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Porter tells school committee incidents are infrequent


Porter

By FRED HANSON
The Patriot Ledger

RANDOLPH - While saying there are problems at Randolph High School, Police Chief Paul Porter said he doesn’t consider the school a ‘‘violent environment.’’

‘‘I don’t want to say everything is rosy,’’ Porter told the school committee Jan. 3.

‘‘Is this a violent environment? No, it is not,’’ Porter said. ‘‘Do violent acts infrequently occur? Yes, they do.’’

He also wants to do more to make the school safer, in particular to address bullying and intimidation.

The chief was responding to a question from school committee member Tamara Pitts on the perception that the school is unsafe.

Porter said the violent incidents that take place at the school are not random, but rather appear to be targeted against specific people.

The chief said the number of incidents is ‘‘very small’’ considering the school has 900 students.

He said the school resource officers, one at the high school and one at the middle school, have been successful in heading off problems and investigating the incidents inside and outside the schools.

The school system hired a security consultant in November after three break-ins at the high school and the rape of a female student by a male student earlier that month.

Porter was meeting with the committee to discuss the ‘‘semi-annual’’ inspection of the high school and Randolph Community Middle School for illegal drugs and weapons.

A half-dozen police officers with drug-sniffing dogs were involved in the sweep, which took place Dec. 20.

‘‘I’m a big proponent of these,’’ said Porter, adding they were done while he worked as the department’s juvenile officer in the 1980s.
‘‘It was successful and preventive,’’ Porter said. ‘‘I think it shows you are sincere when you say that you want to create a safe learning environment.’’

Small amounts of marijuana were found in two places at the school: a student’s locker and a boy’s locker room.

The student whose locker contained marijuana was arrested. Porter said he had been a student at the school for only a few days.

A marijuana ‘‘blunt’’ - where the drug is concealed in what appears to be a cigar - was found in the locker room.

‘‘I hope someone was frightened by hearing dogs were in the school and dropped it,’’ Porter said.

One weapon was found in the school, which Porter described as a ‘‘carpenter’s type tool’’ hidden beneath a bathroom sink.

No drugs or weapons were found during a search of the middle school, he said.

In February, the school committee adopted a policy that would require the unannounced searches at least twice a year.

School committee member Marybeth Nearen, who helped develop the policy, said it was the first time in 15 years that this type of check has been done. She thanked Porter for his help.

A graduate of Randolph High School, Nearen said the same problems existed when she was a student.

‘‘We’re handling them different now,’’ she said. ‘‘We’re handling them better now.’’

Two recent, independent reviews of the system - the accreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the audit by the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability - agree the high school is safe.

http://ledger.southofboston.com/arti...ews/news09.txt

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