Community talks about violence and drugs on school
Published on April 17th, 2002
STONEHAM, MA – In response to recent incidents and parents’ questions, the School Department scurried to pull parties together to address the issue of school violence last week.
At Wednesday’s School Committee meeting, school administrators and representatives of the Police Department spoke publicly of the issue that caught a great deal of attention following an article in The Stoneham Independent three weeks ago that illustrated the fact student violence is not exclusive to inner city schools and takes place even in Stoneham.
Last week, Stoneham High School principal Tom Ryan acknowledged that Stoneham High School does have its share of problems but for the most part, a very small percentage of students are involved. The manners in which other school districts respond to these problems is varied, but Ryan suggested that for Stoneham going to the extreme of installing expensive metal detectors at school entrances would be overkill. Instead, he favors use of the Town’s D.A.R.E. Program and Community Policing Unit, which, he said, have been successful in forging relationships and trust with students.
At one time, the High School employed hall and bathroom monitors, and Ryan said reinstatement of those positions would be helpful. Committee member Dan Moynihan was interested in this too and further discussion regarding funding such is expected to take place at a School Committee meeting following budget action at the May 6 Town Meeting.
While certain individuals in the school administration called the Independent’s article misleading, the newspaper stands by its sources.
Police Chief Greg O’Keefe said that the article prodded a productive meeting between school administrators and police.
“If anything, we’re a lot closer than we thought we would be...We agreed more than disagreed,” O’Keefe said.
O’Keefe supported Ryan’s attempt to provide a safe school environment without making the building prison-like. He also does not support putting metal detectors in the High School.
“The time we start needing metal detectors is when kids start asking for them,” he said.
Two Stoneham High students in attendance acknowledged that fights do happen on campus but not everyday and that, in general, they feel safe at school.
O’Keefe continues to support police presence in the schools.
“We’re not there to provide security. We’re there to get kids to know us and to get to know them,” O’Keefe said.
The Police Department is working on securing a federal grant called Cops in Schools which puts one officer full time in the High School. The grant would provide $125,000 for three years as long as the Town commits to carrying the program for a fourth year. Sergeant Herb Moore is working on this grant application and said he feels confident that the town could get this.
School Committee Chairman Marie Christie opposes measures such as metal detectors and drug sniffing dogs in schools, calling both invasions of student privacy as well as a method of “profiling” students.
“We wouldn’t think of doing this at the Town Hall,” she said.
While O’Keefe agreed on the metal detector issue, he disagreed with Christie regarding random searches by dogs to sniff out drugs on school property.
“Students should know that lockers belong to the school,” O’Keefe said.
There is no use of drug sniffing dogs now, but such a program could be put in place in Stoneham, and the searches would be done randomly and in a way that would not interrupt classes, O’Keefe said.
“We’re always worrying about the rights of that one individual. Let’s worry about the rights of all the other kids too...If there are drugs in there, you want them out,” O’Keefe said.
When a member of the audience asked student representatives to the School Committee meeting if they would have a problem with the drug search, the kids said it wouldn’t bother them.
Middle School Principal Jim Andreottola suggested that another proactive approach to the problem would be to employ additional Middle School guidance counselors and reinstate a behavior modification program at the Middle School that was cut from the budget a decade ago. Christie supported this suggestion and requested Andreottola to provide Committee members with information on the program.
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