Schoolyard brawls

SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — The indiscipline on show at several schools across the island in recent weeks reared its ugly head at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) on Wednesday leading to a suspension of classes on Thursday and uncertainty if students will return to the campus today.

When contacted late Thursday, STETHS Principal Keith Wellington declined to comment on the situation.

“I am not going to talk about it until I have finished dealing with it,” Wellington told the Jamaica Observer hours after he advised parents and guardians that classes had to be suspended at the school due to a series of incidents on campus.

“This action has been taken to protect the safety of all members of the school community and ensure that provisions are made to maintain discipline,” the advisory from Wellington read.

Sources told the Observer that the decision to shut down the campus to only students sitting external exams stemmed from the multiple fights — one of which allegedly involving a knife — at the high school in Santa Cruz on Wednesday.

Preliminary reports are that mid-morning Wednesday a student was injured during a confrontation which required the intervention of the police.

Sources say, following the incident, several other fights broke out at the school including some in the presence of senior administrators.

Operations officer for the Jamaica Constabulary Force St Elizabeth Division Deputy Superintendent Owen Brown said the police were told of the escalating violence and intervened.

“We were able to bring the situation under control along with the school administration and a few parents who turned up also. We were able to settle the issue,” said Brown as he pointed out that the police maintained a presence in schools and have routinely deployed personnel to guide students away from violence.

“A number of our schools in St Elizabeth are under the School Resources Officer (SRO) Programme, in that SROs are placed at some of these schools. St Elizabeth Technical High School is one of the schools.

“One of our efforts on the SRO Programme is to help to guide students to deal with their issues, to talk it out and not to fight it out, so helping them to understand how to resolve their issues amicably and not to commit violence,” added Brown.

He said the police will continue to educate students and tackle violence in schools.

“We have given our commitment to not just STETHS, but to other schools in St Elizabeth, to work with them to ensure that our students are orderly as best as possible,” he said.

Brown also encouraged parents to ensure that their children learn how to resolve conflicts.

“The home is one of the most important places of socialisation. This is where the child learns how to behave in the wider community. As such we are encouraging our parents to be more vigilant in ensuring that the basic socialisation is taught to our children. How do you deal with conflicts, understanding that persons might not necessarily agree with everything you say,” said Brown.

“A disagreement doesn’t necessarily mean that there should be a fight. Let us begin to show them [students] how we treat differences and the children will learn [how to act] when they are in the wider community,” he added.

When asked if the students involved in Wednesday’s fights had been arrested, Brown said, “None of the students were taken into custody, but I do understand that the police were there and the parents were there and they were able to handle the situation at that level.”

Since the start of this year at least two students have been killed in clashes with their schoolmates, while several other incidents of violence and bullying at — or around schools — have been reported.

In March, 16-year-old Devonie Shearer of Tay Street, Ocho Rios, St Ann, was killed during a dispute at Ocho Rios High School. A 17-year-old schoolmate was arrested and charged in connection with that killing.

Last month, 13-year-old Seaforth High School student Kland Doyle was fatally stabbed during a dispute with one of his schoolmates in Morant Bay, St Thomas. Three schoolboys were arrested in connection with that incident.

Also last month, Jamaica College (JC) was thrown into the public spotlight for a second time when a video showing a student being physically assaulted by two of his schoolmate went viral. In the previous month, a JC student was reportedly beaten by peers on the school compound.

St Elizabeth Technical High School in Santa Cruz.

BROWN… we have given our commitment to not just STETHS, but to other schools in St Elizabeth, to work with them to ensure that our students are orderly as best as possible (Photo: Kasey Williams)

WELLINGTON… I am not going to talk about it until I have finished dealing with it