More violence at JGHS
(CNS): A 15-year-old girl has been arrested and charged by police on suspicion of assault, actual bodily harm (ABH), disorderly conduct and damage to property after a teacher was assaulted at John Gray High School Tuesday afternoon. The latest act of violence comes in the wake of a brawl at the school on Monday morning between gangs of students, for which two 15-year-old boys were arrested. The female student, who is still in police custody, is scheduled to appear in court today.
As behaviour issues at the school come under the spotlight again, there is still no comment from the ministry about this or Monday’s gang related fight, although the acting chief education officer released a short statement today regarding the fight.
Police said the latest teenage student to be arrested is accused of assaulting the male teacher in a classroom at the school over the girl’s use of a cell phone during a lesson.
Category: Crime, Education, Local News, Police
Have new management. Get fresh blood for all of it. The current set cannot make a change bit becayE they are not effective but because they are emotionally tied somehow. When there are completely new people who have no historical connection, making drastic changes for the better is easy. Hire teachers with years of inner city experience. Hire teachers who care and aren’t just on island for a working holiday. Hire Caymanians that really want to make a difference and are effective. There’s no point in having tough teachers but then absolutely garbage at getting the point across effectively.
Some of those troublemaker kids just want someone anyone to pay attention to them. They aren’t getting it at home. So school and fellow students and maybe even a cry for help from the teachers. Tough love could do it. However, it does take a lot of time, effort and dedication.
Hold horn now annymouse and Jules. the boat of you kneed to bee kept kool. Har wee knot talking aboat children who try has hard has they want, hallways have a hard thyme to reid hand spell, much more had too hand tree. The Moore you curse hat each order, the worst problems wee will have inn the schools. sew please set sum examples hand stop the cursing hat each order. why knot let them sea you over their smiling width everywand. hand please, know Moore fights.
I totally blame the parents who obviously failed to train their children properly. Parents please start doing your jobs – teach your children how to be gentlemen and ladies instead of hooligans. What the hell is going on in your homes. Seems like all you teach them is how to fight. Stop blaming others for your own poor standards.
Need to properly beat some sense into them That always worked in the past.
Reading the comments one can pick a bit of “good” out of each but there is also the pain in the comments that are the most telling!! XXXX Only when we adopt the rule that this school is for LEARNING will the attitude change. When my two were in HS I made it abundantly clear that I was NEVER to attend there other than for PTA’s; After-school activities ie track and field or Key Club. Mine quickly got it! Children need be reminded that the teacher already has HIS or HER education cause when they were in school they went there with one intention:- LEARNING!! Phones are banned in schools; pants droopping off because they’re too big is banned in school; hoop earrings are banned in school; nail polish is banned in school yet we have these lil ill-mannered fools acting as though they’re being raised in the jungle? Well here’s a novel idea:- come Monday morning three along withh two security guards Rivers, Connolly and Suckoo stand at the gate and greet each child. There is a bucket for cellphones; and anyone with a weapon is handed over to security guard and Police and parents are called. Anyone with a two-big pants is taken to the Principal’s office and his parents called to purchase a pants that fits; bags are searched and phones and weapons are taken away; girls with nail polish are handed a wet tissue with polish remover; and viola……Ms Genevieve Bodden and Buelah Smith, Teacher McField and McNamee, Hill, Taylor, Levy, Streete-Thompson etc are back in charge…..If it takes all morning to do the searches then so be it! Parents AND their lil minions will get the drift; including those who walk or are brought by bus! A quick and swift blow of show of authotity is what is needed along with a good whopping!! And that includes the ill-mannered parents who rant and rave and by virtue encourage their ill-mannered, can’t read or write child…..This is disgraceful; and sadly this is another set of Northward bound idiots in the making if serious intervention isn’t given!! Wake up Cayman!! Do NOT allow those who we pay handsomely to continue their double-speak…..Time for swift action!! Return the middle school; separate the troubled ones from the ordinary classroom; hire specialist teachers and get this nipped in the bud…….to read that they KNEW this “for some time” is crying shame and disgrace!! This has been identified since the 80’s when the famous words “we don’t have gangs we have groups” were spoken…..Well we can’t sit idly by any longer. We DEMAND change and NOW….Not after another survey or report…..there are enough reports to get this sorted and be done with it!! Take the bulls by the horns; you claimed you had the answers now show us you DO!!
