No onehelped. Again.
This time a crowd of onlooking students at Reginald F. Lewis High School laughed and joked Thursday morning while a classmate pushed Examiner Photographer Arianne Starnes to the ground and then pretended to shoot her, pointing his finger and saying: “I told you not to take a f—— picture.”
Earlier this month, other classmates brutally attacked art teacher Jolita Berry at the school. Some shouted in support. Girls and boys. One recorded the incident on a cell phone and posted the video online.
What kind of students tolerate such easy violence? Such casual disregard for the safety of a teacher and now a visitor? Only those who attend schools where malicious acts are tolerated, and even condoned.
Berry, whose story made national news, said her principal blamed her for using a “trigger” phrase to launch the beating. The words? Berry says she told students she would defend herself if attacked. If the allegations are true, it represents a serious failure of leadership on the part of Principal Jean Ragin ? whose response indicates students set the rules and that yet another generation of students will enter the world using thuggery as a means to achieve their goals. These students may not know Friedrich Nietzsche, but they embody his nihilistic worldview that the only rules are one?s own.
Ragin referred calls about the incident to school system headquarters. Schools CEO Andres Alonso said principals who did not suspend or expel violent students would be fired at a recent meeting where many teachers complained school violence is ignored. His are harsh words. Following through on them would help to start changing environments that tolerate disruptive and dangerous students at the expense of learning for all. We will follow closely the employment status of Principal Ragin and all other principals whose schools are hotbeds for violent activity.
More than a year ago, The Examiner reported on city teachers who accused administrators of covering up violence. Apparently the city has done nothing.
That means teachers must start reporting incidents to the police, regularly and directly. If nothing is reported, no one will be held accountable. That can only mean more violence in schools, on the streets and in generations to come.
