Inquiry opens into school ‘Fight Club’
(CNS): The RCIPS and the John Gray High School principal say they are working together to investigate multiple planned fights between students that have been appearing on social media. In a joint release Monday, the police and the school head focused on the posting of the fights, but said very little about any students being injured or what is being done to stop the fights, though CNS understands there have been dozens over the last few weeks.
Already dubbed “Fight Club”, it appears that students as young as eleven years old have been taking part in these organised punch-ups on school grounds. The fights are then filmed and posted on social media sites under anonymous accounts on Instagram and YouTube.
JGHS Principal Jonathan Clark said the school is working with the police to eradicate the anti-social behaviour and abuse of social media.
“We will always attempt to work in partnership with parents to continually educate our community about the dangers of social media in causing and glamourizing conflict, and in some cases cyberbullying,” Clark stated. “Appropriate and strong sanctions have been put in place as the health and safety of all in our learning community is, and will remain, our priority.”
Commissioner Derek Byrne said that community police officers had met with the schools to discuss how to support their efforts and the Department of Education Services to address such incidents.
“In addition, our Digital Forensics Hub is actively monitoring and investigating any cybercrime violations that may occur as a result,” Byrne added. “The RCIPS places great importance on the relationships with our community. I would like to thank any members of the public who reported these incidents and discouraged such poor behaviour by these teens and preteens.”
Police also warned the public that to participate in, incite, or even share the footage of these violent activities could be an offence and lead to those re-posting being prosecuted.
People in possession of videos and pictures of any of these fights were asked to stop sharing them and hand them over to police. Footage can be submitted anonymously to the RCIPS website or via the ‘submit a tip’ function on the RCIPS app.
Many years ago a very expensive programme was introduced as an innovative way of improving student behaviour. Called PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support). This measure was widely criticised by practicing teachers who felt that (if asked) could come up with their own solution to the problem of student behaviour, BUT true to form the department has the money and puppet leadership and school administrators needed to railroad this programme into our schools.
I suggest that one reads https://thenationalpulse.com/commentary/pbis-behind-feds-wacky-scheme-modify-childrens-behavior/
…one of many interesting articles on the subject.
It would be interesting to find out how much PBIS cost and if it is effectively working in our schools….if it is in fact still being promoted at the chalkface.
Perhaps John Gray staff might be the first to respond?
I believe that most teachers would like to have the money spent on textbooks, which are is short supply in many schools.
If one looks at the opportunity to view fights of various genre’s on television, whether via cable ofr the internet, as well as violent movies, is it any wonder that these kids are emulating this behaviour? Many adult males love watching boxing matches or Mixed Martial Arts. Perhaps the schools should start a compulsory martial arts training program with strict Sensei’s that can instill discipline into our youngsters.
Money well spent on the boxing gym around the corner then
Use it as an opportunity to teach how to promote, sell, and distribute fights. Earned revenue can then be poured back into the fight club in order to assist it with growth. Marketing, ICT, Maths, Language, Law, etc. are all topics that can be tied into and around the fight club. Start of with a solid market-based Mission Statement, describe how the fight club satisfies basic customer needs, define specific, achievable, environmentally-friendly and measurable objectives, delineate the various steps to achieve the objectives, etc. Most importantly, ensure that this interest does not go to waste and use it as an opportunity to teach. Ensure it becomes inclusive, open to members of all races, genders, animal species, etc. Bare knuckle fighting is once again making inroads into mainstream culture, so let’s ensure that the Cayman Islands are at the forefront of this, and not wagging the tail as usual. Fight Club Unite!~
LOL!
Glad you got the joke.
At least be smart about it guys. Don’t film it and arrange either to do it in your lunch hour or after school off the school grounds. That’s we we used to do in the 1990s in England…
Bring back the paddle at school.
Spank some backsides and teach these kids some respect.
But didn’t the people that showed up on campus come armed with weapons?? THAT is NOT Fight Club. Totally against the rules.
These punks don’t know sh!t.
Membah when the “ring” at school involved marbles and the only decision to be made was which “wersion” we was going play?
Then they took that away from us……
How times have changed.
You full of shit Johnny. We had plenty drugs and plenty fights.
Some of us still have plenty drugs too.
Caymanian parents and voters who have children attending public schools; this is a direct result of you not demanding more for YOUR tax dollars! Government currently spends the same amount of money per year to educate a single Caymanian student, as it would cost to send that same student to the best private schools on the island. So money is not the problem here. YOUR tax dollars should be serving you better!
It is high time that Caymanians demanded the privatization of the public school system. If our lame government can’t properly educate our children, then we should pay someone else to do a better job.
Education starts at home! It is not the teacher’s or the school’s responsibility to make children good children but only to provide an education. In my opinion kids should not have phones to video the fights either. If you don’t know what your kids are doing then you’re a poor excuse for aa parent. It is not possible to know what they’re up to all the time of course but it is possible to know that when they leave the house they know what is right and acceptable behaviour.. Sorry.
It is high time that the parents of these students expect and demand that their students behave themselves and settle down so they can avail themselves of the tutoring being offered at the schools. Stop blaming the government – parents and their misbehaving children should be held responsible.
It is high time that the parents of these students expect and demand that their students behave themselves and settle down so they can avail themselves of the tutoring being offered at the schools. Stop blaming the government – parents and their misbehaving children should be held responsible.
Can’t make a silk purse from a sows ear.
@24/11/2020 at 6:39 am – Why don’t you offer solutions instead of harping on centuries old racist tropes?
Racist tropes? Bit of a stretch, pal.
I’m not your pal, proud boy.
Stand back and stand by.
@3:01 pm – Comparing Caymanian children to a “sow’s ear” might not be considered racist, but it is certainly not a comparison that any decent human being would make.
Proper sex ed is needed. Abortion available.
Murdering the unborn is unacceptable.
It’s about time boys learned to be real men.
I fully endorse the fight club.
Your idea of a real man is severely warped. Education and Training will make real men. Fighting and bullying will create more gangs and less real men.
It’s about time you just never exit your cave.
And that’s why Northward is full of “men”……
Congrats Alden, this is the payoff from your $250M school fiasco.
His immigration policies have also helped.
Helps to build character
Helps build toxic masculinity
I’ll bet you’re a member of the Sammich Making Club.
Helps fill up Northward you mean.
Yup. A new prison wil be needed soon. Cayman should look to hire China to build one of their artificial islands for the future site.
I think this is a missed opportunity!!! Why not capitalize on this and create an actual and proper fight club, if students wanna get into fisticuffs, make it into a sport, rivalry is always good fun!! Plus it could create proper athletes, as long as they can find decent coaches to instill proper sportsmanship.
Students can blow off steam, and get fit in the process!! Also, Introduce the other schools into it too and offer a competition between schools, like wrestling, grappling, and maybe even MMA. If they kids got energy to create their own fight club, they definitely have the energy to turn to proper competition.
Education doesn’t let kids play full contact rugby.
Bloody silly game. I saw our full back in school sustain life-changing injuries. He was 19. I dislocated my shoulder, slit my eye and smashed my teeth in before I was 17.
Rugby is an exciting game, but it is bloody dangerous.
Totally unnecessary.
Sounds as chaotic as the Turtle Farm, except they are not losing money.
They sure are wasting a lot of money, same difference really.
society losing a lot of money in the long run….
It is bad; some students have even been kicked while they are down; but – what is making our kids so willing to throw punches?
Your Culture?
Well, you know, the first rule about Fight Club is…
Don’t do it at school ?
This and the female knife fight at the laundromat make me wish for the good old days of cock fighting.
They only learn from know what they have seen growing up
same as the second rule….