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After a violent week of fighting in school at Southwood High School, a group of dads decided to take matters into their own hands. A still image from CBS News video.
– News from elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry with commentary added.
Dads on Duty: A group of fathers work to ensure a safe learning environment for youth.
CBS News recently ran a feature on how a group of fathers stepped up to the plate to see their children and classmates could enjoy a safer environment while at school.
More about the "Dads on Duty" here: https://t.co/C7nnaizjks
— Black News Channel (@BNCNews) October 26, 2021
Bad dad jokes, even worse dad bods and wardrobes, and decades of dufus dads featured in television sitcoms notwithstanding, dads matter.
Study after study after study after innumerable others have invariably found that the more parents are involved in their children’s education the better for their children.
Even better, just about any positive sort of involvement works: making sure that homework is completed, helping out as a lunch or recess monitor, reading during storytime for younger children and so providing teachers with a break, baking cookies – whatever – as all are beneficial in their own ways.
And even better yet, the example highlighted by CBS News demonstrates how the efforts of some fathers with children in a particular school benefit ALL of the students in that school.
In other words, if you can, step up to the plate. That and further note that mothers, grandparents, and other sorts of relatives can also provide positive benefits with all such efforts giving rise to a virtuous circle.
The whole of CBS’s coverage follows.
Dads spend time in Louisiana high school after 23 students were arrested during a string of violence
After a violent week of fighting in school that saw 23 students arrested in three days, Southwood High School parents knew something had to change.
Some dads decided to take matters into their own hands. They formed Dads on Duty — a group of about 40 dads who take shifts spending time at the school in Shreveport, Louisiana, greeting students in the morning and helping maintain a positive environment for learning, rather than fighting.
The students say it’s working — and the numbers prove it. There hasn’t been a single incident on campus since the dads showed up.
And though none of the dads have degrees in school counseling or criminal justice, they do have some relevant experience.
“We’re dads. We decided the best people who can take care of our kids are who are us,” Michael LaFitte, who started Dads on Duty, said.
Now, any negative energy that enters the building has to run the gauntlet of good parenting.
“I immediately felt a form of safety,” one of the students said. “We stopped fighting; people started going to class.”
“You ever heard of ‘a look?'” one student asked while describing a “power” they claimed all dads have.
But it’s not just the firm stares and stern warnings — it’s also the dad jokes.
“They just make funny jokes like, ‘Oh, hey, your shoe is untied,’ but it’s really not untied,” a student commented.
“They hate it! They’re so embarrassed by it,”LaFitte said of the students.
And it’s that perfect mix of tough love and gentle ribbing that dads do so well that has helped transform this school.
“The school has just been happy — and you can feel it,” a student said.
And now the dads plan to keep going to Southwood indefinitely.
“Because not everybody has a father figure at home – or a male, period, in their life. So just to be here makes a big difference,” the dads said.
They’d like to start chapters of Dads on Duty throughout Louisiana — and hope to eventually take on schools across the country — without a fight.
Source: Dads spend time in Louisiana high school after 23 students were arrested in string of violence
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