By Carma Henry
Trails in the Sand by Peter Traciet, the Street Detective
Ol’ Peter has been walking slow in the sand, but some situations require a little faster scurrying along. Sources are telling Peter Traceit that some high schools are riddled with fights. But these fights, as Traceit has learned, are not for the faint at heart. Fort Lauderdale High School recently had a brawl where about 30 students went at it in the hallway. Security was simply outnumbered and teachers, whose jobs don’t require them to break up fights, were left quivering in a corner or trying to bring aide. Peter is told that this brawl was so intensely dirty, mediation and resolution went all the way up to the superintendent’s office. And of course, Board member Allan Zeeman couldn’t resist being in the limelight. They tell Ol’ Pete that no press is bad press. And considering Zeeman needs to distance himself from Slapgate, he was more than happy to give a statement about the incident to the media. Zeeman made the local news as he reported on the status of the brawl.
The recent violence among students didn’t stop there. The Street Detective has sleuthed that another brawl involving about a dozen students occurred at Everglades High School. It seems the newly appointed principal, Sean Curann, was so nervous about the Fort Lauderdale incident, he ordered his staff to bring the harshest consequence they could dig up for anyone in the vicinity of the mudslinging. While Everglades is not in Board Member, Jeff Holness’s district, he might be interested to know that some parents are claiming their children were not afforded due process and were simply slapped with serious offenses without proper investigations. These discipline consequences could involve attending the PROMISE Program which now serves as a diversion program. Traceit has learned that unlike when PROMISE was first introduced into the District, students who committed minor misdemeanor offenses were able to go to PROMISE and avoid the stigma of arrest or being entered into the judicial system.
Nope. Not anymore. Ol Pete is told this is no longer the case and students who are sent to PROMISE get the promise of a record that will follow them all the days of their life. It’s so bad that even students who went to PROMISE under the promise that it would not be reported have been hoodwinked. Sources tell The Street Detective that up to five years of previous student PROMISE attendees have been entered into a tracking system which commingles their attendance with the juvenile justice system.
Traceit is thinking of grabbing a couple shovels and picking up Marcia Ellison so we can dig a hole and give the PROMISE program a proper funeral. Bury the whole thing in the dirt and start with something fresh. The soil for this program is not fertile. Just do away with it already.
But, until someone has the courage to let it go, Ol’ Pete will continue dragging the sand looking for clues.
