For weeks, educators have spoken up about violence and other behavioral issues in Brockton schools. Thursday night, they had the ear of state lawmakers at a community meeting.
“It's very concerning and we want to make sure that the students and the teachers and the educators have a safe learning environment to teach these kids,” said Sen. Michael Brady, who was in attendance.
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He said some pointed to a state law enacted in 2022, known as Chapter 222, that says before a student can be suspended outside of school, administrators must not suspend or expel a student until “alternative remedies,” have been employed, unless specific reasons are documented as to why such alternative remedies are unsuitable or counter-productive.
“There's some instances where they're telling us that teachers are told they're not allowed to suspend kids and if you do suspend a student, you still have to educate them. So, whether they're educated at home or whatever, in the law states that they can still be suspended if there's certain situations of violence or other situations, that they are not abiding by the rules and regulations they can be suspended.”
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A member of the Brockton community who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation shared a video of a fight at the high school Thursday, noting that the students involved have had extensive behavioral write-ups and were suspended for two days, ahead of February vacation week. NBC10 Boston’s requests for comment from the high school’s principal and Brockton Mayor, who chairs the school committee, did not receive a response. Superintendent James Cobbs declined to comment.
Brady said he is also interested in answers from a pending audit about the school district’s budget deficit which led to layoffs.
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“The biggest thing is we're hoping to get this audit implemented and the report out on the audit have to find out because, you know, they've had to make layoffs in the schools. They can't get some help sometimes,” said Brady.
The next school committee meeting is scheduled for March 5.
