Fights erupt at HHS; principal put on administrative leave

Gavin had just reported to the board on a week of mayhem at the high school, featuring group fights in the hallways and classrooms, suspensions, superintendents hearings, and an all-school lockdown on Thursday.

Several teachers and members of the public then rose to give their opinions on the origins and cures of the violence. Much of the discussion focused on the school’s non-enforcement of the rule against use of cell phones. 

Finally, Spicer rose to say, “Let’s enforce the code of conduct. Kids don’t understand — if you let them break rules, they don’t understand you can’t break other rules. There has to be one rule for everybody.”

Spicer told the Register-Star that Gavin then threw down his coat and gestured for him to come out in the hall.

“He invaded my space, he pointed his finger in my face and said, ‘What the hell were you telling those people I wasn’t enforcing the code of conduct for?’” Spicer said. “I said, ‘We’re not. We’re letting kids wear hats, doo-rags, scarves and listen to their iPods.’ Then he got really mad, pointed his finger back in my face and said, ‘I’ll give you code of conduct.’”

Then city of Hudson Police Commissioner Ron Grant separated them, he said. The confrontation between the two principals put the cap on a difficult week for the district.

The board meeting began with Gavin’s report to the board on incidents of the past few days.

“We started with four assaults and two other highly disruptive incidents with large crowds,” he said. “Staff members were wrestling students down on the floor, staff members were hit in the face repeatedly. Twenty or 30 students were responsible for this chaos.”

Gavin said he put a shelter in place Thursday: Students were spread in classrooms throughout the building and were not allowed to pass to other classes, and the fire drill exits were used at the end of the half-day, “as opposed to the front where we would have had large congestion of students and anything could have happened.”

“As a result, there have been repeated conferences with students, parents, teachers, counselors and probation officers to try and change behaviors,” Gavin said. “Numerous superintendent’s hearings have been scheduled. Parents were afraid to send their children to school. A full week of instruction has been lost. In every class, time was wasted — ‘put the cell phones away.’” They found that blind spots exist in the hallways where there were no cameras, he said.

Seven students were suspended, and there were five superintendent’s hearings, he said.

Some teachers then followed Gavin to the podium.

Special Education Teacher Susannah Cincotte said most disruptions are not by students receiving special ed services. She criticized the 2009 decision to close down the Alternative Learning Program. “It was a place for success,” she said. “Those students are now in crisis. This program is not meeting [their needs].”

Social Studies Chairwoman Sally Naramore said for two years the school has been fighting a battle against students multi-tasking on cell phones instead of paying attention to the lessons at hand.

“Now they’ve gone from an annoyance to violence,” she said. “Students are using cell phones to text about what’s going on in the hallways, when to meet. They’re taking bathroom breaks for that purpose.”

The phones can’t be confiscated because the school would be liable if they were damaged, she said. She asked the board to “look at this with fresh eyes.”

“This is not a place of fighting, it’s a place of learning,” said English teacher Janet Brust. “If we have to suspend 30 students, that’s what we’ll do.”

Grant said it seemed foolish to have a policy that allows cell phones to be kept in the pocket but not pulled out. “This seems like a no-brainer,” he said. “No hand grenades, no machine guns, no cell phones.”

“What’s the level of protection of parents when they go to school?” Malachi Walker asked. “When my niece is getting beaten up and exposed in the classroom, the teacher’s just standing there.”

Walker blamed the influence of the children who had come from an outside group home. Mary Udell, who with her husband Dan teaches a videography class, later defended these children, saying they were “sweet kids.”

Walker said Beverly Hales tried to come to his niece’s assistance. Hales said as a brand-new teacher, she was excited to get the position.  “What I’ve seen here disturbs me,” she said. “I had to break up a fight and I was kicked on the floor. I was crying, walking around, crying for these children. I feel scared: I’ve taught in Florida, I’ve taught in the city. We want to do a good job; it was sad what I’ve seen in this school.”

Allan Skerritt, of Parents in Partnership, asked, “Are cell phones the reason these kids are fighting? Cell phones are secondary. This organization is transparent: We’ve all tolerated this for years. If you set a precedent of authorizing bullying of children, you’ll set the status quo.”

Kim Singletary urged the board to identify the best practices regarding bullying and adopt them.

Caroline Keeler, who serves as the Hudson High School student member of the board, told the board that for the past week students have been scared to go into the hallways.

“Their behavior has completely changed,” she told the Register-Star. “Because one student gets in a fight, the others think it’s OK. I think there should be harsher punishment. Kids fight at school because they think it’s safer: They know the aides will stop it.”

She said she thinks some freshmen and sophomores are afraid to go to school.

But she said the atmosphere had gotten better following the lockdown.

After witnessing Gavin’s dropping of the coat, Udell said, “This man [Gavin] does not belong in this school. All this stuff [in-school violence] was when Mr. Spicer was in the hospital. Hudson High is a great high school. All you parents have wonderful kids.”

Howe asked anyone who had witnessed the confrontation to contact him by this morning with their observations.

Board Member Peter Meyer asked the board to initiate a task force on the violence. The resolution received three yes votes — Meyer, Peter Merante and Emil Meister —  to two no votes, Mary Daly and Elizabeth Fout. However it takes four votes, a majority of the board, to create a task force, so the measure did not carry.

Spicer told the Register-Star the hostility from Gavin was a continuation of what he had been experiencing in e-mails from him throughout the year.

“We’re opposite,” he said. “I’m not very aggressive. I hold students accountable. There’s no need to be aggressive.”

Gavin could not be reached for comment before press time.

To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2269, or email jmason@registerstar.com.