In the 10 days since the Uvalde school massacre, much of the discussions at the state and national level have focused on school safety. Lawmakers, parents and others have called for various reforms on safety protocols in schools and police training for active shooter situations.
Governor Greg Abbott on Wednesday directed the Texas School Safety Center to immediately start reviewing school safety plans.
Although much of the focus right now is on how to prevent another devastating attack on a school, the center also provides resources on other safety issues in classrooms, like bullying and fights.
Prior to the devastating attack in Uvalde, KPRC 2 Investigates found reported assaults and fights within schools were well into the thousands in recent years.
Analysis of Texas Education Agency (TEA) data going back to 2018 shows there were 13,850 reports of fighting and assaults in these seven school districts: Houston ISD, Cy-Fair, Pasadena, Conroe, Fort Bend and Galveston ISDs.
One of those thousands of reports comes from Gloria Fermanâs son, who goes to Fort Bend ISDâs Lake Olympia Middle School.
âThat day, my son came home from school, he had visible injury markings around his head and face and neck,â said Ferman. âThe teacher said they were horse-playing.â
Ferman didnât believe the video showing her son being knocked to the ground was horseplay, saying âI couldnât let it go.â
The school district investigate the incident further after Ferman continued to push for an answer. The investigation found Fermanâs son was âslapped, pushed and punched repeatedlyâ and what happened âconstitutes bullying as defined by law.â
Whatâs fueling school fights, assaults?
Education experts say many students are re-learning how to interact in the classroom after the COVID-19 pandemic shifted many to virtual learning.
Zeph Capo, President of the Texas American Federation of Texas, says teachers and students are feeling the strain.
âThereâs a lot of those instances that weâve heard from teachers where theyâre having to really walk through and be there for kids that are feeling a lot of different emotions,â said Capo.
But itâs not just on teachers and educators to resolve these problems, according to Brian Clason who is with the Texas School Safety Center.
âNow is the time for both sides, all sides, to lean in and have that tough conversation and say, âhey, we may not view education the same way, but violence is violence is violence,ââ said Clason, who is also a former school principal.
What can parents do?
Clason says parents are key to helping schools identify problems that could lead to violence. Hereâs what he says parents can do to help catch these behaviors:
- Get to know teachers, counselors, principals at your childâs school
- Donât be afraid to be the squeaky wheel
Clason says the centerâs website has information for parents on how schools conduct threat assessments, drills and required training, the types of hazards schools have to prepare for and what is the legal definition of bullying.
Remember, Fermanâs persistence helped turn horse-play into a finding of bullying.