What Went Wrong At St. Joseph

According to the Mississauga News, the police are now considering charging one of the teens stabbed in the incident at St. Joseph Catholic School. On Monday, June 22, 2009 the two teen brothers charged in the stabbing incident appeared before the Brampton Court. Their bail hearing is set for July 10, 2009. While I welcome the news that the police is reviewing the video http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid8724876001?bctid=26655773001 from CityNews TV in Toronto, I am deeply hurt and unhappy.

I am quite frankly outraged by the video and the incident last Wednesday. Unfortunately, the news media has not given the incident at St. Joseph the comprehensive attention that it deserve. We have to turn the spotlight on the saga at St. Joseph if we are going to root out teen violence. The more I think about the fiasco at the school I cannot help but ask what went wrong? I am of the view that the principal, the school board and law enforcement should be held accountable to answer a number of fundamental questions. When we take into consideration the fight seen in the video and the stabbing incident it is very obvious that there must be some kind of underlying issues. Unfortunately the public will only learn about the underlying issues after the students and their family lives have been scarred permanently.

Undoubtedly there were underlying issues. What were those issues? What measures were put in place by the school, the school board and other authorities to mitigate both incidents that is the fight last Monday and the stabbing last Wednesday? With respect to the fight was the school and school board aware of the fight involving students from St. Joseph? If so, what disciplinary measures were taken? Were parents notified? If the school and the board was aware of the fight and disciplinary action taken would could we have averted the stabbing incident? If the fight occurred just outside of the boundaries of the school, what measures are in place for such incidents involving students? Where those measures taken?

The million dollar question in this entire saga is why would our children participate in such a vicious fight last Monday, record it on a video and see absolutely no need to notify the school administrators or their parents? Where are the students seen in the video, where are their parents? Is the culture of not snitching informally institutionalised in the school? The community need answers for what went wrong at St. Joseph Catholic Secondary School.