Senior cop: It’s not just Tivoli Gardens alone
Wave of student indiscipline, rage in Kingston Western
Published:Wednesday | June 8, 2022 | 12:10 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
A day after a widely circulated video featuring a classroom bust-up sparked national outrage, a high-ranking police commander has warned of a wave of student indiscipline and violence taking over the city.
Senior Superintendent Michael Phipps, head of the Kingston Western police, revealed that he is trying to convene a conflict-resolution meeting with principals and guidance counsellors from all schools within the crisis-hit division.
The proposed meeting follows intense debate over a physical altercation between a 16-year-old student and a 56-year-old teacher at Tivoli Gardens High School around 11 a.m. Tivoli falls within his police division.
Phipps said his team has been faced with reports of school violence.
“We have been having some issues in most of the schools across the division, so what we’re trying to do is to meet with the principals and guidance counsellors to see how best we can work together to resolve most of these issues,” Phipps said in a Gleaner interview.
“It’s not just Tivoli Gardens alone we have these issues; we are seeing it elsewhere.”
Phipps had hoped to have a debriefing with Marvin Johnson, principal of Tivoli Gardens High, but up to Tuesday morning, the headmaster was still hospitalised after fainting the day earlier.
The police commander intends to meet with Johnson after he recuperates.
The 16-year-old schoolboy has been charged with assault and malicious destruction of property. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 21.
The boy allegedly attacked the teacher after she asked him to leave a classroom.
The accused’s name has not been published because he is a minor.
Despite social-media backlash on Tuesday that the viral video appeared to show the teacher as the aggressor, Phipps said there was no intention, at this point, to charge the adult.
Education and Youth Minister Fayval Williams had on Monday disclosed that she had asked for a detailed report of the video-recorded confrontation between the teacher and student.
In a press statement, Williams did not name the school, but appealed to schools to redouble efforts to curb antisocial and maladaptive behaviour among students, parents, and other stakeholders.
Williams said the ministry was concerned about social-media videos depicting students starting fights, cursing, smoking, and engaging in vulgar talk.
“Most recently, a video surfaced showing the president of a parent-teacher association of one of our schools in a violent confrontation with a student. This is unacceptable and should not be condoned,” said the minister.
“The ministry condemns all instances of violence and coarse behaviour among our children. There is no place in our society for what we have been witnessing in these videos,” she added.
Williams said the videos highlighted the need for a radical shift in creating respectful relationships between teachers and students, parents and children, and among students.