In our continuing coverage of the fights happening at and around Killeen high schools, students say the fights have died down somewhat but that they're still happening. They're now wondering what it will take for them to stop completely. The district and police department recently held a town hall aimed at finding solutions to stop all of the school fights, but Wednesday morning Shoemaker High students say they haven't really seen any of those solutions and aren't sure when or if they ever will.
Shoemaker students say the fighting has calmed down a little bit since our original story aired, but they also claim there's still at least one fight a day on campus and several others around the nearby 7 eleven and McDonalds during off campus lunch.
The students say they recently noticed some teachers trying to discipline students more at the school but claim that the students don't respect their authority which is why the violence continues. They say they don't like the negative reputation their school has gained and that they hope their school administrators, the district and police department will step up.
"Fights don't quite shock us much anymore because it's just something you expect from Shoemaker but hopefully the district will do something better in the future" says Shoemaker student Shaelynn Montgomery.
"The police department and the school district is going to have to come together and start stomping out all of this fighting stuff because this is getting really out of control we come to school to learn not to fight" says Shoemaker student Syihon Cox.
"The students have power over the school right now, not the district or the police. The students have all the power right now" says Shoemaker student Olander Calbert.
"It makes our school look very tacky and it embarrasses us as students" says Shoemaker student Ziria Wilson.
"It's like no kids are safe the way the violence is" says Shoemaker student Aquantis Warren.
The district says they haven't forgotten about the concerns and are still implementing their expanded mentoring program. The first volunteer training for that program is November 29th. They hope the partnership between the school, community and students will help ensure safety.
"By us allowing partners from the community to come within our four walls at our campuses to serve as an advocate and a champion for our students it benefits all parties involved" says KISD spokesperson Shannon Rideout.
The district says since November 1st there has been one recorded on campus fight at Killeen High School, one at Harker Heights High School, two at Ellison High School and none reported at Shoemaker High School.
However many students say there are still fights happening on and off campus daily, some students say they are worried the misbehaving students will ruin privileges like off campus lunch for the entire student body.
"They're ruining it for the good kids like myself, I don't fight so it's not fair" says Shoemaker student Syihon Cox.
The Killeen Police Department released a statement to Channel 6 News saying:
"The Killeen Police Department continues to work with KISD concerning any incidents that occur on or off the school district’s property. Any fights that have happened off campus have been investigated as well. I won’t go into detail about what has been implemented since the town hall meeting, but I can tell you that we have had additional officers in the area and continue to do so. There has been only one fight off campus a couple of weeks ago, that was broken up by officers and there haven’t been any others reported last week or seen by officers."
The district also says they are still looking at the suggestions provided on comment cards from their town hall meeting to see if implementing the ideas will help foster a safe learning environment. If you would like to sign up to become a mentor through KISD's expanded mentoring program call 254- 336-1707