Violence at Baltimore-area schools grabs national spotlight, awareness

Both fear returning to their Baltimore schools after students brutally attacked them.

Jolita Berry, an art teacher at Reginald F. Lewis High School, brought a national spotlight on city students assaulting teachers when she appeared Thursday on “The Today Show” and CNN.

“I am petrified to go back to that particular building,” said Berry, 30.

Berry told a female student to sit down Friday, but the girl repeatedly struck her, as classmates cheered her attacker on and one recorded the beating with a camera phone. The footage surfaced on MySpace.com, and Berry became a national poster child for teachers who have been assaulted by students.

“It’s from the communities and parents where children become prone to violence,” said George VanHook, a city school board member.

“It is a symptom of home and community deterioration.”

Since Berry went public about her assault, the Baltimore Teachers Union, along with local talk-radio shows, have been flooded with phone calls from other teachers in Baltimore and elsewhere who complain about students throwing pens and desks at them, slapping them and verbally abusing them.

Union President Marietta English said city schools chief Andres Alonso has discouraged principals from suspending students for fear of schools being labeled “persistently dangerous.”

“The children are taking over the schools because they break the rules and they don’t care about it,” English said.

For his part, Alonso said principals who don’t remove violent students risk losing their jobs.

“This is a tragedy for the system and for the individuals involved,” he said.

“We own it. We need to address it.”

English and other school system leaders met Wednesday to brainstorm ideas for a standard protocol principals could follow when students become out of control.

Rep. Elijah Cummings and state Superintendent Nancy Grasmick said they’re planning a summit on school violence.

“As adults, we must not tolerate an environment in which a student’s anger accelerates to physical assault in the classroom,” Cummings said.

Four days after Berry was attacked, two students at West Baltimore Middle School suffered a brutal beating by at least 10 other eighth-graders because one wore a red swoosh on his black Nike sneakers. The bullies smacked the students with lacrosse sticks and stomped on them because red symbolizes the Bloods gang.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com