Eagle Tribune
Local News, Page 1, Bottom Fold
Published: 09/24/2006

Teachers union head calls for more cops at Lawrence High School

By Zach Church
Staff writer
LAWRENCE - The president of the Lawrence Teacher's Union is calling for more police in Lawrence High School following the Friday cafeteria fight that left a history teacher with a broken nose.
"We need policemen in the cafeteria, not administrators in the office," McLaughlin said.
Teacher Pedro Payano was hit in the face with a serving spoon while trying to break up the fight, police said. Two students were arrested after the fight and more may be charged, police chief John Romero said.
Union president Francis McLaughlin said the raucous fight is evidence that the school is overcrowded due to a "double sessions" plan that essentially sends students to school in shifts.
"Yesterday was bad," McLaughlin said. "That school is grossly overcrowded."
"It is a dangerous situation and the teachers of Lawrence High School are threatened by it," he said, adding that other fights since school began have teachers concerned.
Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy said fights will always be a problem at a large high school and said the cafeteria has actually been less crowded since the double sessions plan was implemented.
"The truth of the matter is when you have 3,000 kids anywhere, it's part of the environment. We don't excuse it. We don't condone it. We think it's wrong," Laboy said.
"That incident that happened could have happened in any other part of the building when two young people decide, in a very incorrect way, to solve a problem," he said. Claims that the cafeteria is overcrowded are "fundamentally not true," Laboy said.
The students involved in Friday's fight will see the "full extent of the discipline code," Laboy said.
Police, administrators and teachers union representatives will meet next week to discuss concerns stemming from the fight. Romero said one sergeant and three officers are assigned to city schools with one officer specifically assigned to the high school.
"We're going to meet this week to see what we need to do to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen," Romero said. "We're working on the problem."