Call for more street monitors amid school violence

Following the killing of a Seaforth High School student after a dispute that reportedly began on the school compound but later escalated, focus has now shifted to the monitoring of students beyond school gates.

President of the National Association of Deans of Discipline, Dr Rene Level, told THE STAR that there is a need for stronger support systems on the streets to help maintain discipline among students.

"More support is needed when they leave the school community, the school needs that additional support both from the police, from the community members and from the parents," she said.

Kland Doyle, 13, was stabbed in the abdomen on Monday, and later died while undergoing treatment at hospital. Three boys are in police custody. The one alleged to have made the fatal stab was reportedly in a years-long feud with Kland. Level called for community members to play a more active role in instilling discipline.

"Community plays a much better role in schools than teacher sometimes; the outside support is a key factor. Back in my days, it took an entire village to raise a child, now we are not seeing that anymore. If I should grade community and school level out of 10, I would give them five," she explained.

However, President of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica, Stewart Jacobs, argued that while increased "street monitoring" of students as they travel to and from school may help, it is only a short-term fix to a deeper issue.

"It won't be as effective as the learning you give in the school on how to reconcile, how to behave a particular way," he said. "The guidance counsellor unit of the school, the deans of discipline in the school need to be improved on. You need more deans of discipline and more guidance counsellors and more deliberate teaching of reconciliation."

Kland's relatives told THE STAR that the violence did not begin on the day of his death. His grandfather, Nigel Hunter, said the teenager had endured years of harassment after a damaging rumour began circulating in the community. The allegation, he said, fuelled bullying both on the streets and at school. Similarly, the parents of the accused teen said they were aware of the strained relationship between the boys, noting that tensions date back more than five years when both attended different primary schools.

Jacobs emphasised that "parents are the first line of the responsibility to their child not teacher". He opined that "reconciliation efforts are shared but the first learning is in the home".

"Home is where education begins, all the socialisation begins there. Too many time adults have adult conversation around their kids, they talk about what they are going to do to that person. There is no middle ground for forgiveness," he said.