School tackling escalating conflicts as new school year begins

Still shy of a month into the new academic year, and already two more student fights breaking out at Guam Department of Education campuses. 

Two separate fights were caught on camera at Southern High School earlier this week, coming off the heels of last week’s student dispute at George Washington High. 

Micheal Meno, principal of Southern High, says data he’s collected may suggest why student conflict is frequent at this particular time of the year

“Our data because we’re coming back to school, we see a trend of disputes happening in September," he said. "So, I’ve been meeting with my staff to be more alert regarding any kind of conflicts, and I’ve asked my teachers also to pay attention to the students because they're more comfortable in the classroom–they tend to talk about what’s bothering them so if they get any kind of information they can relay it to us, and we can mediate before it becomes something that maybe elevates to a fight.” 

 

 

Still, despite preemptive measures, misunderstandings amongst Southern students is elevating to physical violence. 

But Meno says students are still developing how to respond to issues properly–and teaching them how to do so involves factoring in the individual belief systems that would allow them to be receptive. 

 

“There’s a big perception that a lot of the students in high school should be demonstrating adult responsibilities–but that’s something that is not really true," he said. "Responsibilities have to be taught, they need to be learned, and at the same time, these types of responsibilities have to be within the  belief structure of the student.”

And while those social skills are honed, how are the adult teachers and school aides properly trained to respond to student violence? 

“So, our staff are the ones that go through the safe school training, and they learn how to restrain students appropriately and how to de-escalate, so you can see the teacher had his arms out, trying to keep the others from moving in," Meno said. "At the same time he’s calling for the school aide who’s outside his door in that wing—teachers don’t go through the physical training unless they are in programs that require it.” 

Meno adds school counselors are now working in mediation with the students involved in the fights–as Meno says, the root cause of both fights was a misunderstanding, according to the school’s investigation.