Letter: Parents Should Be Concerned About Violence, Drug Use

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To the Editor:

Parents. Guardians. Friends. Family. We all know that we have a problem in our schools.

Fights. Vape pens. Marijuana. And edibles (gummies) none of this is going to let up. It will only get worse.

Yes, we all know we lack resource officers. Even with the help of the officers and the school this is still going to happen. What I am worried about is the drugs that are surfacing and kids coming home telling you, if they do. That this is going on, this person has this, or that but no one does anything about it.

Why cause the school and police can't really do anything unless they know who has it, where it came from. Yes, they have videos they can look at but some kids know where cameras are. There are some kids there that don't really understand about drugs. Well it could be the wrong kid he or she hangs with and asks do you have any candy or I'm hungry, etc.

The person gives him or her candy or food which isn't candy or food. Something happens, feels funny, has no idea what's happening. This autistic kid only knows he or she ate candy or food, doesn't know who gave it to him or her just thought in his mind that someone was helping him by giving him something to eat. Classmate at that.

Ends up in the hospital or something worse. Or one of your kids end up eating a whole bag of gummies thinking it's regular gummies

You get that call somethings wrong with your child he's doesn't want to tell you what happened cause he's so high, slurring words. Seeing thing that aren't there and so on which is very frightening and upsetting. Then your blaming the school, which now your wondering how these kids are affording this stuff either by selling it or was given to sell for some one else this is why parents need to start being involved. Who wants to see there child in a hospital or worse from an overdose that could have been prevented?

So parents keep your eyes out for signs. Check bags, if possible. Call school or police anonymously and let them know.
This is the only way we can help keep our kids safe. Just because our kids are in school it's not just the schools' problem, it's ours too, we brought them into this world.

To learn from us the rights and wrongs. To get an education they are still our kids that we care and protect. Help fight violence and addiction in our schools.

Kathy Armstrong
Pittsfield, Mass. 

 

 

 

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Former Miss Hall's Teacher Indicted on Assault Charges

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Another former employee at Miss Hall's School has been indicted on assault charges. 
 
Matthew Johnson, 70, of Norfolk, Conn., was indicted Thursday by a grand jury in Berkshire Superior Court of three criminal charges: assault with intent to rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery over age of 14.
 
The defendant was a science teacher at the girls' day and boarding school from 1993 to 1994. According to the Berkshire District Attorney's Office, evidence gathered during the investigation shows that the defendant was dismissed from the school in 1994, prior to the end of the school year. The criminal charges all stem from the defendant's tenure at the school.
 
On Monday, Jeannie Norris, head of the girls' boarding school from 1996 to 2012, was arraigned for one count of reckless endangerment of a child. Now living in North Carolina, she appeared virtually before Judge James Manitsas in Berkshire Superior Court and pled not guilty. 
 
Norris and Johnson's tenure did not overlap but both worked Miss Hall's during the time Matthew Rutledge was a faculty member from 1991 to 2024. Rutledge was charged in April with three counts of felony rape. 
 
The revelations about Rutledge brought forth publicly by former students Melissa Fares and Hilary Simon sparked an intense investigation by the Berkshire District Attorney's Office. The result was Rutledge's indictment despite the passage of time, a school-commissioned, independent report by Aleta Law that found the school had failed in "multiple instances" to protect its students, and the passage of state Rep. Leigh Davis' bill legislating that children cannot consent to trusted authority figures.
 
An arraignment date for Johnson will be set in the future. The arraignment will take place in Berkshire Superior Court.
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