Fights at Patti Welder shed light on new social environment for girls
2 Patti Welder students transfer to avoid fighting; some question what stats reflect
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NUMBER OF FIGHTS AT PATTI WELDER
So far this school year, Patti Welder reported 69 students were involved in a fight, assault, instigation of a fight or bullying.
The school must report each time a student is involved in one of these actions, and each time ...
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NUMBER OF FIGHTS AT PATTI WELDER
So far this school year, Patti Welder reported 69 students were involved in a fight, assault, instigation of a fight or bullying.
The school must report each time a student is involved in one of these actions, and each time the school calls a parent.
No student was reported as being in more than two fights.
Of the students on the list, 40 were disciplined for fighting or instigating a fight; 14 were disciplined for bullying; 18 were disciplined for assault on a student; and eight were disciplined for assault on a staff member or volunteer (some were disciplined more than once).
Of the kids on the list, 16 were sent to Mitchell Guidance Center. Two students were handled with conferences. The rest were disciplined with a minimum of in-school suspension or out-of-school suspension.
Vanessa Mosqueda received a phone call Monday that had her rushing to Patti Welder Middle School for the second time in as many weeks.
This time, a fight ended with her eighth-grade daughter's glasses busted, her scalp red from hair yanked by another girl. The week before, a fight had ended with a bloody nose.
Mosqueda, 30, said she has filed criminal complaints this year against four girls who have physically attacked her daughter.
"She doesn't feel safe," Mosqueda said. "As soon as she hears someone talking or mentioning her name, she doesn't feel safe. She's ready to leave."
Her daughter's situation seems to be part of a growing number of adolescent girls who are resorting to physical violence to solve otherwise typical teenage problems. From 1996 to 2005, arrests of girls charged with simple assault increased 24 percent, while arrests of boys for the same crime decreased 4 percent, according to data from the FBI.
Opinions are mixed about whether the statistics reveal an actual increase in violence among girls or just an increased awareness and crack-down on bullying, as Patti Welder Principal Carlos Garza characterizes it.
But Mosqueda and another mom of a Patti Welder student tell of a social terrain that just this year has left them so scared for the safety of their daughters, they refuse to send the girls to school.
Scared of school
"I'm at a loss. I'm not sending my child somewhere where she may not come back," Terena Terral, 34, said.
Terral's daughter, an honors student and cheerleader, has missed two weeks of school recently, fearing the same group of girls that has attacked her friend, Mosqueda's daughter. Terral said her daughter's grades have slipped, as her days become less about learning and more about looking over her shoulder.
Mosqueda's daughter has missed the same amount of school, as threats and fear escalated, the daughter said. Some days she gets spooked and leaves classes early. Other days, Mosqueda comes to school with her to act as a protector in the hallways and classrooms. The daughter has begun seeing a therapist.
The moms point to a clique of 12 or so girls, mostly eighth-graders, who are involved in a tangle of arguments about boys or name-calling, dirty looks or he-said, she-said and sometimes just who's friends with whom. Some of the girls used to be their daughters' friends, while others they've never talked to.
The fights are only exacerbated by social media like Facebook. Mosqueda has turned over to the school and police Facebook posts from classmates, which are littered with curse-filled name calling and contempt for the consequences the school imposed after the fights. One student, meanwhile, bragged online about not getting in trouble after hitting Mosqueda's daughter in an incident earlier this year.
Girl fights
The girls' situations have marks of both traditional teasing among girls and a turn toward more physical responses.
Girls are still less violent than boys, said Anitra Shelton-Quinn, director of school psychology at UHV. They're more apt to ostracize other girls or spread rumors than throw a punch.
But on par with national trends, Victoria schools seem to be reporting more instances of girls fighting or instigating fights, said Diane Boyett, district communications director.
"That's part of that difference - how girls are resolving their differences now. You used to go off and say bad things about them ... and now the level of physical response is actually increasing among females," Boyett said.
