It was on YouTube for only a few hours, but in that time, to the mortification of city officials, it went global: the sight and sound of at least 100 students at Murry Bergtraum High School, located just next door to NYPD headquarters, rioting in the corridors, wrestling with officers who patrol the campus and one student punching a police sergeant in the face.
âThe school doesnât get why that would be a problem,â says one teacher at Murry Bergtraum.
Neither, apparently, does the NYPD. âIt wasnât a riot,â says spokesperson Detective Cheryl Crispin.
Helayne Seidman
The Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers is next door to 1 Police Plaza and just a block away from City Hall.
What was it, then?
âIt was a disturbance, I guess. A large, disorderly group.â
That, she says, is how itâs written up in the paperwork. Six students were issued summonses for disorderly conduct, and a seventh was arrested for âobstructing governmental administrations.â
No one was arrested for assaulting an officer?
âNo,â Crispin says. âThey couldnât tell who did it.â
No one was injured, Crispin says, and the school is usually only patrolled by unarmed school-safety agents â that police sergeant just happened to be there on âunrelated business.â
Large, disorderly groups; an armed cop who wasnât called in a panic but just decided to swing by the most violent school in the city; a ranking sergeant who was clocked in the face yet unhurt â these are but a few of the euphemisms employed when officials are forced to address the educational and institutional disaster that is Murry Bergtraum High School â or, as it is known in city parlance, an âimpact school.â
The irony of that Orwellian description â the most impact the school seems to have is best measured in body blows, punches and general emotional trauma among students and teachers â is clearly lost on those who would be in charge.
And that the story broke via cellphone video is yet another example of the disconnect between students and officials, who view them as weapons â kids have used them to organize riots â while students, who are supposed to turn over their phones at the start of every school day, view them as lifelines.
And why shouldnât they? Thanks to a cellphone video, the world can see just how appalling and unsafe the conditions are at Murry Bergtraum High â conditions that the principal, the cops and the city would prefer to deny. Behind euphemisms and statistics, pictures are the only proof.
âOver the past several years, Iâve seen many a teacher say, âIâm done, Iâm out of here,â â says a Bergtraum teacher, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. âItâs to the point where there arenât any consequences for these kids. Since last weekâs riot, thereâs got to be 10 cops in this building every day. But I donât know who can lay down the law here or who can enforce it.â
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinio...h_school_ZAOl4bIuRykL1PnAOsCa5L#ixzz1p3VyjcnI
âThe school doesnât get why that would be a problem,â says one teacher at Murry Bergtraum.
Neither, apparently, does the NYPD. âIt wasnât a riot,â says spokesperson Detective Cheryl Crispin.
Helayne Seidman
The Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers is next door to 1 Police Plaza and just a block away from City Hall.
What was it, then?
âIt was a disturbance, I guess. A large, disorderly group.â
That, she says, is how itâs written up in the paperwork. Six students were issued summonses for disorderly conduct, and a seventh was arrested for âobstructing governmental administrations.â
No one was arrested for assaulting an officer?
âNo,â Crispin says. âThey couldnât tell who did it.â
No one was injured, Crispin says, and the school is usually only patrolled by unarmed school-safety agents â that police sergeant just happened to be there on âunrelated business.â
Large, disorderly groups; an armed cop who wasnât called in a panic but just decided to swing by the most violent school in the city; a ranking sergeant who was clocked in the face yet unhurt â these are but a few of the euphemisms employed when officials are forced to address the educational and institutional disaster that is Murry Bergtraum High School â or, as it is known in city parlance, an âimpact school.â
The irony of that Orwellian description â the most impact the school seems to have is best measured in body blows, punches and general emotional trauma among students and teachers â is clearly lost on those who would be in charge.
And that the story broke via cellphone video is yet another example of the disconnect between students and officials, who view them as weapons â kids have used them to organize riots â while students, who are supposed to turn over their phones at the start of every school day, view them as lifelines.
And why shouldnât they? Thanks to a cellphone video, the world can see just how appalling and unsafe the conditions are at Murry Bergtraum High â conditions that the principal, the cops and the city would prefer to deny. Behind euphemisms and statistics, pictures are the only proof.
âOver the past several years, Iâve seen many a teacher say, âIâm done, Iâm out of here,â â says a Bergtraum teacher, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. âItâs to the point where there arenât any consequences for these kids. Since last weekâs riot, thereâs got to be 10 cops in this building every day. But I donât know who can lay down the law here or who can enforce it.â
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinio...h_school_ZAOl4bIuRykL1PnAOsCa5L#ixzz1p3VyjcnI
