In the first quarter, students witnessed several fights during school. Administration, however, was unfazed.
?In my six years here, I recall about one fight a year,? assistant principal Jeanene Sims said. ?From my perspective, one to three is not that much.?
While there were three fights in the first quarter alone, the school has had relatively no issues with fights. In fact, Marshall has some of the best behavior in the county according to Sims.
?Fights are not always what [students] think of. In some situations, students are about to face off, but it?s broken up,? Sims said. Two fights actually occurred this year, but the other did not actually develop into a fight, she said.
Sims said that in order to prevent more fights from happening throughout the remainder of the year, teachers will simply have to be more vigilant in their monitoring of the halls during passing periods.
Even under the watchful eye of teachers, students may still get into altercations due to the increasing size of the student body. The way Sims sees it, students are experiencing ?growing pains? and when 400 students are added to an already small school, there are bound to be altercations.
However, when it can, the administrative staff is very proactive in sitting students down so they can work out students? issues without any physical contact.
?Officer Harrington in particular is very good at monitoring these talks. He tells them to, ?say what you have to say, get it all out and move on,?? Sims said. ?I would rather have them say it in front of [administration] than have them fight over it.?
In some situations, the school has brought in mentors from outside the school to come talk to students.
Also, in many cases, school altercations are the result of little issues that get distorted by the peers of the students involved. ?For example, an argument may start on Facebook or at the mall and then filter into school,? Sims said. ?By the time the students get to school, it has been blown up and out of proportion by their peers and they end up fighting over things that they might not have even said.?