Shelton-Quinn said much of the appeal toward fighting could come from the way new media - such as cell phone videos - have turned physical aggression into a way to gain peer-acceptance.
The two students from Patti Welder said several of their peers have fights from the hallways saved on their cell phones.
Plenty of girl fights can be found with a quick search of YouTube, and some are even scrutinized in the national media.
"There's some type of recognition girls are getting from it," Shelton-Quinn said.
Social media has overhauled the dynamic of how adolescents relate to each other and how schools can respond, Shelton-Quinn said.
Previously, altercations were mostly confined to the school grounds.
"Now that it's on Facebook and texting ... it's a little bit more difficult to identify and to contain. It becomes widespread in a matter of seconds," Shelton-Quinn said.
When an ostracizing comment or a rumor reaches a large audience quickly, the affects can be particularly harsh for girls, who report being depressed more often than boys.
"Girls tend to deal with those things a little differently. The requirement that society imposes on girls as it relates to physical perfection ... becomes a detriment to the way she perceives her existence," she said.
Boyett called Facebook the latest tool in the arsenal of bullies, but said the school has limited power when it comes to what students say outside of school.
"They have First Amendment rights, and the school district can't infringe on those until their First Amendment rights have infringed on the learning environment," she said.
Our schools
The school district has set forth a broad spectrum of consequences when it comes to fighting or bullying in school. Each campus, then, is charged with determining and enforcing the consequences based on the circumstances of each fight. Each middle and high school in VISD has a police officer on campus, too.
At Patti Welder, Garza said, each investigation of fight begins with asking students specific questions from a standard form. Using interviews and footage caught on cameras across campus, the administration then decides who's responsible for the fight and whether it's mutual or one-sided.
"Oftentimes, we'll do mediation with one of our trained counselors, who is a mediator. We get parental permission to do that, and 98 percent of the time, that resolves the issue," Garza said.
For ongoing problems that can't be solved through mediation, the school may impose in-school suspension, send a student to Mitchell Guidance Center, or ask students to sign a bully contract that defines specific expectations and consequences for students, Garza said.
Boyett said 69 Patti Welder students have been reported to be in a fight, instigating a fight or involved in bullying since the beginning of the school year.
Comparing that number to other middle schools may not provide an accurate picture, Boyett said. Each year, schools devise a campus improvement plan that may, for example, crack down on fighting by reporting minor offenses, which inflates their numbers. Other schools, meanwhile, may focus their improvement plans on different issues unique to their campuses and handle small conflicts internally.
But Garza said the number of violent incidents at Patti Welder is actually down from last year, as statistics from the first six weeks of school show a 60 percent decrease in those reports.
He attributes the drop to programs aimed at promoting positive behavior - such as the school's Cub Camp and Destination Success programs.
"I don't know about an increase in bullying, but I think we have an increase in awareness, which is good," Garza said.
While the school cracked down on the girls actually involved with physical altercations against her daughter, Mosqueda said she felt the school had little power to diffuse a larger group of alleged instigators. She requested to transfer her daughter to the only middle school with room to take on another student - Howell Middle School. On Friday afternoon, she got word the transfer was approved, after two weeks of waiting and after one final fight that broke her daughter's glasses.
Terral, meanwhile, said she took her daughter out of Patti Welder and enrolled her in a correspondence course.
Looking ahead
Mosqueda and Terral said they were often frustrated by the bureaucracy and sometimes slow response from their daughters' former school.
They were mostly upset that their daughters missed so much class time because of fear.
But for the most part, they recognize the difficult new social terrain both adolescents and adults are trying to navigate.
"I know that (the school is) trying to do the best they can do on their end. But as a community, we need to step up," Mosqueda said.
Shelton-Quinn said her fear - manifested in Mosqueda and Terral's daughters - is that aggression in schools will deter some students from getting an education. She and her colleague, Trina Gordon, have started the Village Builders project, which will work with VISD to end bullying and address problems children are facing in school.
