Brockton High School had an increased amount of concerns regarding the safety of the school. During this school year there has been a rise in violence within the school that has brought Brockton High School some attention from the media. The violence became very concerning at one point that it was considered for the national guard to be sent in.
“Now the state’s largest high school is in the news again for more troubling reasons: a surge in violence so severe that it prompted some local politicians to ask the governor to send in the National Guard” the Boston Globe published on
One of the major problems occurring in the school is lack of staff. The Boston Globe states, “According to teachers and students, the basic problem is that there are not enough adults at the school. And that’s where questions around the district’s financial state intersect with the safety problems.” The reasoning behind the lack of staff is Brockton High School has faced a budget cut to their funding, which led to the district cutting more than 130 staff positions at the school last spring. Many of those positions included teachers. Brockton High School has a very large student population, with a high number of students and a low number of staff the school will be more challenging to manage.
Since there are less teachers there the amount of classes that were on going during the day was cut, which made the students less productive throughout their day and lessen their education.
“Hundreds of students have been spending part of the school day sitting in the high school cafeteria with no academic instruction and barely any supervision due to teacher shortages and absenteeism,” according to the Boston Globe. Less staff and lack of supervision gave students a feeling that they had more freedom. This feeling left some students to think an acceptable way to pass time was by fighting.
“It is not as bad as people are making it to be, the kids fight a decent amount and if students don’t get themselves into altercations and mind their own business there shouldn’t be many issues, which is the majority but the school is overall safe.” AJ Delgado Silva said. Delgado Silva is a former Braintree High junior who transferred to Brockton over Winter Break.He personally felt like the media coverage of Brockton High School is a bit exaggerated and that Brockton High School is predominantly a safe school. Fights don’t always occur and when they do it is not as serious as the media makes it out to be, in his opinion. Only a few percent of students do get involved with these fights, but the majority aren’t. From his previous experience at Braintree High School, AJ also feels like Brockton High School and Braintree High School are very similar and that the only difference is the income by town.
“The only reason the media covering Brockton High School is exaggerated is because the people that live in Brockton are predominantly low income,” AJ states.
