Rally held to end violence at Lawrence High School

LAWRENCE, Mass. — After several fist fights at Lawrence High School, parents, teachers and community members rallied Friday to end the violence and restore safety at school.

Additional police officers have since been assigned to the school, and Lawrence Mayor Kendrys Vasquez has called an emergency meeting, inviting Superintendent Cynthia Paris and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Commissioner Jeff Riley to attend.

Youth activist Julio Mejia, 16, organized the event, as his three sisters and dozens of other family members and friends attend the high school.

“They share with me the violence, the harassment, the disrespect, I’d say, and the hostile environment which they’re learning in,” Mejia said.

At the root of the violence, community members said, are a lack of appropriate staffing and programs, a need to prioritize the mental and emotional toll of the pandemic and a failure in conversations among families.

Six fights broke out on Tuesday, students told Boston 25 News, but countless others have occurred over the last few weeks.

Video of the brutal brawls during lunchtime and in the halls have circulated on social media. One video shows a staff member apparently injured on the ground.

“There were several staff members who were injured,” said ninth-grade English teacher Hillary Lynch. “I won’t say that I’m not afraid of that. But more importantly, anything that is disrupting my students’ feelings of comfortability and being able to come into this building and have the education that they want, that’s what makes me upset.”

Mayor Vasquez spoke at the rally Friday, echoing the sentiment of several other speakers in calling for an end to the state’s receivership, which began in 2011, when the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education stepped in to improve the struggling district.

Vasquez, Chairman of the Lawrence School Committee, said in a statement he has “done everything in my power to provide aid to the district within the constraints of receivership.”

Vasquez believes important decisions involving crises like the current violence at the high school must be handled by local leaders – not the state.

“Lawrence Public Schools need to be controlled by the lawful elected officials,” he said at the rally, “and the time has to be now.”

In calling for the superintendent and state to participate in Monday’s meeting, Vasquez said, “while the District and DESE have scarcely participated in the City’s public forums, School Committee or Council meetings, when asked to appear,” he hopes “that in this opportunity they will participate and at the very least acknowledge the concerns of community members.”

Boston 25 News reached out to Superintendent Paris and DESE but did not receive comments from them Friday.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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