The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Minister Glenys Hanna Martin said reports of school violence are decreasing.

“The numbers are down in school violence, but the discussion has gone up,” she told reporters outside the House of Assembly yesterday, adding that people must have the right perspective.

Concern about school violence erupted last week after a viral video showed an Eight Mile Rock High School student fighting a school resource officer. Four male students have since been charged with criminal offences over the incident.

Mrs Hanna-Martin said there is a challenge in creating “synergy that allows for healthy co-existence and excellence.”

However, she said, numbers show that school resource officers’ engagement on campuses has had a positive impact.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Chaswell Hanna, the officer responsible for school safety, said there has been a decrease in school violence, drug use, and weapon possession over the last two academic years.

Although he believes bag searches, lectures about the harmful effects of drugs and other measures have been effective, he called for parents to be more cooperative with schools.

“The problem we see with school safety right now are parents coming on campus creating a disturbance, trying to attack teachers, the principal because they’re not pleased with a grade their child may have gotten,” he said.

“We’re also asking the parents, you know, before your child leaves home, search their bag, search their room. When they come back home from school, do the same thing. You’d be surprised. You will be surprised to see what you may find.”

ACP Hanna said police are investigating a recent incident where three ninth-grade students were hospitalised after ingesting marijuana.

He said he is working with the Drug Enforcement Unit, the students, and the parents to resolve the matter.