But even with more programs to target bullying, Shelton-Quinn said ending abuse in schools will take a community effort.
"It really does take a village to raise a child. It takes parents connecting with the school and the children, and the schools connecting even with the social networking sites in order to halt this constant torment," she said.
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I guarantee that if you confront the parents of these bullies they'll get mad at you for talking bad about their kid. I know people with kids that are bad as hell that will get mad if you tell them their child is doing something wrong. They take it as a personal insult, and instead of correcting the child's terrible behavior they reward them. That is what's wrong with these kids.
If someone was bullying my kid that other kid wouldn't be alive. That's all I'm gonna say about that.
December 14, 2011 at 2:35 p.m.i agree with alot of the post and comments. and yes it does start with the parents (whom mostly are not old enough to be a parent) but i know for a fact that there are many problems with patti welder. i know several teachers whom have been verbally and physically abused and notheing was done about it except they were told to "learn to handle you students or go to a class to learn how to". the teachers follow the rules and procedures on writing up the trouble makers and they get sent right back to class, with the excuse we dont want to deal with them. not only are the students afraid to go to school but so are the teachers. vetrans teachers as well as the new teachers at patti welder are resiging their postitions due to fear. i am glad it is finally out in the media and i think the TAX PAYERS should stand up and demand that the school board do something besides "PRAY ABOUT IT" as i was told last year by a school board member when i confronted him about a seriouse problem when a teacher was seriously threatened by a student and nothing was done.
STAND UP PEOPLE AND LETS GROUP TOGETHER BEFORE PATTI WELDER IS ON THE NATIONAL NEWS
December 12, 2011 at 2:21 p.m.Victoria as a whole is rapidly becoming a border town, without the charm of the border. I seem to recall reading that VISD's rating with TEA is already bad, so why not just clean out the troublemakers and the trash and start over. Take the hit and recreate an effective, safe district to teach the children that want to be there and want to learn without causing problems.
December 12, 2011 at 1:53 p.m.I agree with jasonbourne. I do think words here will never be read by those who should see them. I doubt they can even read or read English.
December 12, 2011 at 6:23 a.m.It's not the school, it's the monsters that come there. Even sadder it's not the kids fault. It the idiot 25 year old parents of a junior high student. Its the career gang member that is raising a family. Its the people that shouldn't be allowed to have children sending them to school and letting the teachers care for them.
Even worse still is that VISD is helpless and can't just kick them out because they have a terrible minority student attendance situation.
Minority/Majority whatever it is now. We all know who I'm talking about.
You can erase my post, you can delete it, you can do whatever you want, until this community faces up to the real situation of needing to return discipline to it's schools, it will only get worse.
I want VISD to just say you know what, we are going to stop this insanity and kick out any kid that breaks our rules and they do not get to come back. To hell with the TEA ratings and other beaurocratic nonsense.
I'll bet the PW campus would be nice inside a month.
December 12, 2011 at 4:55 a.m.As a former VISD teacher who did my time at P.W., I can truly state that this school is the armpit of the district. The only discipline happening in this sorry place is to teachers. Thankfully, I was only there a short time, but I saw more than one teacher crying as the result of dealing with horribly behaved (think Lord of the Flies) children and PHD'd 'administrators'. They need to blow this 'school' up and start over!
December 11, 2011 at 9:54 p.m.Should have been there in the 60s when the 9th graders use to rip their blouses and bras off.
December 11, 2011 at 8:35 p.m.I forgot to add that once your child is transferred use the law to go after these children and since they are still children, their parents.
These kids, and their parents, cannot get away with this type of behavior.
The other problem is what I call the "not my little Johnny, Jose, Susie, etc." syndrome. Parents today wear rose-colored glasses and don't own up to the truth despite the evidence.
One other piece of advice, have your child enroll in a self-defense class. It will help them know and through out life. Maybe even a martial arts class if necessary.
It will teach them discipline, respect and an ability to deal with one of these bullies if the need arises.
