You’ve heard about them. You have an idea of how disruptive they can be. Some of you have even seen them in person. However, many students are oblivious to the extraordinary effort being put in by Principal Stephenson and the Freedom Administration in order to end the disruptive fights that are currently ravaging the school campus.

To understand the magnitude of the issue that these childish brawls have become, one must first understand the main causes behind them.

Stephenson shared his views on the situation.

“Most of the altercations are starting because of problems outside of school- either in the neighborhood or through social media,” said Stephenson. “There’s no particular neighborhood, but issues outside are now pouring into the school.”

However, many students have become misinformed as to what these “fights” even are.

“Most of the time students are not fighting, but it looks like they’re fighting because there’s a big crowd around despite them just arguing,” said Stephenson. “We’re able to squash it before a physical altercation happens, but that’s just as disruptive and we can’t have that either.”

Stephenson also expressed the importance of students who are not involved in the fights do not engage in encouraging the disruption.

“If students just walk to class like they’re supposed to, we’re not going to have an issue. They don’t need to run to any crowd that’s forming. Those students can actually get in trouble as well if they interfere with the situation or injure someone while running. Hopefully all of our students will walk to class like they’re supposed to, not be tardy, and enjoy their day,” said the Principal.

Once they have broken up the skirmishes, Stephenson and the Administration have worked with the students in attempt to help them move past their issues. The school has had success in mending the issues between students.

“We’re bringing them in and we’re trying to mediate to get to the root of the conflict. We hope it works. That’s as much as we can do as a school,” commented Stephenson. “So far, we haven’t had students that have multiple fights. It’s not like the same kids are fighting over and over.”

However, in more extreme situations, the school must make harsher decisions in order to ensure the safety of students.

“If we do get to that point [of mediation], the consequences are stiffer. We’ve had four students in the past two weeks that have been arrested not for fighting, but for battery. They end up getting arrested and we request that their placement be changed from our school because we can’t have that,” said Stephenson.

The Freedom Administration is also exploring alternative consequences for first offenses.

“We are looking at alternative punishments. We’re doing the Freedom Integrity Team, which is a group of students that will determine what the consequences are for students for minor infractions…some of them might include writing an essay or doing a Saturday detention,” explained Stephenson.

Above all, the Principal made his message clear: the primary focus of the school is the safety of the students, and only a small percentage of the student population is resorting to violence.

“The bottom line is that we do want this to be a safe school. We know that the majority of our kids come to school everyday to do what they’re supposed to do. They come to class and enjoy school,” said Stephenson. “It’s a handful of students that are having a tough time with conflicts and they resort to disruptions. We have to teach them that there are alternatives to verbal and physical altercations.”