Typical southside behavior

Fights disrupt St. Petersburg middle school
By Ron Matus, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Mar 01, 2010 04:07 PM

People both inside and outside John Hopkins Middle School in St. Petersburg are pleading for help after a "huge campus disruption" Friday put a spotlight on the school's discipline problems, which include more than 60 arrests since September.

"We have no control of this school," social studies teacher Orlando Martinez, 47, said Monday. "We're overmatched."

The latest incident occurred Friday morning. In an e-mail to school staff, Claud Effiom wrote that two groups of four boys each squared off in the courtyard after an alleged bullying incident the day before. After Effiom broke up a fight between two of the boys, one of them ran towards the front of the school, prompting a large crowd of students to run after him "like a mob expecting something new to happen."

It took another 10 to 15 minutes to restore order and get students to class, Effiom wrote.

One teacher said parents watched in disbelief through the office windows.

"If this is not enough to make a strong statement that we need some official strong help on this campus, then I don't know what it's going to take. A death?" wrote teacher Catherine Robinson, also in an email to staff.

Some said Friday's incident wasn't a surprise.

Between September 1 and January 31, St. Petersburg police arrested 61 John Hopkins students, with 22 in January alone, according to police records. That's far more than any other middle school in St. Petersburg. (Azalea Middle, with 24 arrests, has the second most.)

Several observers pointed to a number of factors, including the district's return to neighborhood schools and what some see as an inability to quickly remove chronically misbehaving students.

"We really need to get some spine," said Pinellas school board chair Janet Clark. "We have to have options ... to move these children out of schools and into alternative placements. We just don't do it."

Police records showcase another part of the problem.

Last Wednesday, five students were arrested in four separate incidents. One student was charged with disorderly conduct after he reportedly scattered papers on a teacher's desk and then hit an overhead projector while she was using it to teach. He was arrested and referred to family court.

But on Friday - the same day as the courtyard fight - the same student was arrested again. After a teacher confronted him about taking candy from her desk, he asked if she could handle a bullet in the rear end, police said. (Another student was arrested in the same incident, for allegedly telling a police officer he would blow her head off.)

"The main problem is these students will be back, with no consequences," said Martinez, a former juvenile probation officer. "They get a ride to the jailhouse on 49th Street and they're back the next day."

Pinellas teachers union president Kim Black said part of the problem stems from the return to neighborhood schools. Community problems that were diluted under the choice system "are flowing back into the schools," she said. "You can see it at Gibbs. You can see it at Lakewood. You can see it in Clearwater High."

Black said John Hopkins needs more support from the district, including another assistant principal. She said the district also needs to be more proactive in reaching out to the community and getting help there.

"A school system does not work in isolation," she said. Effiom, the principal, "needs this community to wrap their arms around the school and not let this happen again."

Effiom did not return a call for comment Monday. In his email to staff, he doesn't mince words about the impact of Friday's incident: John Hopkins "received a severe black eye to our sense of safety, pride in our school and public image from visitors and parents who saw the worst of the school."

But Effiom also asked that people keep things in context: "Please, remember our problems of safety and extreme disrespect come from a limited, very limited number of students," he wrote. "They do need to be prevented from affecting our school climate in this manner, but at times like this, please do not forget that we have many fine students deserving of our love, protection, and support."

Ok people do you have to ask what the problem is? This type of behavior is accepted behavior in the surrounding community. Just take a stroll accross the street to Citrus Grove. Todays middle school thugs are tomorrows crack dealing felons.. Maybe they'll blaime it on slavery again.

Well, propose a solution.

Well, propose a solution.

Here's a solution. Start holding the parents (well I guess the baby's momma's) accountable. Behavior like this starts at home. Expel the animals and just let them do what they do best. Stand on the corner and sling until they start their lifelong process of living in our various prisons. Thats where they belong anyway. Not in the same classroom with the poor kids who are actually there trying to get an education. Hows that for a solution?

Way to generalize.. Question: Would you say that Colombine reflects their surrounding area? Last I checked we were bring students from all over the county to the schools on the southside. This isn't a representation of the surrounding area... instead it represents a generation of parents (of all races) that have failed the future generations. Instead of seperating yourself from the situation question yourself.. what have you done to inspire or change these troubled young people? Ask yourself, if your generalizations and assumptions of the southside have done anything, but enable 'future thugs and drug dealers' to live up to your bias and passively racist expectation.
Before you point the finger, take a look at yourself...
I DON'T CONDONE THE BEHAVIOR AT THAT SCHOOL, IT IS A PROBLEM.
...STOP POINTING FINGERS, SHUT THE HELL UP, AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

...STOP POINTING FINGERS, SHUT THE HELL UP, AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

