When Students Are Violent At School

Who’s to blame?

As a family engagement influencer, I speak my truth as it relates to family and education issues.

And I now find myself in a position of speaking out boldly about all the incidents of student violence within many schools that are now being discussed. My opinion may not be shared among educators and parents. But, it is mine to exclusively share.

It Didn’t Just Start

So many voices condemning school and district leaders continue to emerge within our global society as it relates to all the explosive school fights and all the serious incidents that are now being reported on in the media.

Outsiders are not attuned to all the continuous training and protocols that educators have in place related to classroom management, crisis intervention, positive behavior supports, trauma-informed care, the multitiered system of support, and the list goes on and on. These outsiders remain clueless about the struggles educators have in controlling uncontrollable students. And the reason is simple. Outsiders still view students through the antiquated lens that they observed students through when they were students. They also use a lens that only allows them to see the most well-behaved students that they have been accustomed to observing. Outsiders are also people who use research and other forms of data that provide a subjective perspective of students today.

There is something very wrong that outsiders are now doing. They are using all educational things related to the pandemic to justify all the violence that has, in their cloudy eyes, just erupted.

Setting the Record Straight

Horrible student behaviors existed long before the pandemic. Violent fights that have grown in intensity through the past several generations of students have become the norm in some schools.

The pandemic has not caused what has already been a serious problem in many schools. My extensive professional experiences lead me to make this conclusion.

I spent 35-years as a public school teacher, school administrator, and district level administrator. I encountered very severe student misconduct within some schools when my career began. Fights were among the regular behavioral occurrences. Through the years, however, I observed how student incidents became more brazen, violent, and regular. When I became a principal in an at-risk school, I confronted issues with students instead of pretending they did not exist. While my superiors began faulting me for what always existed within the school, I persevered and proved that my leadership had nothing to do with poorly behaved students. The behavior of students deteriorate so severely that teachers, security personnel, and other adults regularly sustained injuries at the hand of violent students. I sustained multiple life-altering injuries from students. My most severe injury was from a first-grader who was seven years old who attacked me when I was their principal. As I reflect on my career, I encountered three generations of students. Here is another interesting fact. I taught students and their students and was the principal of some of their children. That reflects three generations of students. And I affirm that serious issues with students within some classrooms and schools have always existed.

Instead of perpetuating the belief that pandemic school closures, the alleged en masse student mental health crisis that have resulted (I believe some students were impacted but not as many as outsiders suggest), and students being subjected to online learning has caused the spike in school violence, the truth must be told.

Here are the main reasons why I believe there is an uptick in violent eruptions at school. Again, the pandemic has nothing to do with my rationale.

1. Some students display deviant, defiant, and unstoppable terrible behaviors at school. As a highly experienced educator, I understand that some students have various mental and behavioral health conditions as well as learning disabilities that manifest in their behavior. I am not referring to these students. But, I am referring to those who willfully and persistently attend school to wreak havoc wherever they are. Whether in the classroom, the cafeteria, the halls, or the restroom, these students create trouble. They bully their peers, assault teachers and classmates, prevent teachers from teaching, and prevent students from learning. Malicious uncontrollable students have attended school for a very long time. And this reality must be acknowledged.
2. The violence that has infiltrated social media, television, music, movies, and gaming for a long time has negatively influenced students. They have remained emboldened to act out based on what they continue to be exposed to.
3. In the past, a lot of schools had been able to keep serious incidents involving student misconduct out of the media and hidden from parents and the regional community. Some were able to conclude that such occurrences were swept under the proverbial rug. However, with mobile phones easily accessible these days, disturbing student eruptions are immediately recorded and shared on social media.
4. Some parents have terrible parenting skills that manifest through their child’s behavior at school. Most people, especially those affiliated with education, tend to avoid holding offending parents accountable for their failures within the home. Such individuals want to remain politically correct and they do not want to offend these key stakeholders by speaking out on this issue.
5. An ongoing and pervasive belief is that poor school and district leadership is the cause of severe student disruptions. Despite their training and professional capacity, some people honestly think that principals, deans, superintendents, and in some cases teachers cause students to tear up learning environments. Board of school directors and powerful parent groups continue to denigrate, terminate, demote, and reassign these leaders because some students make a concentrated effort and choose to engage in unspeakable acts at school.
6. Whether governmental or community-based, powerful entities have dictated disciplinary protocols within many schools. This is because data show that Black and Brown students have historically received harsher forms of disciplinary consequences at school. Because these restrictions were put in place in recent years, a lot of students continue to get away with committing serious infractions at school. For these students, the low-level consequences they receive tend to be less than a slap on the wrist. So, their derogatory behavior continues and escalates at the same time.

What Must Happen

Educational entities must come to terms with the aforementioned realities that exist. I offer the following solutions.

1. School leaders must speak up to make people realize the truth about what they have endured for many years with many students. Teacher unions and other professional advocacy organizations must support and defend educators from absorbing the blame for violent incidents that take place at school. Additionally, they must work with the media so that there is a greater understanding of the historic problems with some students.
2. Superintendents, principals, and other educational professionals must stop being blamed and terminated for explosive student behavior.
3. Educational leaders must boldly speak the truth about the role poor parenting has played in the problem with student misconduct at school. Since some parents need to refine and improve their parenting skills, schools must be willing to increase family engagement efforts by providing sustainable parent training programs.
4. As truth is being shared with more of a global audience, school leaders must solicit the support of the community and faith-based entities to help solve the problems with students. While society tends to maintain a perspective consistent with the school possessing the exclusive capacity to solve all problems with students, conversations that transform into collaborative best practices that stop the student behaviors must result.
5. Schools must continue to provide seamless training opportunities for their faculty groups that address student behavior concerns. Educators must also continue to adhere to research-based strategies that empower them to help reduce and eliminate problems among the students.
6. Educators must continue to hold students accountable for making appropriate behavior choices at school. The consistent use of disciplinary protocols must be administered to students with fidelity. Students must also continue to be taught replacement behaviors consistent with good citizenship at school. Efforts must be made to recognize and reward students for behavioral improvements they make.
7. The school must maintain open lines of communication with parents so that they are aware of severe student incidents when they occur. This is especially true to prevent families from finding out about incidents in the media before the school officially notifies them. Finally, the parents of students involved in adverse disciplinary encounters must be informed so that their support is provided in stopping their child’s derogatory actions at school.

My Final Word

The pandemic has not caused severe student infractions like all the violent fights at school that are being discussed. Students have been engaged in dangerous and very unacceptable behaviors for a very long time.

And it is up to educators to set the record straight.

If you value the perspective that I share about violent student eruptions at school, I invite you to read my collection of stories that I published related to this topic. Be sure to use the links below.

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Dr. Deborah M. Vereen is a retired Teacher and School Administrator. Her website is www.Drdeborahmvereen.com and her YouTube Channel is

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