Violence gripping the city’s schools today is epidemic, with teachers and students being routinely attacked in the classroom and halls, and parents being left worried sick about the phone call they might get, telling them their child has been injured. The Post is shining a light on this problem all this week.
A group of students from a Brooklyn middle school has a message for Mayor Bloomberg: Make the schools safe.
Kids from IS 62 in Ditmas Park are among the readers who weighed in on The Post’s school-safety campaign by e-mailing a special address, schoolviolence@ nypost.com.
They want bullies punished, crowding reduced and security improved.
“I’m not sure if you realize [it] but school is a living hell,” said Patrick Lewis, a 14-year-student.
He said there are too many kids jammed into IS 62 and neighborhood high schools, including South Shore, Tilden, Van Arsdale and Lincoln – making it harder to maintain order.
“Teachers, good students and security are helpless,” Lewis said. “The community is even the victim at times. School is like a timebomb ready to go off.”
Lewis admitted he got into one fight himself and witnessed two others.
“Students even cursed out the teachers with no remorse,” Lewis added. “Class disruption is even on the rise. I think harsher punishment and more security is best. After all, students are the future of America.”
Classmate Earnestein Richards said cracking down on gang members would dramatically reduce the number of incidents in and around schools. She also complained that students suspended for violent acts are back in school the following week, to terrorize other victims.
“The students would be terrified because maybe the [bully] can hurt someone again,” Earnestein wrote. “In my life in school, I see many things happen and want them stopped.”
And, she had an interesting idea: Teachers should be permitted to sue students who attack them.
Jose DePena, 13, agreed something has to be done. “Many kids are bringing knives to school and in some cases attacking people,” DePena said. “What the hell future is that where people attack each other with knives and guns?”
Other readers chimed in that a culture of violence often starts at home.
“The family structure and the involvement of the parent in the child’s life needs to be studied,” said student Damien Cooke.
“What about the attitude of the parents when their child is reported as a troublemaker? How about parents who treat their children with the same disrespect that they show their peers?
“It’s a shame that the best we can come up with is isolating these individuals and placing them under surveillance, as if this will make the problem go away. What happens when they leave and no longer are isolated and under surveillance anymore?”