On Friday, members of the Brockton School Committee made an appeal to the city’s mayor to ask Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey for National Guard support. This urgent request was made in light of escalating student violence and a conspicuous rise in teacher absences. Four committee members—Joyce Asack, Tony Rodrigues, Claudio Gomes, and Ana Oliver—made the specific request for temporary National Guard support to be deployed at Brockton High School, but they also expressed their concerns for the middle and elementary school levels. The education officials describe the current state as a ‘crisis’ and warned of a ‘potential tragedy’.
The plea to the mayor referenced troubling instances of students wandering aimlessly around the school, serious physical altercations and as many as 35 teachers regularly calling in absent. In recent weeks, there has also been an increase in students leaving school premises without permission and reports of adult trespassers discovered on school property. Local news, WCVB, reported that the committee emphasized these issues were compromising the learning environment, jeopardizing the integrity of statewide testing processes, and amplifying health and safety risks faced by both the students and staff.
Committee members are of the opinion that the expertise of the National Guard in crisis management and community engagement could offer a crucial temporary intervention. Boston25 news quoted committee member Tony Rodriguez as saying, “the National Guard brings positivity, we used them to deploy Covid vaccinations…we are looking for them to step in and act as substitute teachers and hall monitors.”
However, other members of the Brockton High School committee and the mayor expressed reservations about the request for the National Guard. Concerns were voiced that a militarized presence could be detrimental to students’ civil liberties and may actually establish an atmosphere of intimidation. There has not yet been an official response from Maura Healey, the Governor of Massachusetts, regarding the proposal to deploy the Massachusetts National Guard at Brockton High School.
For more live updates on the situation, follow the story here.