Brockton school board members not backing down from controversial National Guard request
The committee members — Joyce Asack, Tony Rodrigues, Claudio Gomes and Ana Oliver — spoke for about a minute each.
Oliver said Brockton High School is filled with "great students and doing excellent work, but we still have students not doing what they're supposed to be doing, and that's who we need help with."
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Rodrigues said the reason for not taking questions is that not all of the Brockton School Committee's eight members were present and they are a united front.
"We act as a whole body, and this is four members that are taking on the leadership role to making sure our students are safe. It starts at the top, and our chair has failed to bring us together united so we can plan to make sure the students and our staff are safe," Rodrigues said.
The chair of the School Committee is Mayor Robert Sullivan, by virtue of his office. The vice chair is Kathleen Ehlers, with whom Rodrigues has been locked in a protracted power struggle for the vice chairmanship. The same four members who sent the letter requesting the National Guard be deployed have voted for Rodrigues in the vice chair battle.
On the other side of the multiple 4-4 tied votes are, in addition to Mayor Robert Sullivan and Ehlers, are School Committee members Tim Sullivan and Judy Sullivan.
"We need to take our schools back in control and make sure our students have a safe learning environment cause what's going at in the high school is disheartening and kids are losing precious learning time and kids are causing chaos," Rodrigues said at Monday's press conference.
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Mayor opposes deploying National Guard
Mayor Robert Sullivan does not support utilizing the National Guard at the high school, he said.
"While we appreciate the suggestions put forth by four school committee members, we believe that such measures are not appropriate," Sullivan said in a written statement Monday.
"Instead, we are committed to employing a collaborative approach that involves the entire community, including parents, students, educators, and law enforcement, to tackle these challenges head-on," Sullivan said.
"Under my direction and in response to these challenges, the police department, under Chief Brenda Perez, has been working diligently and actively with school administrators to address the underlying issues and implement effective strategies to ensure a safe learning environment for all. Our dedicated officers have been working tirelessly to investigate and respond to incidents promptly, and we will continue to do so until a satisfactory resolution is achieved."
About a dozen residents attended the press conference, but none could ask questions and only a couple agreed to speak to The Enterprise.
Resident Cynthia Hodges, who has lived in Brockton for more than 20 years and raised her children in Brockton, said bringing in the National Guard would only make the situation worse, "causing parents to withdraw their kids" and look for a new school district and kids to drop out.
"You have to have someone come here and do the right job. And I think they have hired the right principal to do the right job at this time, but it's going to take time. Nothing happens overnight, and they think it's going to happen overnight," Hodges said after the press conference.
But the School Committee members present said the National Guard would be there to help and not make it a scary environment for the kids but to create a safe place for staff and students.
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"We're not asking them to deploy a whole army to our school. We're asking for support, especially with the teacher shortage throughout the commonwealth of Massachusetts," Oliver said.
Gomes said, "They're people like us. They're educated and trained. We just need their assistance now. We need more staff to support our staff and help the students learn and have a safe environment. So that's the case. We need the hands, and they have it, so why not provide their assistance?"
Jamie Hodges, who ran against Gomes in the last election, after the press conference said she thought it was "a joke."
"I think if you really cared about the students, you would've answered the parents' concerns and questions, so I want everyone to show up at the school committee meeting Tuesday night so we all can be present and be there," said Jamie Hodges, who is Cynthia Hodges' daughter.
Shocking levels of violence and chaos Emotional teachers describe what it's like inside Brockton High School
Brockton High in turmoil
Brockton High School has been in increasing turmoil this school year, with many teachers publicly describing shocking levels of chaos and violence inside the largest high school in Massachusetts.
Mayor Robert Sullivan said Saturday only the governor can deploy the National Guard, and he forwarded the School Committee members' request to Healey, but he does not favor the request.
Sullivan said Perez will provide an update to the School Committee after the school vacation week.
The mayor's office wants the community to know they understand the current concerns and fears and are "actively addressing them."
This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton School Committee members want National Guard at high school
