Fights are Down at St. Cloud Schools This School Year
Fights are down in St. Cloud area schools this school year. That according to St. Cloud School Superintendent Laurie Putnam. Putnam attributes the decrease in fights, assaults and safety related behaviors on many things including a clear line of what is tolerated within the school district, some clear instruction about behavior, and assistance from mental health instructors on staff.
Putnam explains the previous year was more challenging and that fights were up. She says coming off the pandemic mental health wasn't good for many students and they didn't have as many preventative measures in place to handle these incidents.
The response system St. Cloud School District 742 has when dealing with these fights or safety related behaviors includes: Students are removed from the school environment, they participate in a program that is an alternative to suspension which includes a very structured day where students work on their academics, and talk with mental health professions about the choices they made. Putnam says they also do some restorative work with the student they had the incident with. She says if these individuals continue to have problems with fights they look at other options.
Putnam says there are many successes happening in the district recently which includes the St. Cloud Gymnastics team placing 2nd at the AA State meet last week, swimmers and divers qualifying for state, the Tech speech team performed well at a National meet at Harvard, and district 742 students will participate at the state knowledge bowl meet Tuesday at SCSU.
If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Laurie Putnam it is available below.