By State Rep. Sylvester Turner

Courtesy of Houston Chronicle

May 9, 2012

Two female students were captured recently on cellphone video fighting in the stairwell of a Fort Bend ISD high school in front of dozens of students who had shown up ahead of time to watch. Just a few hours before, the mother of one of these girls told an assistant principal that her daughter would be beaten. The principal said he would take care of the threat, but did not. One girl put a lock in a sock and beat the other girl, as she had threatened to do, sending her to the hospital for treatment.

From what I observed on the video, no one intervened – not a teacher, not an administrator and not one of the many students who showed up for this entertainment. While this horrific video has captured the community’s and the media’s attention, it is just the latest in a series of violence, bullying and intimidation affecting our children at their schools.

In January of this year, a student fight in the cafeteria at Andy Dekaney High School in Spring ISD escalated into a melee involving dozens of students. Also in January, a North Forest High School student brought a gun onto campus and shot and wounded another student.

Last year, a 6-year-old brought a loaded gun to his class at Ross Elementary. He and two other students were injured when the gun fell out of his pocket and discharged. Just a few days ago, a 14-year-old student was shot by a Pasadena ISD officer when he confronted the student in an apparent burglary.

Two dozen Houston ISD school bus drivers recently called for more discipline of rowdy students. The drivers say the students carry weapons, fight each other and even attack the drivers themselves. This past week a South Houston High School student was accused of filming another student in the bathroom. He planned to post the video on Facebook.

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