BALTIMORE COUNTY — Being a preteen can be a challenging. It's a very delicate age which is why Baltimore County Public Schools held a community conversation at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology to highlight safe and supportive environments for middle schoolers.
One of the biggest concerns, Thursday night, was the violence in the schools. There've been a number of school fights caught on camera and parents want to know what BCPS is doing to resolve this issue.
RELATED: BCPS continues to experience violence in the school system
"Some children they just keep they can't focus because of the violence, because of the kids being obnoxious in school, whether it's being disruptive in class, but also the fights they see in the hallways and then have to come back to class and learn, so I'm hoping that we can just put a pause to that," said Darren Badillo, BCPS parent.
"This violence has been happening, you know, way before the pandemic, I mean it's escalated even more after the pandemic," said EJ Tron, BCPS parent.
BCPS says they take the violence very seriously and they want to partner better with families.
"Baltimore County has met with some success in a lot of the efforts that was put towards safety, including an 11% decrease from last year in student fights and aggressive behavior, so we want to build on that," said Charles Herdon, BCPS spokesperson.
School leaders also expressed, that BCPS invested into more mentors, mental health counseling and tutoring programs.
Teachers say all of that is great, but in order to be successful, BCPS needs to retain educators and better train substitutes so they will want to stick around.
"I talked to friends who are subs and they have no idea how to handle these children. And I have some experience, but I'm certainly no expert and I would love some additional training," a teacher voiced at the forum.
School officials expressed they are working with principals to establish an onboarding to better help substitute teachers adjust.
BCPS will be notifying families of the next community conversation.
