The administrator was able to fight off the students and call police. The students were identified using footage from the school's security camera, and arrested when they showed up for school the following day.
The students' bravado in showing up to school 24 hours after the attack makes clear that they felt there would be no consequences for their actions.
Head of the city's teacher' union Marietta English said what happened at Calverton over the weekend is another example of what's gone wrong.Dr. Andres Alonso, CEO of Baltimore schools, has one piece of wisdom and hope to interject into the scenario.
"It goes back to these students thinking there is no consequence for their behavior. They came back to school on Monday thinking that they were going to go to class as usual. They didn't think anything was going to happen to them. It's ridiculous," she said.
I think it's tragic for a school...everytime a school has an incident like this it is devastating. And I think it's tragic in the life of the child. We cannot forget that every incident is an opportunity to intervene.This why experiments like The Big Picture are important. "Every incident is an opportunity to intervene." Every incident has the potential to be a learning experience, a chance for us to draw parallels, connect dots, and make changes to attitudes and systems. This incident teaches us that children internalize the messages they see and hear, and if our society makes light of violence against women, allowing perpetrators to escape jail time or social punishments because their behavior is accepted, then even children will commit crimes against women without thought for the consequences. These lives of these children are ruined, and it will probably be impossible for this administrator, as well as other female staff and students, to feel safe in a school again.
Violence against women hurts everyone: women, men, kids, and communities.
1 comment:
It is very sad to think that young adolescent students find it so appropriate to stage such heinous violence against anyone, let alone an elder caring female figure, an educator no less. Yet, this is a sign of our times. Research and practice show that it is now time for parent education regarding child rearing and guidance, probably more so than at any other period in our nation’s history.
Even with the presence of great diversity in our society, there are some practices that are age infinite, and can make a difference in whether or not a child learns the basics of respect and citizenship that will benefit that child and all others with whom he or she must form various types of relationships. For instance, to model as well as teach kindness, gentleness, patience, courage, hard work, humor, and optimism, all in the face of good times and bad, peace and difficulty, goes a long way into playing the vital role of passing one’s culture down to the young in a positive and life-giving and respectful manner. Parent education is one aspect of various community-centered programs that should be ongoing and always current in today’s society.
My best hopes and thoughts are with the administrator and staff as well as all of the school students, not to leave out the two perpetrating students in this case, and their parents and relatives.
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