I left Cayman public schools system a few years ago and in my two years there I met most kids at CHHS. If they are treated with respect and knew you cared for them, then you got the same back.
90% of the kids I knew wanted to do well and teachers who gave them respect, tried to teach challenging lessons faced few discipline problems.
The clouds on the horizon were:
– teachers who didn’t feel the need to respect kids ( understandable as the kids can be tough to handle )
– a society which values the ‘ macho’ approach and this rubs off on both boys and girls.
– lack of clear direction for employment…..difficult to be aspirational when you have little to aspire to!
So, please stop the bashing of kids, parents and schools. A return to the punishments of the 1950’s is not the answer….we live in a different world. Kicking them out, beating …….just perpetuates the cycle of distrust and disillusionment!
Get them good teachers, good jobs and good parenting classes and easy to break that cycle.
These are good kids, able to do whatever you want them to do. In my time there, despite dealing with numerous disciplinary issues, I never once was spoken to rudely PROVIDED it was a one to one talk. Most of the issues are teenage bravado, showing off to friends……..
Not saying there aren’t problems, just saying there are some great raw materials to work with.
Politicians……listen up. Don’t propagate another generational cycle…..put some resources in!!
We need to be practical and realistic and separate those students who need to be redirected and place them in the Alternative Education Centre-sorry, it was closed without a good reason. The all inclusion approach is not working and if the system should expel any of these students where would they go? On the streets which would lead them to North Ward? Not good enough. Could someone tell us where are the students who were kicked out of Cayman Islands Further Education Centre.
Teachers jobs are to teach. I know exactly what they are dealing with for the most part(worked inner city). A strict discipline code that is adhered to should put a stop to most of the behaviors that cause lack of respect, poor attitudes etc. If students KNOW that they can only go to the bathroom one at a time and a teacher is monitoring their time inside- that stops the fooling inside the restroom. If they can’t get away with improper footwear/uniforms stepping into the building, there will be no battle in the classroom- (administrator monitors to greet them- detention and borrow extra cloths or no detention and a parent can come to school and suppy proper clothing, but they do not attend class until they are properly dressed- sit in an in-house till they are dressed) . A cellphone bucket can be placed on teachers desks for students using phones in class and the student has to place the phone there until the end of class- the student can visually see it,but can not use it. If hats are an issue, same thing- a hat hook in the classroom.
There has to be a clear set of rules determined, class meetings set up where the rules are re-establishd, and then (for example) starting Monday this is the way it will be and let NO ONE break any rules. Bottom line and the students will quickly realize they are no longer in control. Classrooms will be back in the hands of the teachers and for the most part peace and learning will begin. It is not easy, but it can be done.
THat is the problem……….there are no consistent set of rules and consequences, especially the elementary stage (especially at JACPS, terrible management! look at how students are being taught to behave in classrooms and playtimes, all part of type of schooling, can’t teach that at home), and lack of fair, consistent rules are not continued at the secondary level.
We have specialists and layers of highly paid teachers who are, in my opinion, given the titles to get pay for increased tenure BUT no real responsibility to handle the serious issues.
Very sad. Who is in charge of this school?
Were the kids Caymanian. If not what are they doing in our public schools. The problem started ten years ago when government allowed ex-pat children (mainly from Jamaica) into our schools.
This is what you have to comment smh.These are children whose sole purpose is to go to school and get an education, but with a donkey like you how can we expect any better.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CAYMAN ISLANDS PUBLIC SCHOOL IS STRICTLY FOR CAYMANIAN. SO CHECK YOUR FACTS BEFORE YOU START TALKING CRAZY.Plus who cares what their nationalities are at the end of the day children need to be children and behave as such. Nothing more nothing less.
