Jabbia: Parents encourage fighting
By KEVIN CHIRI
Slidell news bureau
SLIDELL – A fight among students on a St. Tammany Parish public school bus recently came under extra criticism for School Superintendent Frankie Jabbia after it was originally reported that bus drivers were picking up kids from a half-way house and including them with other students.
However, Jabbia told The Slidell Independent on Tuesday that the information submitted by one of his bus drivers in an online letter to School Board members was not only erroneous, but the fighting situation highlighted perhaps the biggest problem he and school staff are facing in this day of Social Media.
The fight in question occurred in the Lacombe area when one of the school buses picked up kids in that area on Monday, Feb. 17. It was originally stated by bus driver Bridget Bennett, in a letter to School Board members and officials, that the kids were living at a half-way house and were “troubled kids who had been kicked out of other schools” for behavior problems.
But Jabbia said that was not the case. The students who got into the fight were foster kids and had provided the needed documentation to the St. Tammany school system that forced the public school system to pick them up for school, just like any other kids.
Two of those foster kids got into a fight on the bus with what was called a “much smaller girl” who had her book bag brush against one of the students. A fight ensued that was called “violent,” leaving the smaller student seriously injured, along with others who tried to break up the fight.
Jabbia said the students involved in the fight “were dealt with by using the most stringent means possible” in the discipline, and “they are no longer students of ours.”
The incident provided the school superintendent the opportunity to discuss the matter further by talking about what he calls a very serious problem in the school system, something he said has been made much worse because of Social Media, as well as today’s society, “which has parents telling their kids to fight other kids, rather than teaching them to try and work things out when they have a problem with other students.”
Jabbia said the public school system has “a lot of fights” and it is a huge problem for himself, teachers and school staff.
“One of the most popular things on Social Media is to see students fight or adults fighting,” he said. “Those things get more likes and shares than almost anything else.
“It’s a huge problem for us and society because we now have too many families telling their kids to take matters into their own hands,” he said. “There is not enough direct guidance from homes like there used to be, when parents taught their kids conflict resolution. It’s a big problem for society and a big problem for our schools, and not only public schools.”
Jabbia said he has reached out to the Slidell Ministerial Alliance and other community groups, hoping to find help to teach kids conflict resolution.
“Kids today don’t understand anything about conflict resolution, even though we are trying our best to address that and teach it,” he said. “But the problem is Social Media, which kids today are so hooked on. Altercations on Social Media get so many views, and makes kids want to be involved, and watch it.”
Jabbia said the Social Media situation has only increased the problem, which can also be seen in the division overall in our nation.
“We are open to anyone with ways to help us with this,” he said. “But we are so divided in this country and have so many differences. For this to ever change, we need a total societal shift.”
Meanwhile, Jabbia said the school system did everything it could to handle the bus fight appropriately. However, if a juvenile lives within the St. Tammany school system, his bus drivers must pick up the kids for school if they provide evidence of residency and a guardian.
It was also incorrectly reported in last week’s story that all public schools have metal detectors for students coming to school each day. Not all schools do.