fights at Columbia

Has anyone else been hearing about an excessive number of fights recently at Columbia? Both my kids came home today pretty upset, and they usually just let things slide by. One saw a girl being pounded-on on top of the hood of a car today and he said that the atmosphere in the building has been toxic for the last few days. Anyone know more about what is going on in the building?

I was going to post about this as well. I have asked the kids if there is a feud between groups but they are unaware of any.

To add to the weird vibe, I saw two fist fights in NYC on Monday which is really out of character for my days there.

Ryan vs Lembrech supporters?

Yes, this is true! My daughter was jumped by three girls yesterday at 7 eleven. As my husband was walking to the school to talk to administrators a fight broke out with some boys. The fight continued a few minutes later. In addition there was a fight today involving one of the girls that jumped my daughter. Parents came to school to settle a fight their son had.

This is getting out of control. It is the same offenders that are involved. Most of these kids don't even belong to the district. My question is what is the district going to do about these menaces? When will this end? Granted as a former student in this district it is known that when the weather breaks the animals come out. This has always been a problem but when the weather gets warmer, but this is out of control!

My daughter is a tough cookie and is not afraid but what will it take to get a truancy officer back in the district? What will it take for the district to start expelling these kids or removing them from the district?

Rumors are out of control too and that is where some of these fights are stemming from. The administrators are overwhelmed and not doing enough. If the community does not realize that this is a problem and speak out about this our district will go down.

Please voice your concerns and demand reason from the district. We need to get control before they take over. We have a beautiful diverse community and we need to keep it that way.

I am appalled at the way this community has handled this. There are videos of fights going on in the middle of the street, parking lots and on school grounds. Cars beeping the horn but nobody attempts to stop them. I am scared for my daughters and I do not appreciate this type of behavior.

FWIW: Maplewood Police cars were on the scene today (for the girls in the street fight) in a matter of minutes.

They took a while to get there when my daughter was assaulted. The girl that was involved in both fights was supposed to have consequences for jumping my daughter yesterday. Perhaps if the administrators did something quicker she would not have been there today. I don't get it!

I suggest you call the police and file assault charges against the girls who jumped your daughter.

Butterflylover said:
They took a while to get there when my daughter was assaulted. The girl that was involved in both fights was supposed to have consequences for jumping my daughter yesterday. Perhaps if the administrators did something quicker she would not have been there today. I don't get it!

+1 With the assault charges. (It did not occur to me that they might have been deemed unnecessary!) You can not control what the other "powers that be" might do, but you can control your own handling of the situation.

Just because your own kid is a "tough cookie" does not mean formal charges are unnecessary.

@Sarahzm I certainly did but the officer told me that more than likely they will only get community service. That is nonsense! In addition the school will only suspend them for 10 days, in the meantime my daughter was given 1 day suspension for defending herself. I have to appeal it with the BOE now. These girls should be expelled like they did back in the day.

So sorry this happened, seem like things are generally out of control. hope your daughter is okay.

show up in court. contact the prosecutor. good luck

Butterflylover said:
@Sarahzm I certainly did but the officer told me that more than likely they will only get community service. That is nonsense! In addition the school will only suspend them for 10 days, in the meantime my daughter was given 1 day suspension for defending herself. I have to appeal it with the BOE now. These girls should be expelled like they did back in the day.

@kmk I most certainly did! I do not tolerate this kind of behavior.

I have said this several times on this board, but the district needs to remove, asap, children who are discipline problems, especially physical ones. I am relatively sure that the kids who are now physically aggressive are also the ones disrupting the classroom at a younger age. We are doing no one any favors by pretending these kids belong with the general school population, and we are doing a great disservice to the children who are trying to get an education. All children deserve to feel safe in school. You cannot learn while you feel threatened. This is disgusting. How sad that a parent has to press charges to try to keep a child safe from another child who should no longer be attending CHS.

I forgot, in my tirade, to express my sadness and support for the victims. I sincerely hope that the school handles this matter appropriately, and that your daughter never lays eyes on her aggressor again.

callista said:
I forgot, in my tirade, to express my sadness and support for the victims. I sincerely hope that the school handles this matter appropriately, and that your daughter never lays eyes on her aggressor again.

Thank you very much! I would love it if my daughter would never have to lay her eyes on her again! To hear that these girls were back in class and walking around school today while my daughter was sent home for defending herself. It is disheartening! I am so upset, concerned, and stressed out about this. They clearly are not handling the situation properly.

I seem to remember in the thread about groping in the middle school that the district has been tasked with reducing suspensions. I hope that's not the reason this girl was still in school

Can the school completely remove these kids? If public schools have to take everyone in the district how can they ban them? Can they ban them once they are convicted? I don't know, which is why I am asking.

