Baltimore School Superintendent Walter G. Amprey called himself a "guest teacher" as he stood before a classroom of attentive ninth-graders at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School yesterday. But soon it became clear that he was there to learn.
Disturbed by the constant eruption of violence in Baltimore's middle schools that he says has created "a sense of panic," Dr. Amprey went to the Mervo ninth-graders -- themselves recent middle school graduates -- seeking answers.
"I need your thoughts on how to change values so that students will see that it is more important to solve problems in ways other than 'banking' each other," said Dr. Amprey, using the current slang word for beating.
"People need to try to talk to each other instead of fighting," suggested a 14-year-old student named Angela. "We should just turn our backs on people that want to fight."
"That doesn't always work, though," cautioned a classmate, Marcus. "Sometimes people will hit you when your back is turned."
A frightening number of Baltimore students have been attacked by their peers this school year. Last week alone, a teacher was attacked by a group of students he was escorting at Booker T. Washington Middle School and a new student was beaten with a nightstick by a non-student at William H. Lemmel Middle School. Also, one student was hospitalized after a fight at Lombard Middle School and 13 students were hurt in a stampede at Herring Run Middle School.
Reeling from the chaos, Dr. Amprey met with the students at Mervo and, earlier, with principals, parents, business people and community and religious leaders to seek support and suggestions. He got a lot of both.
One of the participants in the earlier meetings, Joseph L. Washington of Associated Black Charities, told the group about a program he is implementing at Edgewood Elementary School in West Baltimore's Walbrook neighborhood, in which a team of fourth- and fifth-graders will be trained to mediate the disputes of their peers.
"All the murders and assaults in this city started with someone disagreeing with someone else," he said. "If we can get these kids now and teach them how to resolve conflict, in later years we may see less murders and violence."
Mary Silver, principal at Robert Poole Middle School in Hampden, said she is taking Mr. Washington's plan -- called peer conflict resolution -- a step further. She will bring in volunteer attorneys and judges to conduct mock trials to resolve student problems.
