October 26, 2005

To: Dr. James Williams, Superintendent
Members, Board of Education

From: Philip Rumore, President

RE: Violence in Our Schools

If something isn't done immediately there is a real probability that a tragic incident will befall one of our students or staff members.

Acts of violence are proliferating in number and intensity. I have been to Grover Cleveland High School twice in the last week. Students fighting, teachers assaulted and, most recently, a teacher's life was threatened by a parent and later anonymously via the in-school phone system. Just today, a student at Riverside punched an NFTA bus driver, bloodying his face.

According to our teachers, since the beginning of the school year, fights are occurring across the District and there is a real fear that what is bubbling beneath the surface and erupting sporadically will soon become a major eruption.

The administrators have told some teachers that a letter has gone out from City Hall implying that there are too many suspensions. We have also been informed that visits have been made and conversations had by a City Hall administrator questioning principals' suspensions and stating there are too many suspensions.

For three years the BTF has called for the reinstatement of the Alternative School so that we have a place for disruptive students where they can receive the academic and behavioral assistance they need to be able return to a regular school and to also provide the 95% of the students who want to learn with an environment in which they can learn.

This issue needs to be addressed not tomorrow, not next week, but yesterday. If not, we will be confronting a tragedy that need not have occurred.