HAVERHILL, MASS. (WHDH) - Emotions ran high for parents of Haverhill High School students at an emergency meeting with school officials on Monday night.
The meeting comes after officers were called to the Monument Street school around lunchtime last week for reports of a fight between two students, according to the Haverhill Police Department.
Video of the fight that circulated throughout the Haverhill school community showed kids standing on top of tables, chanting and cheering as the fight went on in the middle of the cafeteria.
School board members confirmed that a knife was not used and ended up lying on the cafeteria floor. No injuries were reported.
“We need to take a stand and we need to take action and the time is now before one of our children gets severely hurt and possibly doesn’t come home,” said Brittany Quintana, whose son is a freshman at the school.
Students also had the opportunity to let the school committee know how the violence is affecting them.
“It’s frightening to think I could have been in the hallway and hurt because there was a knife going around the school and I wasn’t aware,” said junior Abby Towler.
Senior Ruby Kimball added, “Students have taken over the school. Good students cannot get the resources they need and are receiving a subpar education.”
Bringing a knife into school is an expellable offense, and Superintendent Dr. Margaret Marotta, said they are following that rule. Students who were caught recording the fight and cheering it on are also facing disciplinary measures.
“We need to teach our kids better, we need to teach our kids what to do when things go wrong in front of them,” she said. Things are going to go wrong in life. Either intervene or get the heck out of there. It is not to jump in and to escalate the situation.”
Marotta and Principal Jason Meland assured those who attended that changes have been made since the fight last Thursday. Marotta has moved her office and staff into the high school to try to help with staffing issues. She said they have open positions for school resource officers, counselors, and teachers that they just can’t seem to get filled.
One parent who called into the meeting said the city has to budget for higher salaries.
“If we’re serious about wanting to bring more security in then we have to be serious about raising the salaries for that position,” they said.
Some parents called for metal detectors, others for bystander training. Some members of the school committee agreed that there needs to be a cultural change at Haverhill High School to make sure scenes like this don’t become commonplace.
“That’s what ought we to be horrified by, this is now entertainment. That’s what we have to deal with. So I would like a larger plan for how we deal with it,” said committee member Gail Sullivan.
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