Monday, April 26, 1999

Covington schools fighting violence

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Incidents high, but tough rules are enforced

BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        COVINGTON — The Covington School District knows it has a problem with violence and is fighting back.

Students, having completed their assigned work, wait for dismissal in the ISS room at Holmes High School. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        The Northern Kentucky school district with the most violent incidents, according to an Enquirer investigation, is already tackling the fights, assaults and threats that could lead to school shootings like those at suburban schools such as Columbine High in Littleton, Colo.

        Covington's actions predate a statewide effort now under way to study the frequency and facts behind all violent incidents in public schools. The 1997 school shooting in Paducah, Ky., pushed state legislators to collect data and create a center to study school violence.

        Covington's attention to parent and community concerns helps parent Trisha Brundage feel her children are as safe at school as they would be anywhere else. When a safety survey found parents at Sixth District Elementary wanted all doors locked during the day, the school did so.

        “I've witnessed a couple of incidents where kids got frustrated and lashed out and in each case staff handled it professionally and no one got hurt,” Mrs. Brundage said. “I'm real confident the staff is aware of the needs of certain students.”

        Through a combination of strict discipline and dress codes, security measures and alternative programs, Covington Schools is reaching out to students and the community with tough love, understanding and simple human contact.

        Poor and urban, Covington schools — especially Holmes Junior and Senior High — fit the profile of troubled city schools. Covington's student population reflects the community, one with low numbers of college graduates and high numbers of single-parent families. About 71 percent of students receive free and reduced lunch, a measure of poverty.

        The Enquirer study of violence in Northern Kentucky's 17 school districts found that Holmes' junior and senior high schools reported some of the highest numbers of fights, physical assaults and abuse of school employees during the 1997-98 school year. High school staff were attacked or threatened 373 times, or more than twice a day. At the junior high there were 183 cases, a rate of more than one a day.

        “We can't say we're perfect,” said Rodney Fisk, Covington's director of pupil personnel. “We do a good job, but there's a problem.”

        The Enquirer study uses the same five categories that will be used by the state of Kentucky: fights between students, attacks or threats against school personnel, incidents involving weapons and cases involving drugs or alcohol.

        Covington Schools' high violence rate could bring the district thousands of dollars in state aid to help reduce and prevent the violence that disrupts the learning process and that could lead to a crisis.

Students at the Covington Academy of Renewal Education (CARE) are required to wear white shirts and black pants. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

Order through discipline
        Covington's fight against school violence begins at the door, with one of the toughest codes of conduct in the region. It's a set of rules developed by parents and school officials designed to teach students acceptable behavior in public settings and respect for themselves and others.         The rules are strict.

        Pushing a peer, being late to class and sometimes even a menacing look are frequently written up as violations. Every student must wear an ID tag. They must all use clear plastic book bags. They can't wear coats in the halls or to class and they are not allowed to wear hooded shirts.

        As reminders of campus rules, some teachers post signs: Where's your ID? No hoods. No coats.

        “There is a code for everything,” said William Grein, Holmes High principal. “And we get some grief for that. Students say it's like a prison and that we are more concerned with discipline than education.”

        A police officer patrols school property most afternoons, to make sure students stay on campus and strangers stay away. Covington Police Capt. Gary Kaiser said officers mentor students and teach an anti-gang, anti-violence, anti-crime seminar each year to seventh graders.

        “The schools do represent the community, but they also have some of their own problems,” Capt. Kaiser said. “Covington does a heck of a job with its schools. For an inner-city community, the schools are outstanding.”

        For students who don't follow the rules, Holmes metes out in-school suspensions (ISS), where students go if they are disruptive in class. Students in ISS must do their work in silence, seated in individual study areas. Suspensions and expulsions are also frequent.

        In the 1997-98 school year studied by the Enquirer, Covington expelled 69 students. That's in a district of 4,995 students. By comparison, Cincinnati Public Schools, another urban school district with 47,200 students, expelled 341 students that year.

        Covington's expulsion rate works out to 13.8 per 1,000 students, almost twice Cincinnati's 7.2 per 1,000 rate.

        The strict control of student activity may contribute to Covington's high numbers of reported incidents. Still, when district officials gathered their numbers last year, they counted some 20,000 infractions for a student population of 4,995.

        The district toughened the rules even more, banning beepers, cell phones, laser pointers and gang-related graffiti and clothing, such as red or blue colors, low-waisted and baggy pants.

        Covington Schools also created a new alternative school for students that have trouble behaving in a regular school setting. Students normally expelled are now sent first to the alternative school, a last resort for many.

        Tough rules and the removal of chronic troublemakers seems to be working. This year Covington expelled 12 students, down from the 69 kicked out last year.

        “It's pretty boring at (Holmes),” freshman Justin Hill said. “I mean, you come to class and you do your work and there's no talking to the teacher. They just want you to follow the rules.”

Fighting violence with self-esteem
        A day inside Covington schools can be tough. Despite efforts to reduce violence, fights and threatening comments or gestures happen at least once a day in all of the districts' nine schools on a regular basis.

