NORWALK, Conn. — The frightening threats at Norwalk High School have come amidst reports of fights and other problems at the schools.
Some attribute the issues to a reduction in school resource officers. Police say extra work hires are helping to create more of a presence.
“Replacement of the SROs is of the administration’s highest priorities as soon as manpower allows,” Norwalk Police Deputy Chief James Walsh said Wednesday.
Fights are happening every day at Norwalk High School, said a mother whose daughter is a junior there.
Out of concern for her daughter, she asked that her name not be used. She had sent an email to Norwalk Superintendent of Schools Alexandra Estrella, Norwalk High School Principal Reginald Roberts and Mayor Harry Rilling saying there were six fights Dec. 3, “fights in the hallway, the cafeteria and even a fight in the office among other places.”
While the info came from her daughter, “I was shown videos of one or two of the fights,” she continued. “I’m not sure if they were two different fights or two videos of the same fight, but regardless I find this absolutely pathetic! My daughter has to worry when she is innocently walking through the hallway between classes that she might encounter a fight or when she is at lunch in the cafeteria she has to worry that she may encounter a fight?? Then to top off Friday, she heard (hearsay) there were two fights which would have been before the lockdown, if this is true.”
She initially said she got no reply from Estrella, Roberts or Rilling, but on Thursday reported, “I did receive a response yesterday from {Board of Education Chairman} Colin Hosten who said the superintendent has convened a School Safety Task Force made up of NPS Staff, board members, parents and community advocates. Although I don’t have confirmation of exactly how many fights there have been recently because my child was only witness to one, hopefully they’ll get a handle on it.”
NancyOnNorwalk sent an email Monday to Estrella, Rilling, NPS Chief of Staff and Communications Brenda Wilcox Williams and Hosten asking about her comments and got no reply. Hosten didn’t reply to a Thursday evening email; on Friday, the mother sent NoN his statement to her:
“This is indeed a frustrating and uncertain time for our students and families, and it is almost certainly bubbling up into some of the aggressive behaviors we have been seeing. No student should feel unsafe in any of our learning environments. With the Board’s approval, the Superintendent, copied here, has been exploring every option to increase the visible presence of security in our schools, and NPD assures us that they share the same priority. The Superintendent has also convened a School Safety and Security Task Force, made up of NPS staff, board members, parents, and community advocates to help identify and implement the best policies and procedures to keep our schools safe. We continue to be inspired by the resolve and dedication of our students in very unprecedented times. Despite the negative actions of a few, the vast majority, like your daughter, remain committed to excellence in and out of the classroom, and we are extremely proud of them.”
‘Not just in Norwalk’
A mother commenting Tuesday on the Facebook page Norwalk Parents for Education, said, it’s not just fights, a bomb scare and three lockdowns. It’s “consistent fire drills from kids pulling the alarm or smoking in bathroom.” The Monday lockdown was followed by fights.
Another parent countered, “A parent friend of mine just shared that this exact stuff (fights, threats/hoaxes/gun violence or threat thereof) is happening two days in a row in a New York City school. This isn’t the fault of administration in Norwalk. They’re doing the best they can with a crazy situation.”
Education Week indicates this may be a national trend. While there’s no data available yet for school violence in 2021, anecdotally, “teachers, principals, and educators now say they are seeing an increase that has roughly paralleled the return of most students to in-person schooling.”
The article states, “Criminologists note that the nation is in the grip of a general spike of violence probably due to the pandemic and social unrest accompanying the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Their best guess is that those trends are trickling inexorably, and tragically, down to K-12 students.”
The Washington Post also reports, “teachers and school administrators across the country say they are seeing a rise in everything from minor misbehaviors to fighting in the hallways.”
Possible remedies?
Norwalk parents suggest that remote learning might be an option.
“Since we had it in place for COVID, I’d think it would be just as easy to offer it again now. What these kids are experiencing is ridiculous,” one said on the Facebook page. “…These kids do not feel safe. They are on edge, parents are on edge. At the very least re-install metal detectors and SROs ASAP. Do something to make these kids feel like people actually care.”
“Some of these SROs are now doing 6 to 8 schools. Not okay,” Nora King said to NancyOnNorwalk. “Hence why we have shooting scares, bomb scares, kids having drug overdoses at the school, fist fights especially at Norwalk High School and kids bringing vodka to school in a water bottle and passing it around. Schools are supposed to educate our kids on reading, math, science etc. Now it is a bunch of social workers teaching nothing and teachers more worried about bombs and behavioral issues than teaching because we have no police presence or the philosophy that there are consequences for your actions. NPS has lost sight of that with their restorative justice way of thinking. How is that working out for our kids? It isn’t.”
The Norwalk Police Department went from eight SROs to three due to manpower issues, according to Norwalk Police Deputy Chief James Walsh. The staffing dip is attributed to retirements and resignations, long term injuries or illnesses.
The department has lost 12 officers this year, said Lt. David O’Connor, police union president, adding that four officers left due to disciplinary issues. With 181 officers authorized, the department was down to 166 sworn officers, Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik said in November. Walsh said it’s still 166, but six recruits are set to enter the police academy in January.
However, the three SROs are “supplemented by extra work hires at both high schools on a daily basis making the total five officers,” Walsh said Wednesday.
The SROs have been investigating and documenting the fights, Walsh said.
Mayor Harry Rilling mentioned metal detectors Monday, during a Democratic Town Committee meeting.
“Metal detectors have limited efficacy, but it’s very challenging because at Norwalk High School, you have 1700 students, and to stop 1700 students and have them lining up at the door to verify that there’s nothing metallic that they have, or that they’re not carrying a weapon, is very, very challenging. And it’ll take a long time to get the students into school,” Rilling said.
“I know a lot of people talk about how we can secure the schools,” Rilling said. “We’ve been working on securities evaluations for virtually every school, and how we can have what they call like ‘an entry zone’ where you can get in the first door, but you can’t get in the second door. That kind of thing…. We’ve done evaluations on most, if not all of the schools to determine what kind of security measures we can put in place to make sure that the schools are safe.”
Updated at 1:48 p.m. to include more information.
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