Fall River School Superintendent Matthew Malone has released the results of his internal investigation of last week’s altercation between a student and police resource officers at the Resiliency Preparatory Academy.
FALL RIVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS
“The Scholarship City”
417 Rock Street, Fall River, MA 02720
MEDIA STATEMENT
TO: Fall River Public School Community
FROM: Matthew H. Malone, Ph.D., Superintendent of Schools
DATE: Tuesday, May 7, 2019
RE: Incident at Resiliency Preparatory Academy
Over the past week, I have conducted an internal investigation of the physical incident at Resiliency Preparatory Academy to determine if appropriate policy, procedures, and best practices were used. My investigation was concurrent with the Fall River Police Department (FRPD) investigation. In order to come to afinal determination, I reviewed witness statements, interviewed witnesses in person, and viewed both student cell phone video and Fall River Public Schools (FRPS) security camera footage of the incident. To be clear, I believe that we are all upset with what occurred on this day and what was captured on cell phone video.
However, I deal with facts, not emotion, and I am obligated to provide an objective review to determine if we followed proper protocol and procedure. As such, I am concluding my investigation as follows. On May 2nd 2019, at Resiliency Preparatory Academy (RPA), school faculty and staff interacted with a student who was non- responsive to repeated requests to follow school rules, was non-compliant to verbal requests, and who became increasingly belligerent by verbally threatening several faculty and staff in the hallway, before entering a classroom. As RPA administration has had an effective working relationship with the student and his parent over the course of his tenure at RPA, his dad was called to the school and to help de-escalate the situation – a practice that had been successful in the past. During the time that lapsed before the parent’s arrival, the student left class without permission and walked to the main office where he continued to be unruly and disruptive in a threatening manner, including kicking the Vice-Principal’s office chair across the room, and making repeated threats towards staff.
During this time, FRPS staff continued to engage in repeated attempts to de-escalate the student, even after his behavior became increasingly combative and aggressive, disrupting the good order of the school environment. Despite being given multiple opportunities to remove himself from further confrontation, the student grew increasingly agitated and hostile. As the student’s behavior was no longer routine, typical behavior – it was violent, aggressive, and unpredictable – school office staff, in fear for their safety, the safety of others, and concerned about the safety and well-being of the student himself, called for the School Resource Officers (SRO’s) to assist in the main office. At this point, the student verbally assaulted the SRO’s and continued to verbally assault the school staff. The school security video depicted the SRO’s repeated attempts to calm the student, without physical intervention, using non-threatening verbal and body language to communicate with him.
Nonetheless, the student continued to escalate his behaving, becoming more aggressive, even after being given several direct warnings from the SRO to cease further escalation. Despite the repeated use of de-escalation strategies by both staff and the SRO’s, the student then forcefully knocked school property off of the front desk and, ultimately, as the two SRO’s attempted to escort the student to the front of the building to await the arrival of his father, the student became more aggressive towards the SRO’s. A physical altercation ensued, and the SRO’s used physical force to restrain the student and protect the safety and security of the students and adults in RPA.
Following my investigation of the FRPS response, I have determined that appropriate policy, procedures, and best practices were utilized in response to the given situation. The FRPS staff acted professionally and appropriately in the face of a challenging situation to de-escalate a student demonstrating “out of control” and aggressive behavior, and to provide him with multiple opportunities to modify his behavior, even prior to requesting assistance of the SRO’s. Additionally, although I am not an expert on the policy and procedures of the FRPD, their use of force, or defensive tactics, I have read the findings of the FRPD investigation, spoken with the Chief of Police at length, and viewed both videos. Having a greater understanding of FRPD policy and procedure, the evidence reviewed showed that the SRO’s used appropriate force to respond to the student, as the student refused to follow their commands and physically assaulted the SRO’s in the process. Although the video of the altercation is difficult to watch and we all clearly wish the entire confrontation could have been avoided, the SRO’s did follow their defensive tactic procedures and applied a response to a physical altercation that was learned through training and governed through FRPD regulations.
Our schools must be safe learning spaces, where both adults and students are allowed to work, learn, and thrive in an environment free from threats of violence and/or actual violence itself. As such, we have clear rules and codes of conduct that govern our behaviors and our actions. We will learn from this incident and further refine our practices around the de-escalation of students in crisis.
Correction: It was erroneously reported that the student involved in the RPA incident was a 17 year old freshman. As RPA is an alternative school using a credit recovery model, the school does not use a traditional grade level indicator. The correct grade level for said student, based on competency benchmarks, is 11th grade.
*Note: The FRPD is releasing their statement with the associated security video footage. Said video can be requested from the FRPD Office of Professional Standards.
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