Day 7 - GANGS AND FIGHTS AND GANGS AND FIGHTS????

Day 7 - GANGS AND FIGHTS AND GANGS AND FIGHTS????

Okay - so the title is what you've been wondering about, right?  Thought so!  I had heard rumors of gangs and fights at FWCHS for years.  I know that the newspaper covered one several years ago...maybe 2000? (shortly after we moved to Fayette County) which involved a whole group of kids in the parking lot...who were then arrested.  Well, I THINK I have some info you might be interested in.  I had to do a little research myself before I brought this up.  I didn't want to speak on something if I didn't get more facts, and now that I have some, let me let you know where I got them and what they say!

Sources:

Sheriff's Department
Other parents
FWCHS students (besides my son)
My son

Facts:

From sheriff's department source when I asked about the prevelance of gang activity/fighting at FWCHS:

"Are there drugs and gang activity present – yes, but here is the catch – you will find this in ANY school. Even the most expensive and elite of private schools still have narcotics and gang activity present. Skimming through some of the reports 2008 to present I only spotted two reports involving narcotics (marijuana) that students were caught with at Fayette Ware. There were 7-8 assault reports that I saw. These were generally fist fights between students. Two of those assaults involved a student brandishing a knife. As far as gangs, gang activity is present in Fayette County . What one must realize, however, is that you will not find many areas of the United States where there is not some form of gang activity present. One of our narcotics officers has specialized in gang activity and has shown us much of the graffiti “tagging” on street signs and such that indicate the presence of activity within neighborhoods. There are students that identify themselves with some of these local gangs, some who have readily admitted to such. I still would have to say that overall we do have considerably safe schools, especially when compared to many of the incidents that take place in Memphis City and Shelby County Schools . The key is that parents must be involved in their children’s lives to keep up with what is going on. We recommend keeping up with their social networking sites such as facebook and myspace...
One element that we have added to the Sheriff’s Office this year is a trained School Resource Officer that will be available to respond to all of the Fayette County Schools. A School Resource Officer has the advantage of specialized training in dealing with youth within the schools. We are also making efforts to have our SRO present during typical “hotspots” of the school day at Fayette Ware such as morning intake, lunch, and evening dismissal.

From some FWCHS students:

"I have heard that a fight or two may have been gang related but i have never seen anything to make me believe so. "

"...there arent many fights to begin with.  I have loved being at Fayette Ware.  Mr. Hicks does everything he can to make sure the gang stuff stays out of the school. (sheriff dept)...holds meetings with Mr. Hicks and the faculty to let them know what's gang related....I have learned alot, not just school related, but real life experiences too."

"I am friends with everyone there, and in my 3 years there, I haven't seen or experienced anything with gangs. FW really is a good school, with a lot of smart people there, and we have very few fights a year.  I think last year there were two, but gangs have never been a problem. With the uniforms, all gang related colors are banned and we do not see any signs of them at all -  Mr. Hicks makes sure of that.  Of course there are a few bad eggs, just as every school has, but all in all mostly every one gets along and helps each other if need be.  The teachers are great, and most will go out of the way to help you."

From another parent:

"It’s just not there in my eyes. I have sat through honors assemblies, award’s days, etc… if anyone makes more than a peep – Mr. Hicks calls them out in front of the whole school. It’s obviously not silent, but they are a lot quieter than a group of parents would be.  I just quizzed (my son) on it. He said if there were gangs, 'Mr. Hicks would take ‘em out. Everyone is afraid of Mr. Hicks.' My general feeling is that if students who attend the school don’t know about them, how pervasive can they be?"

From my son:

My son also reports not seeing any gang-related activity, signs, etc.  Of course, being my child, I don't know if he'd realize it if he did! :)  

On Friday Matt did say that Mr. Hicks talked with everyone about a fight that happened at school.  It was not gang related...it was over a Star Burst Fruit Chew.  Although satisfying and delicious, I'm not sure a Star Burst Fruit Chew was worth the 90-day suspension that the kids involved in the fight got.  According to my son, Mr. Hicks addressed the students, told them about the fight, the call to the sheriff's office after the fight and the 90-day suspension for the fighting students.  He stressed to the kids how NOT WORTH IT it is to fight at FWCHS because there is a zero-tolerance policy towards fighting.  I applaud Mr. Hicks for handling the situation swiftly and being honest with the kids in order for it to be a lesson to them.  I also applaud him for immediately removing trouble makers from the school so that the other kids there can LEARN!

MORE INFO:

While at FA, my older son told me of a couple times when police had to be called to the school for instances that involved students with bad behavior and/or locker checks for weapons.  I also know that some friends of his, whom he grew apart from, started to experiment with drugs and alcohol.  Let us not (as parents) kid ourselves...we know very well that this type of behavior happens at any high school (and most junior high schools).  We should know because I'm sure a lot of us encountered it growing up as well.

FUNNY STORY: 

While at FA my older son took several art classes.  One assignment called for them to draw their hands in several different positions - of their choosing.  My son drew a beautiful sketch of his hands in about 4 or 5 poses.  His art teacher, who appreciated my son's talent, hung it on the wall.  While strolling by my son's piece of art, the Headmaster saw it and suspected my son was involved in gang activity due to the positions that the hands were drawn.  He took the piece of art and called my son to the office because of it.  If you knew my son this would be laughable...just as his art teacher thought it was while she came to my son's defense.  Because she knew my son and had known him since 3rd grade, she went to bat for him with the Headmaster and then called me to let me know what had happened.  My husband and I were furious that a piece of art had gotten my son into trouble and made him feel guilty for no reason.  We went in and demanded the artwork back from the Headmaster (who had kept it just in case my son started wearing colors or busting a cap at school, I guess).  We went home and proudly displayed his beautiful sketch on our refrigerator and told him not to worry about what other people thought about when he created art. :)

CONCLUSION:
I figure that a handful of fights and 2 drug incidents since 2008 can't really justify the rumors I've heard that FWCHS is riddled with gang violence and drugs. 

p.s. I've told my son to NOT fight, to NOT get lured into a fight and to NOT be stupid and stage or participate in a fight for a Youtube video.  Those smart law enforcement officials...surfing social networking/video sites for illegal school info is a GREATEFFIC idea!  I bet you anything that school administrators do this too.

p.p.s. When searching for FWCHS videos on Youtube, most are of pep rallies and/or kids acting silly. 

p.p.s.s. The first home football game at FWCHS is this Friday.  Why not come visit your community high school and cheer the team on???