Oberlin student hospitalised with head injury amid ongoing community, school conflicts

A student of Oberlin High School is lucky to be alive and recovering in a Corporate Area hospital after a sharp instrument was used, reportedly by another student, to inflict a serious head wound which required surgery.

The police and school administrators were yesterday seeking to identify the attacker following a brawl that took place in the Lawrence Tavern town centre on Tuesday.

The Gleaner understands that the town centre has become a battleground where conflicts, some of which originate from the communities, play out, leaving the school and the police to pacify.

According to Dean of Discipline Kemar Blackford, the latest incident has both the school and police working together.

“I’m currently in dialogue with the mother of the young boy. I’m not certain if it was chop or stab… the school is working alongside the police officers to identify the students who are involved and also to bring in their parents,” Blackford said, adding that the aim is to prevent continuing spillovers.

Blackford told The Gleaner that the violence is often too much for the teachers to deal with and so they have sought the intervention of others.

“We have a variety of stuff doing, we have the restorative justice, we have our guidance unit, we also have our external guidance unit as well. We work alongside Bethel Baptist, Pembroke Hall Restorative Justice and the Ministry of Education, but I would say this though, most of the violence that is taking place is taking place outside of school,” Blackford said.

He told The Gleaner that the community-based violence spills over into the township.

“It is spilling out into Lawrence Tavern because at school we have tight security. We have increased the security presence and increased searches on the compound,” he said.

Blackford added that the school also works with the Community Safety and Security Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) in Lawrence Tavern.

“We have a programme called GRAB. It speaks to Get Responsible Alternative Behaviour. We are working on the students because one of the things we find is that they don’t have proper parental guidance at home and, because of that, there is a burden on the staff within the education system to play both teacher and parent role,” Blackford said.

A representative of the JCF told The Gleaner that the police have to used boots on the ground whenever school is over and monitor the students in Lawrence Tavern.

In relation to the latest incident, no arrest had been made up to yesterday but summonses would be pursued for the perpetrators to attend court to answer to wounding charges.

Oberlin High School recently held a Peace Day march under the theme 'Let Peace Run Things'.

According to the police, there had been calm for a few days before Tuesday's altercation among students.

“The initiative is good, but we would want it to be lasting. The student is lucky to be alive. It was a passing motorist who rushed with him to the hospital and straight into surgery. The doing of a few students don’t speak for the thousand-plus who attend the institution and what we find is that most of the violence is spilling over from the communities the students are from,” said the senior policeman with whom The Gleaner spoke.

A teacher who asked not to be named told The Gleaner that certain things need to be sorted out among all the stakeholders including the police, teachers, parents and caregivers.

“Some of the students have their community issues. The school is a microcosm of the society, they have community issues [that] spill over into the school which eventually spills over into Lawrence Tavern in the evenings if there is not a presence of the police or others who can assist in maintaining law and order,” the teacher said.

The teacher also said the 'informer fi dead' culture is still a cause for concern.

“A lot of times we don’t hear it at school until it happens because they have this hush hush. When you do hear it sometimes, [it] is after the fact. If one student was injured it could have been that others could also get injured so we have to deal with it as a school and ensure that it is sorted out in the best possible way,” the teacher said.

Last year an amateur video went viral showing female students at the institution involved in a vicious brawl.

Despite attempts to separate the students, those involved threw punches and kicks, even descending down hillsides, clutching each other.

The Gleaner understands that most of those involved in that altercation were subjected to disciplinary action ranging from suspension to expulsion.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com