Really now? Do something about it? And while I'm doing something about it the little animals are biting the hand that feeds them......like carjacking or robbing me. Sorry I'm no ring master, I'll leave the circus to run itself. My children were brought up better and know how to behave in public because they understand the meaning of consequences. The saying it takes a whole village to raise a child no longer exists. Look at the parents in the community, they are often worse than their children and it's just a reoccurring pattern. You can't step in to attempt to discipline their child or explain to them what they did was wrong, you'll get a big FU from mom if her child doesn't tell you that first. They don't respect themselves much less anyone else, and that's passed on to their children. And you wonder where they get it from? The parents have no sense of responsibility and are to busy worrying about getting their hair done or laying on their back. WORD TO THE WISE: JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN HAVE CHILDREN, DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU SHOULD - AND MISTAKES HAPPEN YES, BUT THAT'S WHY ABORTIONS ARE LEGAL. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, IT'S MY TAX DOLLARS THAT ARE PAYING FOR IT. FEEL FREE TO USE, IT'S MY MONEY WELL SPENT. The problem is also with the lenient judicial system that actually thinks that these animals can be rehabilitated, so they allow them to leave in hopes that little Jamal will see the light. Simple solution: build a huge brick wall through the city and let the animals on the south side kill each other.

I totally agree on the abortion comments. Can we please stop with the "every life is precious" mindset? It reminds me of the Monty Python song "Every Sperm is sacred..." well its not. We should be offering incentives for anyone who wants to have their tubes tied or get a vasectomy to do so...less mouths to feed is all of our best interests.

Way to generalize.. Question: Would you say that Colombine reflects their surrounding area? Last I checked we were bring students from all over the county to the schools on the southside. This isn't a representation of the surrounding area... instead it represents a generation of parents (of all races) that have failed the future generations. Instead of seperating yourself from the situation question yourself.. what have you done to inspire or change these troubled young people? Ask yourself, if your generalizations and assumptions of the southside have done anything, but enable 'future thugs and drug dealers' to live up to your bias and passively racist expectation.
Before you point the finger, take a look at yourself...
I DON'T CONDONE THE BEHAVIOR AT THAT SCHOOL, IT IS A PROBLEM.
...STOP POINTING FINGERS, SHUT THE HELL UP, AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

Why should I or we have to do anything about it?? This kind of behavior is allowed and even promoted by the so called adults in their community who should be setting an example...WELL THEY ARE and it carries over into that school. As a race, why don't YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Oh and that doesnt include blaming whitey for all of your failings. Why would any of the other "community schools" want these punks in their schools. It's a damm shame that middle school students are threatening to shoot teachers and police officers. GREAT JOB!! Stop blaming everyone else and go look in the mirror. Orrrrrrrr, go get some of that billions of dollars obammy wants to put in these type of schools and hire about 100 azz-kickers that can take care of business in that jail errrrrrrrrrrrrrr school.

Way to generalize.. Question: Would you say that Colombine reflects their surrounding area?

What happened in Colombine is a direct result of POOR PARENTING. The media tried to blame the incident on music, they tried to balme it on the boy's peers. But in reality, it was no ones fault but the parents. I grew up listening to Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Ozzborn, GWAR, Nine Inch Nails, and even some Snoop Dogg (D-O-Double-G) and Dr. Dre. I was also picked on by peers who wore cooler clothes than I, and whose parents made more money than mine. I seemed to turn out fine. And you ask, "Why?" (try Bud Dry). Well, it's because my parents played an active role in my upbringing. I was always enrolled in sports and activities like hunting and fishing. I also knew the punishment if I broke the rules. But anti-Christ Marilyn Manson and crack slinging, ho pimping NWA were no role models to me. Thank you Mom and Dad for doing the best you could with me. I promise to raise my children the same way.

One of the problems this school, and others have, is that many of the so-called hoodlums are labeled as ESE (special ed needs). The federal government has mandated it that those students with ESE are only allowed to be suspended for a maximum of 10 days per school year. The red-tape to go beyond 10 days is a long and drawn out process.

The school board, or at least a member or two of it, is hollering they want something done NOW. All they'll be doing is putting a band-aid on a serious, countywide problem if they act foolishly quick. Programs will work to some degree, but then like it was previously pointed out, these kids go home to the 'hood and act like goofs all over again. They are a product of what has been shown to them at home and by their peers in the 'hood. Like the one girl said, "It's what we do." Man, she couldn't have said it any better.

There are 3 months left in the school year. I hope for the good kids that the powers to be will come up with a good decision to a very deep-rooted problem.

We were all afraid that neighborhood schools might just turn out like this, and guess what?

Thank God my kids don't go there.

If they are a product of neighborhood schools then keep them in the hood. Why infect other schools with these lawless, blatently disrespectful pukes. Send the good kids to other schools and then change the curriculam Auto theft 101, Home invasion etc...what a bunch of bullsh1t. Corporal punishment with a baseball bat may be useful here.