Dear Billy T and Somerville/Medford News Weekly Speakup Line,

Fights are occurring at the High School on a daily basis. This isn’t news to anyone who attended SHS. However, things have escalated to a very dangerous level lately, and the administration is more concerned with politics than they are with protecting our kids.

My daughter reported to me last week that she overheard students saying: “This school is gonna get shot up soon” … “I know people who are bringing in machetes” … “They need to start checking people”.

I called the Somerville Police and spoke to an officer and a detective. They both told me the same thing: Somerville High School administrators have BLOCKED the police from being on school grounds. The administration is concerned that police will “scare” our kids.

Let me tell you what kids are REALLY scared of: Being shot or stabbed at school.

Today, students at SHS were told to “shelter in place”. A Fight occurred outside that spilled into the school. Some students in the building were communicating with individuals outside. There was a report that guns and knives were involved. There was a report that someone was stabbed. Afterward, kids were saying, “This isn’t over” … “It’s gonna get worse”.

How can I send my kid back to school? Will the city and SHS administrators allow the police to protect our kids, or will they continue to play politics?

I could go on forever about police brutality, social/racial injustice, and the need for police reform. But those issues do not negate the fact that violent crime exists in our schools and we need police to protect our kids. Furthermore, the resource officers we had at Powder House, West Somerville, and SHS when I was a kid were all fantastic (and definitely not “scary”).

I am spreading this message across social media and will call the high school and the mayor’s office to let them know this situation is unacceptable and preventable. I have also emailed the mayor, superintendent, principal, school council, and the news networks. I encourage all concerned citizens to do the same.

Here is a handy email list of every school board member, the mayor, the superintendent, the principal of SHS, and the president of the city council:
rcarmona@k12.somerville.ma.us, kballantyne@somervillema.gov, Ikrepchin@k12.somerville.ma.us, eackman@k12.somerville.ma.us, sphillips@k12.somerville.ma.us, agreen@k12.somerville.ma.us, lpitone@k12.somerville.ma.us, ebarish@k12.somerville.ma.us, sdion@k12.somerville.ma.us, benforward3@gmail.com, AKersten@k12.somerville.ma.us

I would sign my name but retaliation is common in this city