ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — There was a full house Monday evening for a meeting at the Ferguson-Florissant School District's Administration building.
During a standing-room-only meeting, Superintendent Dr. Joseph Davis pleaded to parents for proactive steps to help stop the ongoing school violence. Davis said the ongoing fights and violence have occurred especially at the district’s middle and high schools.
“I want to hear from parents and grandparents on how can we create safer schools for our students to learn and for our teachers to teach," he said.
The district has implemented several measures, including providing mental and emotional support for students, but Davis said in the past two years there’s been an uptick in fights among middle and high school students in the north St. Louis County school district.
“This problem is bigger than us," Davis said. "Ninety-five percent of our students come to school each day and do what they’re supposed to do. It is community and schools working together so that we can solve some of these issues that we’re having."
Davis said that last year, there were 184 fights at Ferguson-Florissant high schools. This year, there have been 257. Many of the fights are happening at McCluer and McCluer North high schools, he said.
"Ninety-five percent of our students are doing what their parents taught them and they are learning and are not causing these problems, but five percent of our students are causing these problems. In some cases, parents have crossed the line, came to our schools, and fought our students on school buses. This is unreal. We need our community to help us solve this community problem."
“Yes, I would say it’s out of control,” said Anaiyah Johnson, a ninth grader at McCluer North High School. “People are getting hurt. People are having to go to the hospital."
One retired teacher in the school district said, “I think for a lot of these students it is an issue of self-esteem. I also think social media is a problem."
Davis said they're also seeing students get into arguments over social media while at home on the weekends, "and they’re bringing those things with them to school and a lot of this is flaring up."
“I think it is community and schools working together so that we can solve some of these issues that we’re seeing. Our schools cannot do it alone. We need to hear from moms, dads and grandparents,” Davis said.
“I’m hoping that parents will be a lot more involved with their children and hold their students accountable,” said Tiara Johnson, a parent in the district.
More than 100 parents attended Monday's meeting in-person and online. Several Ferguson-Florissant principals, school board members and former teachers were also there.