December 11, 2011 at 6:55 p.m.Mothers and women have abandoned their roles as planetary civilizers and peacemakers and act like testosterone loaded ruffians. The daughters are merely following their aggressive leads. Whatever happened to teaching daughters to be graceful and polite? This is called social balance, ying yang, I see lots of women, girls and teens with high levels of male energy. Imitating men is not strength but foolish times two. Wake up women and embrace your dignity, pride and femininity. If, any of you can remember what that means.
December 11, 2011 at 6:54 p.m.Have your child transferred to another VISD school. A friend of mine had this accommodation when their child was being bullied, since then no problems.
What concerns me is there are two students so afraid of going to school that they may resort to a more drastic measure to end their problem. Suicide.
Then what will we do?
December 11, 2011 at 6:27 p.m.I witnessed an adult verbally abusing my child. The adult was calling my child names and screaming at him. When the adult saw that I was watching, he started yelling at me - telling me that my child was the type of child that "invites bullying." He would know. =P
This man worked with children...
So, I agree that some adults perpetuate it, TEACH IT, and even encourage it.
December 11, 2011 at 1:59 p.m.patti welder is horrible with this type of incidents
the parents of those little animals need to be held responsible in some way
December 11, 2011 at 1:47 p.m.It is society's fault! This society could not determine simple physical dicipiline from abuse so they called it all abuse. Now the parents are helpless. These kids are taught in school that any form of physical dicipiline is abuse and they encourage the kids to report their own parents. When the parents go to spank or correct the child they get threatened by their own child of being turned in for abuse. So the parents do not have much options other than talking to the child or grounding the child. That just does not work in some cases. I was raise with corporal punishment. I got a spanking at school. I got it at home too. I talked back at my parents and I got my mouth popped. I cursed and I got soap in my mouth. So guess what I did not get into trouble because I did not want spanked. I did not talk back because I did not want popped and I did not curse cause I did not like soap in my mouth. It was that simple. In my time they had bullies but it was not so many of them and they were punished for what they did. If they repeated the same thing they got sent off to a school for kids like that. It was simple! We all learned respect. We were not affraid to go to school we were afraid of getting in trouble in school and you better pray you did not get pops from a coach too.
December 11, 2011 at 1:09 p.m.It is a shame that anyone has to be afraid to learn. I believe it is the parents fault. These kids are raise with no dicipiline. I see kids running all over their parents all the time.For instance I was at a store in town and bought the last item of something all the girls want these days a zebra blanket. This was a faux fur one and it is beautiful I must say. When I was putting what I bought in my truck a woman came up to me told me that I had bought the last one and they were not going to get anymore. I ask her what she was talking about and took the blanket out of my basket and offered me what I paid for it. I told her no I was not selling it and took it back. Threw it in the back seat of my truck and locked the doors. She said you dont understand me, my daughter wants that blanket and points back at this 12-13 year old girl throwing a fit. I mean screaming and crying I want it. Get it momma. I want it. I walked past the woman and got in my truck and as I was leaving that woman got in her car with her brat kid in tow and chased me honking her horn and flashing her lights. I was horrified that people act like that. So I went turned into a bank parking lot without warning and the woman drove past. So I went out the other side of the parking lot and took a different way home.
December 11, 2011 at 12:46 p.m.It ALL goes back to the parents. If the school calls you (the parent) and tells you that your child has assaulted or bullied another student, do something about it. If the school calls and says your child is selling drugs or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, do something about it. If your child is a menace to society, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! The majority of the kids at schools rarely, if ever, get in trouble. The sad thing about this forum is that the people these comments are directed to will never read them. This story probably gives some twisted gratification to the bullies and low-lifes that it is about. These parents probably never go to the school, never answer their phone if it is the school, or have any input into educational decisions about their own child (by choice).