Amen………we love to blame others instead of looking at ourselves
Well, there’s a lot of Jamaicans in my son’s public school and a few Hondurans too.
and your point?
IGNORANT MUCH!! what does this comment have to do with the article, bcuz I knew a lot of Jamaicans in school and I don’t recall them being in trouble or behaving like this. They were also well rounded students. I don’t know where you are getting your facts but I suggest you review them and make a more intelligent post.
I guess it’s the Jamaicans doing the tit for tat shootings that surfaces every now and again. Please bare in mind that the same young ppl we have problems with in society are more than likely the same ones who were trouble makers in school.
This is not about expats it should be about right from wrong. (Yes I am Caymanian)
Rumour has it that expats are to blame. A group of Swiss hedge fund managers came into the school, tooled up and started disrespecting those G men whose turf they were not invited onto. So it had to go down.
Yeah that’s how those Hedgies roll, most powerful gang in the world. Our local run of the mill hoodlums in training don’t stand a chance.
Guess we have the politicians to blame for the new generation, new breed, as I keep hearing them being called, especially by one political party.
Hon. Rivers, get stats on that…. how many children are Caymanian mixed Jamaican and Honduran, or Jamaican, or Honduran nationals, out of the students getting in serious trouble, gangs or bullying?
They real story is the schools started heading downhill after the ex-pat kids were kicked out. Be careful what you wish for! You just might get it. If you listen to the radio shows the common story goes that Caymanians are the greatest people on earth who just happen to have been held down/back by the evil ex-pats.
Who is in charge of the school, and who are the teacher says pretty much the problem, if the teacher is scared of the boss, then the teacher would be scared of the kids too . To be a good teacher you have to be able to be the leader of the class room. The teacher needs to be able to have the confidence to be able to establish who is the boss in this class room. I don’t know if the above exist in the school today.
The new acting chief of education is in charge of this school.
She is now the Acting Chief Officer. The acting head is making an attempt to do something. Dont blame him blame a system that has ignored report after report, even sanitized them so that its Caymanian leader could remain.
Very sad, who are raising them is the question that should be asked though?
These kids are never going to be motivated when their own leaders aren’t motivated by THEIR leaders. And This school should be separated in age. Get the middle school back and send the older students to the newer, almost ready to be finished, campus next to UCCI. Stop wasting time thinking up excuses. And another thing – half these kids don’t even know who is the education minister. Says a lot about leadership.
If you were to ask most young people in any country who the education minister was, they would not have a clue. The issue here is that an acting head has finally had the balls to draw a marker in the sand. No more are they tolerating violent behaviour. I think that is the first bit of leadership JGHS has had for many years.
Tara you there?
No she not there……She’s just got back from overseas today and today she was on Rooster bragging about the minimum wage. Tara fiddles while John Gray burns cause she’s educated ; will have a job when she no longer Minister or MLA and her son will attend Triple C; her alma mater!
This has been a failing school for years now but the same senior staff are in charge! Staff that have been promoted from the same failing school! Look at the UK and the U.S. schools that have major turn around have a complete change in senior management. Things will not improve from premotions from below
It sounds like this school needs to have discipline. A strict set of rules needs to be implemented immediately and if it means taking away a dance or an event that even the “good kids” may miss out on then let peer pressure start working to enforce the behavior.
Rules need to be followed to have awards. Once the school is running in a calm manner than you can let the “good kids” enjoy the event and the “trouble makers” miss out, but from what I am reading…it sounds like the place is running loose.
I hear you, but have you any idea what the poor teachers are having to deal with daily – bad attitudes, lack of respect, no discipline from home, negative influences prevailing etc. And we expect the teachers to clear it all up? The entire public school system needs to shift gears to impose discipline from early, otherwise there will be little education.
