Reading Jr./Sr. High School administration finds themselves extremely busy enforcing disciplinary action this school year. Due to the increase in poor behavior from students, discipline is necessary. Statistics show that the majority of the misbehaviors come from underclassmen at Reading, and the administration is struggling to find the source of the increasing misconduct throughout the school.

For the 2005-2006 school year, approximately 33 total fights occurred for the entire year. Already, there have been 26 fights this year, 81% of which were caused by eighth and ninth grade students at Reading. The school year is not halfway over, and the number of fights is 78% of last year’s total. “This is a very unusual school year,” explains Assistant Principal Mr. John Theuring. “Fighting is usually not a huge issue at Reading.”

Mr. Theuring and Principal Mr. Chuck Lafata describe Reading as an “objectively good school.” Both authority figures believe that immaturity plays a huge role in the misbehavior this year. Cell phones and social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook are also contributing factors to the increasing problem. “Students seem to argue over text messaging, Myspace, or Facebook during the weekend,” says Theuring, “and since the students don’t get to see each other until they’re at school, they tend to solve all of their problems when they first make eye contact, which is at school.” Both principals say that every single fight that occurs at school is because, “somebody heard someone say something about somebody else.” “The fights are never about anything specific,” explains Mr. Lafata.

The principals address each issue one at a time. They punish those who are involved in fights hoping to prevent it from occurring again. “It’s one of those things where you can’t really do much until after it happens,” explains Theuring. “Fighting is really hard to prevent.”