We attend classes, museums and other activities in ABQ. We also enjoy going to the city parks and the Open Space areas, too. We usually have no problems except for lots of traffic and some crazy drivers.
The other day after I picked up Jem from his Writing class, at 2:30pm, we decided to stop off at Holliday Park on Comanche. It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny, and we wanted to enjoy some playtime on the climbing structures.
We were only playing for 20 minutes when a commotion of trucks and cars filled up the parking lot in front of the Community Center. At first it seemed like a friendly social event with some girls hugging and teen boys strutting about like peacocks.
That 'vibe' rapidly changed when we watched as one of the girls (maybe 15-16 years old) led two boys over to an area (very near my parked van) and urged them to fight. She acted like the 'mediator' but seemed more excited about fighting than the 2 boys did....at first.
They threw a few punches, with at least two making direct contact to the face and head. There followed lots of yelling, angry cursing, and a bigger crowd surrounding the two boys. There was chasing and 'cheap shots' by other boys...and even girls.
Then someone brought out a blue, metal baseball bat and started swinging while another boy tried to run away. We spied one of the teenagers reach into his grey primered Duster with what appeared to be something made of metal.
It was time for us to go. Except my van was blocked by the battle and there was not other way out. I saw another parent in a van on the other side of the parking lot, ducking down...clearly frightened for her safety. She and some of the other parked cars were waiting to pick up their elementary aged children as they walked across the park from the school.
Their were a few teens just sitting chatting and laughing on park picnic tables as if nothing was at all different or suprising with the scene unraveling in front of our eyes.
I wanted to get my precious children to safety. I had a bad feeling about the direction this battle was taking. I walked up to a man in his 20's sitting with his 5-6 year old daughter on the grass and asked if he had a cell-phone, and if he could call the police.
Shockingly, he replied that the teens were just 'messing around'...no need to call in the police" He said this as one of the kid's ran past with blood pouring out over his eye and cheek...with other kids in hot pursuit!
The tension was terrifying. It seemed surreal.
My sons were upset and wanted to go home and they grabbed their sister and ran to the van, and hurriedly shut the door. There was a woman parked beside my van in a small black truck and I walked up to her and asked her to call the police. But at that same moment, I heard one of the teenagers yell out "Get outta here! The police are coming!".
I saw that the woman had some paper and a pen, so I asked her to write down license plate numbers. And as the teens screeched out of the parking lot, I called out the plates as fast as I could.
The grey primered Duster was filled with boys, and when the one closest to the back passenger seat window saw that I was copying licence plates, he cursed at me, showed me the end of his gun and said" You better not be writing our license down, b****!!!!"
Several more cars and trucks sped out of the parking lot before the police car took control of the situation. I gave the policeman the list of license plate numbers and he took down the information from all of us who had seen what had happened.
Sadly, he told us that these kinds of fights between rival high school students and within same high schools goes on almost every day as the weather warms up. The kids come to the park because they know they won't get caught right away or at all.
Sometimes the police do set up a look-out, but they don't catch anyone then, because the kids stay away.
I commented that that sounds like a good thing. Stop the violence from happening at all, especially in neighborhood parks sitting beside an elementary school.
This entire experience prompted allot of discussion between my kids and I as we drove home. They mistakenly believed that this type of violence was something that only happened in really big cities...far away, or that the bloodshed they watched today, was something only portrayed in movies or TV.
They are deeply burdened that this sort of thing goes on every day in public schools all over the country. Some might say that it's just a sign of the times and that 'back when I was in school, things were different'.
That's a fallacy!
I shared with Jax and Jem one of my own public school experiences of being beat up by a bully girl when I stood up to her in Home Ec. She had been tearing all the threads out of everyone's sewing machines and after the third time, I stood up to her and asked her to stop or I'd tell the teacher.
In response, she threatened to beat me up after school. As I walked home from school, she and a large number of bullies were waiting for me behind a church and they encircled me until I couldn't move.
The bully girl, Tangee McKendrick, stood in my face and threw her fist in my eye. It was painful. With tears of pain and anger in my eyes, I calmly walked past her, toward home, praying with my entire being that she and her crew wouldn't follow me.
God's angels surrounded me the rest of the way home.
My sons were shocked and made me promise that I would never make them go to a public school. All I could offer was that, as long as I'm alive they will never have to experience the horrors of public school.
It was a really awful and scary day. My eyes kept darting to my rear-view mirror worried that one of those cars from the park fight, would be tailing me home.
I'm still very shook up about it.
I hope that whomever is considering placing their child in the public school system, will read this and seriously contemplate their educational choices.
Public school is an option if:
*Drugs, lock-downs, weapons, taunting, teasing, fighting is something you consider healthy socialization.
*You want your child to think these things are a normal thing in their daily lives.
But, if you want your child to learn about the world and their own place in it, in safety, then please choose...to educate your child at home.
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