***image1*** Activists want school violence quashed.
It was the infamous Frito Pie fight at Capital High that motivated Layne Hartsell to do something.
The Oct. 5, 2005 throw-down, which reportedly involved up to 200 students, happened in Capital's cafeteria. Before it was over, one student, 16-year-old Nick Mendoza, was tased by police after allegedly resisting arrest and attacking a police officer.
Hartsell, a local farmer, was unsatisfied with how Capital High dealt with the problem. Subsequently, Hartsell has taken on school violence himself and is at the forefront of an upcoming meeting to address the issue.
Shortly after the fight, Hartsell, a former substitute teacher in Santa Fe who also has worked with at-risk youth on the Navajo reservation, began calling Capital administrators to find out how the school was responding to the Oct. 5 fight. But after more than a month's worth of calls and a few brief conversations, Hartsell says he was left with little information.
"The school didn't tell me anything specific about what they were going to do," he says. "I decided we needed to get parents, kids, the entire community involved in the process."
Out of Hartsell's frustration evolved the group Community Circle on Peaceful Schools, led by Hartsell and a few colleagues. The group has put together a report on violence at Capital and devised a list of initiatives for safer schools.
Such initiatives include yearly surveys on student and teacher perceptions of violence; a school-wide peace agreement; and the removal of all food and drinks containing caffeine and aspartame.
The group plans on holding a meeting to discuss its report at 7 pm, Feb. 28 at the Santa Fe Public Library.
Rosie Brandenberger, a spokeswoman for local environment group Forest Guardians, is helping Hartsell put the meeting together. From September, 2003 to March, 2004, Brandenberger taught English at Capital and saw some of the problems first hand.
"There were fights, kids would threaten me, follow me after school-there were times I felt unsafe," she says.
Like Hartsell, Brandenberger was not satisfied with Capital's efforts to make the school safer.
"I did not feel the Capital administration at the time was concerned enough for the safety of the children and the entire school. There was a great deal of denial," she says.
Going by the numbers, there has been less crime this year at Capital compared to last year.
According to statistics provided by Santa Fe Police crime analyst Miquela Gonzales, there were 68 incidents at Capital between Aug. 1, 2005 and Feb. 20, 2006, down from 100 incidents during the same time last year.
The overall decrease, however, may be misleading, according to Santa Fe Police Lt. Gary Johnson, criminal investigations commander for the Santa Fe Police. Johnson, who will speak at the Community Circle meeting, says though the stats may show less crime, the incidents at Capital this year have been more serious. Johnson points to two incidents-the cafeteria brawl and a second occurrence when an officer tased a student after being attacked just off campus-as exemplifying the gravity of the problem.
"When police have to start using tasers on high school students, I think the community as a whole needs to get involved to try and address these issues," Johnson says.
Sarah Schlosser-Moon, spokeswoman for the Santa Fe Public Schools, says Principal Darlene Ulibarri and Assistant Principal Karen Sneiders did indeed speak with Hartsell on numerous occasions and that he was allowed to hand out material at Parent Teacher Organization meetings. She says if Hartsell and his group hope to actually work in the schools, they'll have to go through an employee screening process first.
Schlosser-Moon also says the school district takes violence very seriously and points specifically to a community forum held at the Genoveva Chavez Center following the Oct. 5 fight and a series of ideas that have since emerged. Such ideas include the creation of an alternative school for troubled students, increased mediation to deal with conflict and a tracking system of violence the district hopes to launch next year.
"After the incident at Capital, we've had a number of study sessions so the school board can be more informed about what's happening and how to deal with it," Schlosser-Moon says.
Peace 101
Community Circle's report recommends the following ideas for Santa Fe schools:
• Remove all caffeine, aspartame and sugar-laden foods and drinks. "Student access to wholesome foods is one of the most important steps to creating peaceful conditions in the school," the report says.
• Keep precise records on school violence and report them to the community.
• Conduct yearly surveys on perceptions of violence at the school by both students and teachers.
• Develop curriculum that teaches non-violence through the study of Gandhi, St. Francis, Vandana Shiva, Vinoba Bhave and others.
• Create more programs to give students contact with nature, such as building gardens and greenhouses.
• Create school-wide "peace agreement" that enlists the support of faculty, students and parents.
