SLA Reacts to Fight, Arrests at Cheltenham

Meymey Seng

Staff Writer

On May 4, there was a large fight that occurred at nearby Cheltenham High School. Not only were the students hurt, the teachers who tried to break up the fight were too. Eight teachers were injured and four students were arrested.

A tragic event like this sparks up a lot of emotion from other people, including at SLA.

“It’s sad for the kids involved, the teachers involved, for their community, I’m sure that’s not the representation they want to show to the rest of the world and that’s not really who they are,” said Excellence Coordinator Jeremy Spry. “It’s really just sad when regardless of age, people can’t find ways to express themselves other than violence.”

Since violence is something inevitable that takes place in many schools, a system that Science Leadership Academy has to diffuse those situations is advisory. Advisory is basically a group of students and a teacher that will meet with for an hour after school on Monday’s and Thursday’s to provide a safe space for students to express their emotions.

Also, after hearing about the situation, it causes students to also wonder about their safety at their own school school.

Sophomores Amelia Benamara and Alyssa Eastwood both agree that they feel safe at SLA but that there are also other variables such as verbal violence, security, and having someone to talk to.

“I feel as if that’s very unfortunate but then again that’s why we should be fortunate that we don’t have violent fights on a daily basis. Then again, it is somewhat unsafe because we don’t have that many security guards, especially with our school being very open,” said Amelia.

“Also, my friend has life issues that he was forced to talk to the counselor about. He was like ‘maybe it would work’ but told me that he feels more forced, so I think they need a better job at communicating with kids.”

Benamara agrees that she does feel safe at the school, but for a different reason.

“I do feel safe in this school because I can defend for myself. But I know if something happens, this school will not be able to defend me. Our school is worse verbally than physically.”