HAZEL PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) — For months we've been getting calls from a Hazel Park mom scared about the welfare of her children because she says there have been fights almost daily at the middle school.
In light of what happened just yesterday with a 13-year-old in Roseville shooting a man outside an elementary school, we went to the Hazel Park superintendent to get some answers.
“There's constant threats going on at the school,” said a Hazel Park parent who did not want to be identified.
This mother whose identity we are concealing was born and raised in Hazel Park. She says she is scared for her son's safety here at Hazel Park Junior High School.
“Every day that you drop your kid off there's a fight outside, kids fight in the door,” said the unidentified parent.
She says she found these fights on her son's cell phone with teachers from the junior high school right in the middle of the violence trying to break it up.
WXYZ’s Carolyn Clifford asked, “Who did you reach out to for help?”
“I've reached out to principals, I've reached out to the superintendent,” said the unidentified parent.
Dr. Amy Kruppe is the Superintendent for Hazel Park Schools.
“What's going on at the middle school?” Clifford asked the superintendent.
“I think what's going on at the middle school is what's going on in middle schools across the country,” said Superintendent Dr. Amy Kruppe.
According to Education Week, the return to full-time, in-person learning brought an uptick in violence in K-12 schools.
“It's not like it used to be 20 years ago where you grew up with everyone knows their parents, everyone gets along,” said Kruppe.
Mental health issues and violence at home are also to blame.
“And then bring in COVID, two years on lockdown, and kids not interacting with each other,” added Kruppe.
Hazel Park has dealt with recent lockdowns due to threats and there have been changes: A new dean to deal with behavioral problems and a pilot program called TRAILS.
TRAILS is a social-emotional learning curriculum, and it teaches you how to deal with bullying, and they have a therapy dog named Rocky who visits schools.
“Kids are feeling more anxious and depressed,” said Carrie Krawiec Birmingham Maple Clinic therapist.
Another real culprit is social media where kids are rewarded with likes and views
“Some of these videos, when they started, the violent videos were maybe staged, but what's happening now is that, of course, one wrong punch anything can change from staged too serious,” said Krawiec.
For this mom whose child was switched to another class after she says she refused to bring him back to school and was threatened with a truancy violation.
Dr. Kruppe says she doesn't believe there is a bad kid, but they must be evaluated early if there's an issue, so they receive the right guidance, so a real problem does not arise.
Parents should also search their kids' phones and pay attention to social media because they could face consequences for their child's actions.
