Anonymous wrote:I asked my 9th grader about these fights based on this post. She knew about them. She also said that, until this week, things had been pretty calm since the beginning of the year. She said there must be something in the air this week!

My 9th grader said the same - lots of fights at the beginning of the school year then quieted down until this past week or so since they returned from break. He also said he doesn’t know the kids that are getting in the fights — his friends haven’t been involved if even present — but he does also know there are videos.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there is an insta or Tik Tok re account re the fights at this school. My teen was showing me yesterday.

Hope you told your teen that this type of thing ISN'T OK. Schools can't fight violent and callous behavior alone and have very little power, if any, over social media. Parents need to hold their own children accountable for engaging in fights, posting fights on social media, and other instigating behavior.

signed, high school teacher and mom of teens

You're still very idealistic if you think the kids fighting have parents who care about it enough to say something.

DP, a child at our school posted similar content and was turned in by another student. The parent took the kids phone away indefinitely. Some people do the right thing. Many parents have no clue what their kids are posting.

Yeah at the school I sub at, two kids got in a fight and both sets of parents were furious. They asked the school to do a harsher punishment and I'm sure they lost some kind of privileges at home. The kids behaved after that.

Anonymous wrote:Thinking it’s time to consider private school options. Is there a lot of group fighting/filming there too?

There are a lot of really smart, driven kids at WL who don’t get into fights, so I would not let this stuff be the decision maker for you. It seems to me this is us hearing about the bad stuff and never the good stuff. Yes, things happen but it’s not like it’s all the time.

I totally get considering private due to the size or if the curriculum doesn’t suit your kid. It’s a huge school. I have a 9th grader there, though, and she is really happy. She has good friends, likes her teachers, and feels like it’s a good place.

Anonymous wrote:Thinking it’s time to consider private school options. Is there a lot of group fighting/filming there too?

No, for a few reasons.
1. Parents that can pay for private school generally do not raise kids who get into massive brawls. (For the same reasons that honors/AP/“tracked”/GT classrooms are not plagued by disruptive behavior and are so disproportionately filled with kids from families with higher HHIs)
2. Private schools can and will expel anyone’s DC for stuff like this regardless of if there’s an underlying medical/mental health/SN issue (while public schools by law, can not—or at least that’s what they like parents to think… often times they CAN implement more restrictive policies and/or send children to alternative schools… it just costs ooga-booga bucks so they don’t—and hide behind IEPs and stuff being “manifested by their disability” to allow these types of incidents to continue with little to no consequences)

sharing a video of a fight is just a step below actually fighting

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there is an insta or Tik Tok re account re the fights at this school. My teen was showing me yesterday.

Hope you told your teen that this type of thing ISN'T OK. Schools can't fight violent and callous behavior alone and have very little power, if any, over social media. Parents need to hold their own children accountable for engaging in fights, posting fights on social media, and other instigating behavior.

signed, high school teacher and mom of teens

You're still very idealistic if you think the kids fighting have parents who care about it enough to say something.

DP, a child at our school posted similar content and was turned in by another student. The parent took the kids phone away indefinitely. Some people do the right thing. Many parents have no clue what their kids are posting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there is an insta or Tik Tok re account re the fights at this school. My teen was showing me yesterday.

Hope you told your teen that this type of thing ISN'T OK. Schools can't fight violent and callous behavior alone and have very little power, if any, over social media. Parents need to hold their own children accountable for engaging in fights, posting fights on social media, and other instigating behavior.

signed, high school teacher and mom of teens

You're still very idealistic if you think the kids fighting have parents who care about it enough to say something.

Thinking it’s time to consider private school options. Is there a lot of group fighting/filming there too?

Anonymous wrote:I think there is an insta or Tik Tok re account re the fights at this school. My teen was showing me yesterday.

Hope you told your teen that this type of thing ISN'T OK. Schools can't fight violent and callous behavior alone and have very little power, if any, over social media. Parents need to hold their own children accountable for engaging in fights, posting fights on social media, and other instigating behavior.

signed, high school teacher and mom of teens