There has been an ongoing growth of concerns from students at North Central regarding school safety and student behavior.
In the past semesters at North Central there have been several incidents where fights among students have resulted in injuries, including some where even teachers have been harmed while trying to intervene and to stop an altercation between students.
Students have complained about not only the lack of consideration for their safety and well-being while in school but also the lack of measures being put into place to try and stop the violence going on at North Central.
“I don’t think the school takes precautions that actually keeps us safe and keeps the danger out, and there’s constantly people bringing things to the school that don’t need to be brought out into this environment,” junior Joilynn Johnson said.
In addition to physical fights, other safety-related events have caused students to lose trust in the administration and their efforts to crack down and improve the school environment for students.
Many students feel that the school’s current safety measures aren’t enough. Some students recognized efforts like having adult supervision between lunch and passing periods as a step to improved things. Others say that the consequences for fighting aren’t always clear or consistent, which leads to more fights happening because the repercussions aren’t serious.
“Well, one of the things we try to do is make sure we are consistent with our enforcement, making sure that students who do have infractions, have consequences per the Washington Township Code of Conduct,” assistant principal Nick Brewer said.
Once fighting on school grounds has happened, all students involved face major consequences such as suspension and possibly expulsion from the school.
Schools all over America are working towards getting better security for their schools and preventing any and all acts of violence from happening on school grounds.
A lot of the action that North Central takes to prevent fights and violence at school all are mainly centered around getting administrators and teachers to be involved in keeping a watchful eye over certain areas of the school like the lunch room and passing periods in the hallway.
“Part of our job is to make sure we’re always looking at that and making sure we are adapting as new things come up,” Brewer said. “As for specific policies, I think we, again, are always looking for ways in which to make sure safety is always our number one priority.”
Students hope to see an increase in attention and focus on their safety in school so that it will be an environment where they can go to learn and not have to worry about any incidents happening.