Butterflylover said:
@Sarahzm I certainly did but the officer told me that more than likely they will only get community service. That is nonsense! In addition the school will only suspend them for 10 days, in the meantime my daughter was given 1 day suspension for defending herself. I have to appeal it with the BOE now. These girls should be expelled like they did back in the day.

Not sure how the officer could possibly know that. This kid might have a prior record that would contribute to the courts handling of her case. I'd still file charges.

You can't get kicked out of public school. You can get sent to an out of district school, if the district pays. Or if you end up in jail I guess they provide some type of education until age 18.

I'm so sorry to hear of this, and hope Butterflylover's daughter gets help from the school. As the mom of two girls in middle and high school, I'd like to know how I can get involved in pressuring for improvements. If you've BTDT, what would you recommend as the most effective way to exert community pressure for greater security in the schools?

nan said:
You can't get kicked out of public school. You can get sent to an out of district school, if the district pays. Or if you end up in jail I guess they provide some type of education until age 18.

Yep. One of the unreasonable burdens placed upon public schools.

I would absolutely press charges and look into getting a restraining order against the girls. Work with the administration , and if that doesn't work GO AS PUBLIC AS YOU CAN. Based on the response of the middle school administration to similar complaints on MOL it might work. Good luck.

My son has been reporting several fights in the last week. Either Friday or Monday the police were involved. Although my son has not been assaulted, he's struggled with anxiety over the past two years because he has been in close proximity to several attacks. A friend's girlfriend suffered a concussion last year when a much larger boy was menacing her and she fought back. It's really terrible. He doesn't feel safe at all.

nan said:
You can't get kicked out of public school. You can get sent to an out of district school, if the district pays. Or if you end up in jail I guess they provide some type of education until age 18.

My experience is 20+ years old, but I do know someone who was expelled at 16. That makes sense since legally at 16 you are also allowed to drop out as that is the age that compulsory education ends.

I knew another kid who was such a train wreck that CHS didn't want him there, but he wasn't yet 16 and no other school would take him, so SOMSD actually ended up hiring a tutor to come to his house to fulfill their legal responsibility to provide him with an education while keeping him away from the school.

If some of these kids are not Maplewood South Orange residents, why are they not reported to the BOE office? If you are sure they don't live here, I would call the registrar and report them so they can be removed from our district.

MMS is no better. While leaving school late yesterday, my child had to step out of the way as police officers brought a young man in handcuffs out of the building. No word yet on what happened, but it had to be pretty extreme to end this way. This isn't all that surprising. There is a large population at MMS of very troubled students who fight on a daily basis, have no qualms about walking into a classroom and punching other students in the face, curse at the teachers during class, disrupt class, shove and/or hit teachers who attempt to break up their fights (last year, knocking one of them unconscious), and who generally create a toxic environment. The administration says it trying to create a more respectful environment, and I believe it is sincere, but I don't know that it has the tools to deal with such dysfunctional (behaviorally, emotionally, socially) pre-teens and teens. These teens and their problems (bigger and meaner) will eventually be at Columbia.

There was an incident many years ago in a district elementary school where my daughters friend was punched in the face in the girls bathroom. They had both been intimidated by this one girl for a while. No parents were notified. The secretary at the school said it was very difficult to reach the parent of the "troubled" girl. Strangely, we called her that evening from the student directory, she picked right up, and we spoke at length. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach, I personally believe a lot of administrators are afraid of parents.

ajh said:
MMS is no better. While leaving school late yesterday, my child had to step out of the way as police officers brought a young man in handcuffs out of the building. No word yet on what happened, but it had to be pretty extreme to end this way. This isn't all that surprising. There is a large population at MMS of very troubled students who fight on a daily basis, have no qualms about walking into a classroom and punching other students in the face, curse at the teachers during class, disrupt class, shove and/or hit teachers who attempt to break up their fights (last year, knocking one of them unconscious), and who generally create a toxic environment. The administration says it trying to create a more respectful environment, and I believe it is sincere, but I don't know that it has the tools to deal with such dysfunctional (behaviorally, emotionally, socially) pre-teens and teens. These teens and their problems (bigger and meaner) will eventually be at Columbia.

My kid saw this too - but she said it was not a student at MMS but an older kid.

When my daughter was punched and shoved into the locker last year at MMS the school immediately suspended the other girl and required that she have some sort of evaluation done before coming back. I thought it was handled well in that one instance.

Cleg - sorry that happened to your daughter, but I am encouraged to hear that the administration took such decisive action.