Perception Versus Reality

As teachers in Baltimore City, we constantly hear about the ever-present violence that occurs in our schools and the communities around us. Whether as a blurb in the newspaper or a clip on the evening news, we unfortunately hear about fights, riots, stabbings, and shootings. The reports always highlight what went wrong, but never what possibly went right.

Last Friday, at Northwestern High School, an unfortunate series of events took place during the first lunch period. A community conflict that had erupted earlier in the week boiled over and was finished in the cafeteria. This fight was quickly contained and the instructional day continued with only minimal interruption. If you had been watching the news or reading the paper over the next few days, none of the positive actions by the staff were reported. The caption from WJZ news that evening said “Police Swarm School After Dozens of Girls Brawl.” If you knew nothing about Northwestern High School, but you saw that caption, you might think that these events were commonplace with an ineffective staff.

Left out of the story, was the swift reaction of staff and administrators to contain the fight. Left out was the fantastic performance of other students who did not allow the fight to destroy the rest of the school day. Left out were all the gains that have been made in the atmosphere of the school. While I am not an apologist or attempting to cover-up what took place, I would ask that a fair picture of the progress made in our school be presented. As a teacher at Northwestern, I can say that had this happened last year, the day would have been a waste.

Though one would have assumed that I would have been saddened by the events last Friday, I actually left the school that day extremely proud of my students. With a room full of upperclassmen, my students stayed on task, finished their work, and maintained a lightheartedness that made the extra hour in our room seem like no time at all. My students went to lunch during the second period, and as I walked them down to the cafeteria, I was amazed that it looked as if nothing had happened. Students maintained their composure and went about eating their lunches.

I use the events at Northwestern to comment on how we view violence throughout our school system. Unfortunately, for many of the communities surrounding our schools, violence and gangs are commonplace. As teachers and school staff, we are extremely limited to what we can control outside of school. Additionally an unenforceable cell phone ban and weak discipline code, leave administrators at a disadvantage. We know that strong consequences are not going to eliminate school violence; there must be a systemic change of culture. In most cases, a change in school culture can take approximately four to five years to take full effect. If we know that systemic cultural change takes so long, can we really blame faculty and administrators for setbacks along the way? More resources must be placed in schools for anger management, counseling, and conflict resolution. While our ultimate goal as educators is to make events like last Friday a thing of the past, we must acknowledge the reality that they may happen no matter what. Rather than unfairly place blame, we should celebrate swift action and competent management in the face of crisis.