The truth about
Lawrence's school violence
"problem"
Pater
Larocque, Lawrence School Committee
There’s been lots of attention in
the daily newspaper given to school
violence recently, including an e-mail
message sent to many past and elected
officials in Lawrence. This same e-mail
message was reprinted in a local
bilingual newspaper with the title,
“The Truth about School
Violence”. The author is a
self-proclaimed whistleblower, who acts
like a savior of the City of Lawrence and
someone who is exposing corruption which
public officials are willing to overlook.
In the message, the author states that
several violent incidents have taken
place in and around Lawrence Public
Schools.
The purpose of this article is not to
deny or confirm that these particular
incidents have taken place, but to answer
the accusations that our city officials
are made up of cowards and sell-outs, who
look the other way, and places the blame
for these violent incidents at the feet
of the Superintendent of Schools in the
City of Lawrence as well as the Lawrence
School Committee who allow him to talk
his way out of situations that he is
confronted with.
Also the title of the message, “The
Truth about School Violence,” is
erro-neous and is VERY far from the
Truth!
The Lawrence Public Schools not only
fight day after day for the education of
the children of Lawrence, but also for
the very souls of these children, many of
whom lack the parental oversight that
they are crying out for.
It is a known fact across this wonderful
country that we are in a moral and
spiritual fight for the very lives of our
children. So, time and time again the
Lawrence school faculty and staff have to
take on the oversight that parents should
be providing at home. But let me assure
you this is not just a Lawrence problem.
Just look at some of the news from other
school districts.
Third-graders from Waycross, Georgia,
attempted to do bodily harm to their
teacher because the teacher stopped one
of them from standing on a chair. A whole
plan was thought out by the three
third-graders who were arrested for this
conspiracy - a plan by eight, nine, and
ten year-olds to do physical harm to a
teacher. In this Georgia case, school
officials found a knife, duct tape,
handcuffs, and a heavy paperweight in one
of their backpacks. In another school
district, fifth-graders were caught
putting an overdose of Tylenol in their
teacher’s coffee to make their
teacher physically ill, all because their
teacher disciplined them.
A 20-year old in Homestead, Florida,
caught with a weapons cache that included
four AK-47 machine guns, 13 firearms in
all and more than 5,000 rounds of
ammunition, (some that could have pierced
police armor), with 100 rounds in a
feeding clip with bullets meant to take
down aircraft or military machinery. This
was all in an effort to undertake a
Virginia Tech-style massacre, which the
young man posted in a message on the
Internet.
North Andover, Methuen, and Haverhill
Public Schools, along with Central
Catholic, have all had students allegedly
making so-called “hit lists.”
So anyone with a good sense of reality
gets the point that school violence is
not just happening in the Lawrence Public
Schools. Given all of this, I find it
hard to believe that a video educating
teachers, staff and some students on why
we do not allow shirts to be tucked in,
is in my humbled opinion, not
inappropriate at all!
When I was in high school back in the
1970’s, fights between high school
students were happening all the time, and
they are still happening today. It was
wrong then and is still wrong now! This
behavior is not tolerated - period.
I would like to humbly ask every parent
who has children in the Lawrence Public
School System to hear what I am about to
say.
We have a Lawrence School Safety
Sub-Committee which meets every second
Tuesday of the month. I have been given
the privilege and responsibility to Chair
this Sub-Committee. Also on this
Sub-Committee is Assistant Superintendent
Dr. Mary Lou Bergeron, whose commitment
to the safety of schoolchildren is
relentless.
We also have the Director of Human
Resources, Mr. Sal Petralia, who provides
to us tremendous insight into the state
and federal laws dealing with teacher and
child safety in our schools. Mr. Kevin
Clement, our department head for school
safety, is also part of the School Safety
Sub-Committee.
We also have the Headmaster from the
Lawrence High School campus, Dr. Thomas
Sharkey and Assistant Principal Mr.
Michael Qualter, Principals Ms. Elizabeth
Qualter, Mr. Juan Rodriquez, and Mr.
Peter Lefebre and Assistant Principal Ms.
Lori Butterfield. Together, these
professional staff members represent 142
years of experience in dealing with
school age children. How thankful and
appreciative I am to have the privilege
to work with such a caliber of
individuals. In addition to the school
staff, we also have parents representing
all three levels, and finally we have
students from the Lawrence High School
Student Council on the Lawrence School
Safety Sub-Committee.
With all this experience and
knowledge on the School Safety
Sub-Committee, I would be foolish and
derelict in my duties as an elected
official to not adhere to their wisdom.
We all are committed to School Safety and
we look at many, if not all, of the
incidents that take place in the Lawrence
Public Schools. We review these
incidents, along with the actions taken
after the incidents have taken place, and
we discuss what corrective action should
have been done better, if any.
So, when someone writes in a message sent
via e-mail and then reprints it in a
local newspaper claiming that school
violence is overlooked by officials in
the Lawrence Public School System, I take
it personally because I know
differently. Parents of the
children in the Lawrence Public Schools
can rest assured that a healthy and safe
school environment is our priority and no
one is sweeping anything under the
rug.
Now, I am not saying that every incident
that happens in the Lawrence Public
Schools is handled perfectly, because
believe me, they are not. For instance, I
believe the most recent incident at the
South Lawrence East Middle School
involving an allegation of sexual assault
by a seventh grade male student was
handled incorrectly, and corrective
measures are being taken to see that it
doesn’t happen again.
Furthermore, I don’t believe that we
should be making sure that our policies
and procedures measure up to the standard
of a radio talk show host or the author
of the e-mail message in question.
Finally, let me say as a parent, to all
other parents, there is a cry by children
going on in this country that must be
heard. May I humbly suggest to all
parents everywhere that they read a
wonderful book entitled, “Come on
People: On the Path from Victims to
Victors”, written by Bill Cosby and
Boston psychiatrist Alvin Poussaint, M.D.
(published by Thomas Nelson, 2007).
The book points to better parenting as
part of the solution. “Successful
parenting starts with a commitment to
giving a child love, guidance and a
foundation of character,” the book
states.
“A parent who doesn’t have that
‘mantra’ about raising a child
will be lost.” The message is that
there are parents across all races and
income levels who psychologically abuse
their children, don’t spend much
time with them or control the quantity or
quality of the TV programming their kids
watch. Poussaint says: “Mr. Cosby
says, you have to continue to work at it
and work against the radio, television,
movies and even actions on the street
that are anti-advancement of the
child.”
“Families simply aren’t
spending enough parent-child time
together in general.” In conclusion,
it seems to me that only when we as a
country take parenting and the education
of our children seriously will we see a
turnaround in the violent behavior of our
children. Pointing fingers and the
namecalling of elected or appointed
officials gets us nowhere as a community.
In the City of Lawrence and around the
country there are wonderful, hard working
parents who are doing their best to bring
up their children and they know who they
are.
I am so thankful for their efforts. As a
parent myself, along with my wife, we
know firsthand that in today’s world
it is not an easy task. But, as we move
forward in seeking solutions to the
problem of school violence, it is my
opinion that better parenting by some has
to be part of the discussion.
As a member of the Lawrence School
Committee, I can say that I do not
believe what others seem to be suggesting
as a probable solution: having a police
officer in each classroom. That course of
action goes way too far and sends the
wrong message.
Thank You and God Bless You and may God
Continue to Bless the Lawrence Public
Schools!
Peter Larocque is a member of the
Lawrence School Committee. He was
originally elected by the Lawrence City
Coun-cil to fill the unexpired term of
Amy McGovern in 2006 and then elected in
his own right last month. You can email
him at peterlarocque@hotmail.com
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