there’s blood on your hands today,” her mother said.
Planning for safety
There’s a security monitor assigned to each school, and the high school — when fully staffed — has more than five monitors, one school official said. The district also has two school resource officers.
Police Capt. Paul Covino said the police department will have additional personnel at the high school for the remainder of the week as support for students and faculty.
“We often don’t want to talk about a lot of the safety plans in general, but I can tell you that we have been working with the administration recently and want to develop a long-term safety plan with the school,” Police Chief Jack Buckley said. “It’s an ongoing process.”
What’s next?
Some school officials similarly voiced support for long-term solutions.
School Committee Vice Chair Jenny Graham acknowledged the need to improve district communications in particular, adding, “As a community, we’ve really never gotten crisis response right in Medford Public Schools.”
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She proposed that the committee hold a meeting before school returns after the holidays, including an executive session for committee members to be fully briefed on safety and security protocols, as well as a public meeting that will cover, among other topics, the student accountability process and what parents can expect to see down the line. The committee approved Graham’s motion.
Scarpelli said he will work on City Council resolutions to help tackle the issue, including one regarding funding for school security guards, and another asking School Committee members, the police department, and teachers to set up a teen summit to hear from students.
“We have a lot of work to do, and we’re committed to doing it,” Lungo-Koehn said.
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