        “We're not proud of that,” said Lester Gamble, assistant principal for discipline at the Holmes campus. “We have our flare-ups. But with as many discipline referrals as you see we have, you would think this is a school out of control. I tell people to come and visit us and see how things really are.”

        When student teacher Timothy J. Miller found out he would be assigned to Holmes, friends told him to wear a bullet-proof vest and take a gun.

        “I was scared witless,” said Mr. Miller, 30. An education and English major at Northern Kentucky University, Mr. Miller lives in Anderson Township.

        Though the atmosphere inside Holmes is generally congenial, there are problems. This year, one teacher caught two students rolling marijuana joints during class. Other teachers reported fights occurring right in their classrooms. A small group of students dressed in red gathered in a hallway flashing gang signs. A student being asked to settle down yelled at a teacher and then left the room.

        Mr. Gamble believes many of the troubles stem from students' low self-esteem and feelings of being misunderstood.

        “When it's a case of honor or feelings worn on your sleeve,” Mr. Gamble said, “you respond in such a way that causes a negative response.”

        So Mr. Gamble spends his time educating students about interpersonal relationships and positive self-image. He buys cans of soda for students on their birthdays. And for every violent incident, Mr. Gamble has a positive story. Like the time one student turned in a lost wallet with $77 in the billfold.

        Examples cited by Mr. Gamble and the friendly, lively mood at Holmes quickly changed Mr. Miller's opinion of Holmes.

        “I walked into the place and the halls were clean. No students tried to jump me. It's not like that,” Mr. Miller said. “I am completely and totally impressed with the school.”

Holmes High School Principal William Grein, right, gives a friendly reminder of the rules to sophomore Joe Rump. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

Challenges of diversity
        In a student body where 71 percent of students are classified as poor and students represent a variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds, a small core of students create most of the problems.

        Covington school officials estimate 15 percent of students cause the problems while 85 percent are flourishing.

        Mr. Grein likes to describe the school as “inner-city suburban.” About 10 percent of the population is special education students. More than 300 students are in advanced programs. And there are 60 students living outside the Covington district who pay tuition to attend Holmes High.

        This wide of mix attitudes and abilities sometimes leads to tensions between those who study and work at Holmes and those in the larger community.

        “I think because we are one of the only interracial schools people think there are problems,” sophomore Shawn Blaze said. “Those are people (from) where all the schools are just one color.”

        Seniors Nicole Harr, Jaimie Marshall and Tiffany Porterfield said they don't listen to the stereotypes about their school because they are perpetuated by people who know nothing about the campus.

        “With Holmes, they hear inner city and people get an impression,” Miss Marshall said. Sometimes, students say, that impression is disturbing.

        “I've been in band competitions and when we travel people from other schools ask if we left our guns on the bus,” senior Sean Russell said. “That's crazy.”

        The varied student population and the tensions that sometimes arise within Holmes and outside the school community prompted educators to institute numerous preventive measures. School psychologists are in every building, working especially with students who are continually sent to the principal's office.

        The district spent about $1.6 million on personnel to handle discipline cases, including discipline deans, principals and central office staff last year. Despite all the programs and money spent on improving school safety and reducing discipline referrals, there are still students who misbehave.

        Tony Gruelle, one of two discipline and attendance assistants at Holmes High, said most students are aware of the district's expectations when they reach the high school. Still, he gets a lot of referrals each month. He said, “Students are usually gonna do what they want to do and suffer the consequences.”

Providing special CARE
        To isolate from others and help those chronically disruptive students, Covington started CARE, the Covington Academy of Renewal Education.

        Students in danger of being expelled are removed from their elementary school or the Holmes campus and enrolled at CARE. In its first year, CARE is already proving a success through decreased expulsions.

        CARE provides a tough environment. Students must walk through a metal detector under the watchful eye of health assistant Sharon Harris.

        Most students set off the alarm, which is so strong it picks up the staple inside a book of matches. As a result, smoking violations are very low.

        Students get few liberties. The 40 staff members constantly supervise the 100 students. Students must wear black pants and white shirts.

        CARE is also a nurturing place and many students do not want to return to their home schools, Mr. Fisk said.

        “As an urban school, we tend to be in a situation where the kids are more apt to be disruptive in school,” Mr. Fisk said. “But we find that our kids are very receptive to nurturing and the reason is obvious. They don't get it elsewhere.”

        Students at CARE either missed a lot of school, violated lots of rules or need special help academically. Some started the year unable to read. One 16-year-old planning to drop out has now decided she wants to attend college.

        “This is their last place and the staff knows it,” said Terri Cox-Cruey, special education director. “This is the last step for these type of kids.”

        All of Covington's violence prevention programs, counseling sessions and alternative education measures come down to one thing, Mr. Gamble said.

        “What we're trying to get across to young people is that we all have a responsibility here and that we all take the responsibility seriously and adhere to rules that make a good situation for us all,” Mr. Gamble said.

        “Kids are looking to be respected and the staff wants to be respected. I'm seeing the school evolve.”

       

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