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Student Assaults Vex Parents: Gilbert Junior High School Leads District in Reported Incidents

Posted on: Monday, 6 February 2006, 15:00 CST

By Jackie Leatherman, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

Feb. 6--Gilbert Junior High School had triple the number of physical assaults reported in 2004-05 compared to the five other junior high schools in the Gilbert district, police and school reports show.

But Gilbert police Lt. Joe Ruet said the reports do not necessarily mean the school has more trouble with violence than other junior highs. "It could be more incidents -- or more incidents reported," Ruet said. "They are two different things."

Regardless, at least 400 students and many parents at the school have expressed concerns about the number of fights and the lack of adult supervision on campus.

"That's a huge concern," said Vickie Parra, who has a seventh-grader at Gilbert Junior High and serves on the school's parent-teacher resource organization.

She said she visited the campus Thursday during lunch and saw things that alarmed her.

"It was very interesting," she said. "It concerns me that the kids are being bullied that much, and it doesn't seem like it is being handled. We left going, 'This is totally out of control.' It doesn't seem like there is enough supervision."

Principal Kevin Rainey declined an interview.

However, in an e-mail he wrote: "GJHS does not tolerate physical assaults on the school campus and therefore when violations occur the school takes action based on the policies of the district."

The school is the only junior high in the Gilbert district that participates in a nationwide bullying prevention program and is alone in having a fulltime police officer assigned on campus.

District officials stated in an e-mail: "There are no easy answers as to why a student may violate policy. Part of the national prevention program being implemented at GJHS includes a survey assessing student attitudes and experiences that will provide further insight."

Thad Stump, Gilbert governing board president, said he did not have enough information to know whether he should be concerned.

Three weeks ago, Gilbert police officer Clyde Allred started patrolling the campus throughout the day. He said he couldn't give a definite answer on why the number of physical assaults is higher at that campus compared with others.

"The area or the kids that go there are not socially or economically depressed, compared to other schools," he said.

Chelsea Linden, an eighthgrader at the school, was one of three students who tried to take their concerns to the governing board in January. The students missed the portion of the meeting reserved for the public to speak on unscheduled items.

She and her friends had brought with them more than 400 student signatures to underscore their disappointment with how the school's administration handles student reports of threats.

"So many people talk about each other behind their backs and try to start stuff with each other, and mostly because they try to impress their friends and act tough," said Linden, 13. "They tell you to come talk to (them) when you find something out, and you go and tell them and they don't take it serious."

Linden said she thinks increased supervision during the day -- instead of just after school -- and more discussions about bullying would help lower the occurrences of physical assaults on the campus.

But Karen Johnson, mother of a Gilbert Junior High seventh-grader, said she solicits adult volunteers to help supervise the campus through newsletters produced by the parent-teacher resource organization. Johnson said she thinks the reported incidents are higher than what she observes when she is on campus.

"I guess I find those numbers a little bit hard to believe, she said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz.

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Source: The Tribune

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