Move to remote learning at New Britain High School canceled as mayor calls for district to get behavior problems under control

After a backlash from parents and the state education department, New Britain educators on Wednesday abruptly reversed their decision to move high school classes to remote learning because of worsening vandalism and chaotic behavior.

Superintendent Nancy Sarra insisted that the 2,200-student school was never “out of control,” but acknowledged that ongoing misbehavior by 50 to 60 students had disrupted classes since the school year began Sept. 1.

“We’ve had an uptick of behaviors — of our bathrooms being vandalized, of students acting out,” Sarra said Wednesday afternoon.

Dozens of parents complained on social media that New Britain High needs more old-fashioned discipline and perhaps police intervention, but Sarra maintained that educators have a responsibility to all students — including the ones creating trouble.

“Just coming in and arresting students doesn’t change the behavior — they just come back a second day more disengaged than they were,” Sarra said. “Every student matters here in New Britain and we have to have a plan specific to that student to help them grow. That’s our job.”

In some situations arrests may be justified, she said, but educators usually need to start with mandated counseling, group sessions or possibly transfer to an alternative high school.

High school Principal Damon Pearce announced Tuesday evening that the next three days’ of classes would be held remotely instead of in-person, giving teachers and social workers time to draw up individualized counseling and mentoring plans for misbehaving students.

Scores of parents balked, though, and Mayor Erin Stewart stepped up her criticism of the school system’s leadership Wednesday morning.

“I’m disappointed in this decision, it’s not fair to the majority of students who behave respectfully and want to be in school to learn,” Stewart wrote on Facebook. “Everyone has a ‘solution,’ but what it comes down to is the fact that there are no consequences for bad behavior, and this is the end result.”

Stewart added “If the school district cannot get these behavior problems under control, then they need to find new and more effective leadership who can.”

When asked about Stewart’s remarks and other social media criticism, Sarra said “It’s very easy to put a line up on social media. Come to the table - don’t be a sideline critic, jump in and help us with the solution.”

The state education department told the district Wednesday that it can’t violate Connecticut’s ban on online learning this year. Pearce sent a new notice advising that classes will resume in person on Thursday, and Sarra said students will attend school on Election Day to make up for Wednesday’s lost classes.

New Britain High School already has two police officers assigned full time, security staffers, guidance counselors and a student assistance center staffed with a counselor and assistants. Sarra said resources are sufficient; instead, the problem is that a few dozen students haven’t adapted to in-person classes.

“There are about 50 to 60 students who ... are hard to engage, hard to connect with. They’ve really been interfering with education in the classrooms,” Sarra said.

Just days earlier, Sarra had asked all New Britain parents to help squash a campaign on TikTok and other social media platforms that encourages students to film school vandalism and post the video.

“This challenge encourages students to steal things such as fire extinguishers, soap dispensers, and other items. It also encourages students to vandalize bathrooms, classrooms, and other parts of school property,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, here in New Britain, we have seen students participate in this challenge at our middle schools and high schools.”

Parent Nicole Cantu said she blames neglectful parents, not the schools, for what’s happening at the high school.

“TikTok kind of started it, but everything has gone haywire since. My sons said it started off a pranks, typical teen things — but then it got insane: Students kind of going crazy with fights in the hallways,” said Cantu, who has two sons — on a junior, one a senior — at New Britain High.

“There are no repercussions or consequences,” she said.

“My son was injured yesterday by some punk kids who threw a full garbage can over the bathroom stall onto him. He went to security and the nurse and reported it,” Cantu wrote in a Facebook post. “The school is being overrun by kids who just don’t give a (expletive). The administrators have their hands tied because the min one of these punks gets in trouble, the parents come in yelling that there’s an injustice.”

Her oldest son, Jacob, gave a similar account of school discipline eroding over the past two weeks.

“At first it was small things, a couple of kids here and there — then it got to where it’s like a party going on,” senior Jacob Cantu said. “There are groups of kids who just skip class and wander around in the hallways. I hear security getting called to the lunchroom because of fights going on.

“It went from the soap dispensers getting stolen to now there’s a toilet completely blocked off, a sink entirely missing, faucets gone,” he said.

Pearce’s original letter asked parents to help, saying “We ask you to continue to talk to your children about acceptable and appropriate behavior in school.”

The vast majority of students adjusted well to resuming in-person classes following more than a year of mostly online learning because of COVID-19, Pearce said. But others aren’t, he sdaid.

“Because of this, we are hitting the refresh button and restarting the beginning of the school year,” Pearce said in his note Tuesday.

Christine Dempsey may be reached at cdempsey@courant.com.