Thurgood Marshall Highs Chool
Safety in Thurgood Marshall High School has become an issue in its first year. To maintain the trust and sense of community that the housing system concept has supposedly built, the previous principal Parker refused many requests for having security guards at the doors. However, in a high school where students are not grown-ups, creating a safe environment is vitally important. In the end, safety must be the primary concern of the school management since parents are relying on the staff for their kids’ safeness, wellbeing and pretty much everything. When teachers who themselves experienced assaults and thefts in class rightfully argued about having guards at the entrance, they were opposed by others which created a lasting tension between these groups and exacerbate the problem, animosity toward one another, mentioned above. Parker agreed on at least securing some of the doors after students also started being assaulted, however by that time the insecurity and violence were spread all over the campus. Even teachers, namely Drobna and Chase, who are supposed to be role models for the students, have a violent attitude. It is also a non-negligible fact that young people get a lot more affected and influenced by the environment around them so it is not a surprise that a severe fight occurred between two students in May and ultimately they had to close the school. On the other hand, we could say the involvement of police and the Board of Education really damaged the school’s reputation.
It is reported that the achievement scores of the students are below expected. This can be interpreted as a result of the lack of a strict curriculum policy on required learning and course content and Parker’s free market policy. Each house staffing its courses with its own faculty is creating an overly competitive and intense atmosphere therefore inter-house cross registration should be encouraged more. In this stage, we face another serious issue, the messy school scheduling,