Fights on the rise

Getting help from an adult is the conventional way to avoid these situations, but students often don’t feel comfortable reaching out.

In response to recent events, the Sequoia administration is working to reduce these conflicts and improve campus security.

“You get used to this, you know, very kind of peaceful experience with school because you’re not here. And there are not those conflicts that typically arise,” Administrative Vice Principal Gary Gooch said.

The root causes for most fights can be traced back to a simple misunderstanding or disagreement that spirals out of control.

“It felt like it was really quick [...]since I’ve been in fights everything goes so fast,” an anonymous student said.

Feeling disrespected or threatened by another student has been a common theme in all the fights so far. This could stem from situations like feeling as if there is something to defend, insecurities and long-term beef.

“[They were] shaking my hands in the hallway but [they were] still doing stuff behind my back,” another anonymous student said.

Small arguments in the hallways and longterm conflict both can spiral into a fist fight if a student feels that is the best way to settle it.

“I felt like I tried to talk it out with them several times, but they weren’t talking it out,” anonymous female student said.

“You may have seen me around campus too, and Ms. Oliver, Mr. Priest, Ms. Stout out and all of our campus aids. We are out there proactively,” Gooch said, “I’ve been doing this for so long. I can see it right. I can tell that something’s going to happen.”

The administration and security team is still relatively small compared to the 2000 plus students at Sequoia. It would be impossible for administrators to cover all corners of the large campus at once.When taking bathrooms or high traffic areas into consideration, it becomes very difficult to stop a fight before it starts.

“School doesn’t really notice until it’s really obvious, but if the school actually noticed

Anonymous female student

there was a little conflict [they could] talk to the person and find out what’s wrong to avoid the situation,” anonymous male student said.

The recent uptake in fights makes it difficult for administration to catch everything. While some cases slip by their attention and turn into fights, the admin and security team do manage to mediate many conflicts before they escalate to a blows and gain popularity.

“I’ve been doing this for many years and thousands of fights have been averted. Obviously you don’t know about those, right? Because they don’t stand out,” Gooch said.

To prevent fights from happening in the future, teachers are suggesting students to help reduce conflict instead of waiting for an adult to arrive.

“We can’t just let administration and campus security deal with it. It has to be like a school wide cultural shift because this is not who we are,” English and Theory of Knowledge teacher Justine Rutigliano said.

Is filming fueling the fire?

With videos circulating around, students may feel encouraged to settle their disagreements with fists because they see other people doing it. Starting a fight is not something that is at the forefront of someone’s mind as they go to school, but seeing videos of other students fighting gives them the idea that that is the best and most popular way to do it.

iMessages’ “Shared with You” feature makes spreading videos even easier. When a video is sent, it is automatically saved to the recipient’s phone, so even if the original recorder deleted the video, it still exists somewhere in someone’s camera roll.

“The filming and the encouragement of violence does amplify the violence and so, yes, it is a problem,” Gooch said.

Students, however, believe that video recordings aren’t as significant as the administration makes them out to be. Even those involved in fights that have been recorded don’t think that videos on social media are a major issue.

“I don’t really mind [the videos] because it just doesn’t affect me,” anonymous male student said.

Tackling this issue becomes increasingly difficult as more people send and receive videos of different fights. The obvious solution would be to talk to an adult or administration to either solve or prevent a conflict, but doing so isn’t as simple as it seems.

“When they say go talk to an adult, usually people in the school see that as snitching,” anonymous female student said.

While the simple fix would be just to not think it is snitching, it can be very difficult to erase a whole culture of not wanting to talk to authority just by telling them its the right thing to do. This culture will likely remain dominant despite adults telling students otherwise. often, both people involved in a fight will be suspended unless the administration thinks one of them had no involvement in using physical force.

Video recordings are not the only thing encouraging violence on campus. Recently, Sequoia administration replaced the police officer on campus with other security aid.

“The fact that you’ve been dealt with by a police officer in full uniform, [...] people were starting to feel that that was too intense,” Rutigliano said.

“We interview witnesses, we review security footage, we look way back and to find the root of the of the issue,” Gooch said.

“Either we both are suspended, or not. Not one suspended and one not”

This change in security might be another factor leading to the surge in recent fights. Students will take a security guard dressed in regular clothes a lot less seriously than a police officer fully dressed. Without this perceived threat of real punishment, it is easier for students to make the decision to trade blows.

Anonymous male student

This method is controversial to students and teachers alike as it can be difficult to pin point the root cause of a fight, especially if there are crowds of people and shaky footage. Administration and security also don’t arrive until after the fight has already started so their testimonies may not be valid either.

“It’s different case by case. But I do think that both the aggressor and the victim should there should be some sort of mediation with them,” Rutigliano said

What is the punishment?

Punishment for those involved in fights can be very difficult. Sequoia follows the California Education Code to enforce rules and punishments, which are supposed to somewhat resemble the penal code in terms of what is flagged as misdemeanor. California Ed Code 49800(a) states that causing or threatening physical harm to anyone makes the individual subject to suspension or expulsion. Willfully using force or violence unless in self defense also has the same punishment. Most

In some cases both parties are punished even if one side clearly instigated the conflict. When non-physical issues like verbal harassment are involved, it becomes increasingly difficult to find the root causes of fights.

“I got suspended, because obviously I hit first. But I felt like if I didn’t do anything, [the fight] was gonna eventually happen,” anonymous female student said.