It comes with the Job, dont like to deal with Kids? change your job, plain and simple. All over the world is the same in schools, some are better, some are worst. I feel no pity for teachers who do not give it all… if you are afraid of kids or want an easy job… go for it.
AMEN
Blame the kids, but never the leadership failing time and again to back up the teachers when they try to impose rules and discipline. Well maybe now that is going to happen.
Which good kids? This ain’t CIS!?
There are ALOT of good kids at John Gray High School but the media fails to recognize that in these articles. My 2 children attend JGHS and tell me these fights are NOT gang related at all but instead are mainly based on “he said/she said” situations which have been going on for years in high schools all over the world….attacking teachers is a different situation all together…(and still is not gang related)
I think you are kidding yourself on the gang issue. Clearly there is a lost generation of Caymanians in the public schools at the moment. Even the supposedly “Good” primary schools have issues and a significant % of students at JGHS will not be equipped to live productive lives after they leave. It is a sad situation all around.
There is a law against gangs. Just enforce it ! ! !
But they don’t. Typical caymanian attitude.
@5:39 where you come is 100 times worst than here your just another typical racist cacausian who thinks their better than everyone i bet if you acted like that in your country you will be dead instantly!
really?
@8:13pm
Do you really expect anyone to take you seriously given you total lack of correct grammar and punctuation?
Wait let me guess……..the big bad ‘racist cacausian’ man held you and your people down and prevented you from obtaining even basic reading and writing skills?
Please, a
@jules lmao all i can do is laugh at you if i couldnt read or write i wouldnt be replying to you right now and talk about holding each other down i bet where you come from thats a everyday thing only its a thousand times worst and i bet you could never run your mouth like that in front of people like you do on a computer you racist scum people like you are a waste of time im on a higher level and if you cant walk the walk dont talk the talk!(deuces)
the mind boggles…
Never in the history of social networking has so much Bs been expressed with the use of so few commas. I am not sure how you reached this “higher level”, I suspect it was by using a lighter and a small pipe.
Tighten up the ship immediately! Once again, not sure how things are run down there, but….starting immediately all extra “fun” activities at the school are finished until the behavior improves. Let their peers start influencing each other if they want things such as school dances, prom, etc. There will be no dance unless there are no altercations for the next term etc.
The bathrooms are closed except on a one on one basis with a staff member sitting outside to monitor.
If students are allowed outside to get fresh air at lunch- done until the behavior changes. Yes, punish all until behavior shifts at this school. I know it is only a few that may be causing the trouble, but peer pressure does wonder for behavior change. Sometimes even a week of being inside or having their “freedom” taken away changes the environment of the school.
So punish all of them for what just a few of them are guilty of? What exactly does that teach the rest? What ever happened to just punishing the offenders? Violent kids come from violent parents. Let them take responsibility for their disrespectful offspring.
By punishing everybody, everybody will go against the few that ruin everything.
No, no they won’t. The ‘bad’ kids don’t give a hoot what the ‘good’ kids think of them. I bet you could walk through that school and find that 85% of the kids have ‘self-segregated’ in to two barely overlapping amps based on behaviour: good & bad. So your idea is just a slap in the face to the good kids.
I don’t know why the ding dongs switched up the rules, allowing cell phones in school in the first place. When I was in school, cell phones were a BIG issue, there were unexpected bag searches, consequences for inappropriate unifoms (short skirts,short/colored skirts, shoes if they weren’t black, etc.). What has happened with discipline? I sure as hell didn’t like it when I was in school, hell I broke a few rules too; but being a parent today I have different views and opions on discipline. “They need to get Mrs. Mclaughlin and Jah T back in dem schools da wa dey need do”. I know a child’s behaviour and levels of discipline should start at home but I mean come on now, if they aren’t even getting it at home and coming to school where they are getting NONE also, then whp sets the record straight??
Chhh, this island has me wanting to be a teacher, a JUDGE, a politician AND a POLICE! Cuz dam
Cell phones are still not allowed.
Might need to get Roy Bodden to turn this around.
So he can lead others how to chase their tails.