Brockton Public Schools is looking to turn the corner after controversies surrounding violence, safety and academic performance have plagued the high school.
Officials announced a series of measures during a school committee meeting Tuesday night, including bringing in a former Boston Police commissioner to help.
This is as the district will be meeting Thursday afternoon with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as well as the state’s Department of Revenue at the State House behind closed doors.
“Fights are still happening, but it seems to be trending downward,” noted Brockton Police Officer Jason Mosley in front of a full auditorium during the school committee meeting Tuesday night.
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It’s a message parents, staff and students, had been hoping to hear.
“It's very different,” said Brockton High School freshman Molly Lanagan. “I feel like everything's sort of calming down a little bit.
Tuesday night’s meeting at Brockton High School offered a glimmer of hope after months, if not years, dealing with student brawls, staffing shortages, and declining performance.
“It's just a small number of students that are, you know, problematic,” said Brockton School Committee Vice Chair Tony Rodrigues. “The security plan that was presented to the committee has been favorably recommended. And we're going to move forward with that.”
It’s a plan that includes bag checks and metal detectors, securing empty classrooms, and even bringing in reinforcements, including former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, whose company has been tapped to lead a state-funded safety audit and with plans to double security personnel to 24 people by next year.
“[If you’re] not from here, these kids aren’t respecting you,” said Brockton South Middle School student mentor Roosevelt Wilson. “We're from here. They respect us.”
Wilson, who’s been praised by South Middle School’s principal for his volunteer work as a youth mentor and helping children stay in school, says the high school would benefit from the intervention of people who understand the children best.
“I did 10 years in prison,” he noted. “It's real. But they don't have to go to prison if I can help them change their lives… You put the mentors in the schools and they walk the halls. School will be back to normal, I promise you that.”
“School is about learning and the behavior has been getting in the way of that,” noted former Brockton High School Principal Susan Szachowicz.
Dr. Szachowicz served as principal from 2004 to 2013. She successfully turned around a school that was failing academically by pushing literacy to the max and fiercely monitoring the progress.
And like then, she believes the school can overcome today’s challenges.
“As they build their own team and start moving forward. Success brings more success,” she said.
With a new principal in place, Szachowicz said there can be consistency, but there must also be consequences.
“There needs to be the academics and student learning coupled with the disciplinary and safety measures that have to be in place. Both matter to the success of kids,” she added.
For now, the school’s new principal, Kevin McCaskill, is looking to implement the school committee’s plan hoping it can build on the progress of the past two weeks.
“Keep believing in our students, keep believing in our staff, and that the best is yet to come,” he said.
Davis will be completing a security assessment of the high school by June and offering recommendations. The assessment is costing the district upwards of $83,000.
In the meantime, the high school will be looking to hire a director of security who will be reporting directly to the school.