December 11, 2011 at 10:29 a.m.The problem starts at home goes through the village and ends up at the schools
December 11, 2011 at 9:32 a.m..When I was a kid I was afraid of and respected my Parents, I was afraid of and respected the neighbors,afraid of and respected my teachers afraid of and respected my Principal and certainly afraid of and respected the police.
My Parents always told me that if I had a problem at school or anywhere they would be there to help but they better NEVER get a call that I was acting up. We didn't embarrass our Parents by getting in trouble at school because if we did we knew we were gonna get it in front of "GOD AND EVERYBODY"
My Parents weren't afraid of having us "taken away" if they spanked us. My Parents never wanted to be our "FRIENDS". And when we were grounded that ment no friends ,no phone calls,no tv no nothing and they sure never changed their minds or let us off early.
My Parents worked at being Parents and we were expected to work at being decent kids and growing up to be decent adults.
And if there was a problem with another kid that couldn't be resolved my Parents talked to their Parents and we were all in trouble.
All the Parents Teachers,school,town talked and looked out for everyone else.And noone was afraid to call my Parents if they saw me do something wrong.
I know for a fact that Patti Welder does not correct the bullying like it is suppose to be dealt with. I had to go to Profit Drive to get something done about the bullying of my niece. Instead of removing the bullies, they after awhile with her mother and I fighting for her, removed her. And placed her into another school. It’s not fair to punish a good student and remove them, instead of the bullies. The bullies need to be put into a school of correction, not let them stay at the school and think they got away with the bullying. I know for a fact that the adults at Patti Welder didn’t take it seriously, they took it as a joke. Belittling my niece, and not listening to her outcries.
December 11, 2011 at 8:35 a.m.So the bullies think they got away with it all.
I took a copy of the bullying laws that you can get off of the internet.
I hope the bullies that broke the glasses had to pay for the replacement of the glasses. Or if not, the bullies again think they got away with bullying.
This has got to stop. I ask that all parents, guardians stand up for the children, they can not fight this themselves, when adults don’t take them seriously.
We need to band together and get this to stop now.
Is the Village Builders Project working for free? Or are our school tax dollars paying for their services? I'd bet everyone in Victoria knows the story of a bright kid driven from public school by bullies and cholos. The solution is not more consultants, but to make education available only to those who want it.
December 11, 2011 at 8:31 a.m.yeah, it's always someone elses fault.
Some parents raised those animals. Look around just about anywhere you go you will see the same animals. They are toddlers, children, kids, and young & old adults.
There are parents out there that encourage that behavior. What are you gonna do, shoot all the troublemakers? Even though it's a nice idea, it still won't solve the problem. What solves the problem is when someone stomps the living crap out of one of the animals. The animals are afraid. They just don't look like they are in their little groups.
The funny thing about it when you go to a junior high and look at a group of those so called tough girls, they look hysterical in their llittle groups.
Another problem is some idiots have no idea how to handle authority. You give some clowns authority, like having to be a parent or a teacher and all of a sudden they think it's fun to treat everyone like a piece of dirt.
I work with idiots like this, see them at every campus, see them at Wal-mart and everywhere else I go.
The issue is much bigger than just a little schoolyard bullying.
Uh, I like watching 2 1/2 men. I am a firm believer that TV isn't part of the problem. The same problem existed a hundred years before TV was ever thought of. What was the "EXCUSE"?for those TV-less people? I'll wait for your answer.
December 11, 2011 at 5:03 a.m.And people wonder why there are so many school shootings. Its because of these bastard bullies that spread fear and make the bullied feel they have no other choice. Facebook is a problem. Kids are stupid and don't think or care. The media and society are the blame, monkey see monkey do. If you really want your kids to turn out well rounded, kill you're television. Nothing on TV but poison for impressionable minds. If you let you're kids watch TV your part of the problem. The entertainment industry is crap and it is brainwashing your kids. Can't you dumbass people see that.
December 11, 2011 at 4:14 a.m.visd is at fault for not separating that group of animals from the general population
December 11, 2011 at 12:09 a.m.