NEW BRITAIN, CT (WFSB) – While students in New Britain were on their way to class on Thursday morning, teachers at the city’s high school staged a protest before the first bell rang. .
Educators say they are trying to raise awareness of what they call disciplinary erosion in the district.
“We’ve been on a downward spiral for many, many years, with an upswing from school absences but also a lack of supervision, a lack of rules, a lack of enforcement of the rules that are already in the books,” he said. Susan Humanick, vice president of union AFT 871 and English teacher at New Britain High School. “We’ve seen a rapid, rapid decline in student behavior.”
Staff say the drop has resulted in the use of guns, knives and bullets at schools.
“It’s no secret to the community that this is happening,” she said. “I think we need to protect the safety and well-being of all the students in our community and all the staff.”
Humanick said teachers feel scared, unsupported and surrounded.
The New Britain Unified School District Board of Education has called a special meeting for February 24 at 6pm.
“The purpose of this meeting is to review the superintendent’s performance and discuss her contract and a potential acquisition,” the council wrote in a letter to Town Clerk Mark Bernacki. on Wednesday. “Following recent events, the community has made it clear that they care about safety in our schools and need to take action to ensure the safety of our students and staff.”
Superintendent Nancy Sarra and assistant director Michael Foran released a statement on Thursday.
CSDNB remains committed to ensuring the safety and security of all students and staff. We are also on the safe side. Through our ESSSER funding, we have added more staff at New Britain High School and all other schools, to ensure the safety of all New Britain staff and students. We have worked closely with the police department through ongoing communication to ensure an additional police presence at our buildings. The incidents that occurred last week occurred off school property. As stated in our previous comments, it’s a community issue. CSDNB continues to stand ready to work with teachers, staff, students, board members and city leaders to find community solutions and ensure everyone’s safety.
Sarra will retire on June 30, 2022.
Teachers in the local union said they want the district to implement more safety and security policies at New Britain High School.
After a difficult start to the school year and other instances of violence, they say they do not have an effective learning environment for students.
The New Britain teachers union said it would ask the district to take more action to protect staff and students.
“We’ve locked our doors three times in the last two weeks and teachers, students, staff want change. We want a safer building with better safety procedures,” said Federation of Teachers President. New England Steve Gray said.
Following the COVID-19 lockdown and distance learning, teachers who returned to face-to-face learning this year noticed an increase in fighting and vandalism in the building.
Last week, the school was forced to close after a 16-year-old was shot within walking distance of the campus.
The students said they were also scared, forced to comfort each other when they should have been studying.
