It’s the dawn of a new season for the Sto-Rox Vikings, under the watchful eye of their new head coach, Marvin Mills.
“They’ve been very excited. They wanna see the fans in the stands,” says Coach Mills.
While most schools may take for granted the fans that cheer on their hometown teams on Friday nights, the Vikings have been looking forward to that experience for a long time. Last year, they played only one game at home, despite making it all the way to the playoffs.
District administrators made the difficult decision to move classes online and play football games only on the road after a rash of violence near their field, including the fatal shooting of a student, gunned down on his way home from school.
Unfortunately, school leaders say that kind of grief is something most students are familiar with.
“You probably won’t come to this school district right now and find a kid who doesn’t know someone who was gunned down or hurt,” says school board president Cameron Culliver, who is also a Sto-Rox graduate.
He’s personally seen how crime in his community has too often pierced hearts and hopes. Yet administrators are working hard to help students cope with such trauma.
“When the kids are coming to school, they have backpacks of emotions. We have to take care of the whole child, which is more than academics. It requires building relationships,” explains Superintendent Megan Van Fosson.
She adds, “We recently had a kid that was shot.
What does that kid need? That kid needs that physical health component. They need that mental health component. They don’t feel safe anywhere that they go.”
So, with safety top of mind, she and her team have spent the summer implementing sweeping new security measures. From the moment students enter the building, their bags are checked and cell phones turned in.
High schoolers can keep phones only in lockers, turned off.
Principal Dr. Kimberly Price defends the new digital policy, “It can be distracting, but we can also be texting during class and maybe stirring up some social media drama.”
Social media drama often leads to fighting, which became more prevalent during the pandemic, even in primary school. “They forgot how to socialize, they forgot how to be in the same room. Their first reaction was to get physical and be aggressive,” says Elementary Principal Heather Johnston.
The violence became so bad, that security became the top priority of a state-mandated recovery plan. To reduce disruptions this year, they’ve added more structure to control traffic between classes.
Dr. Price explains, “We’ve made our lunches a little bit smaller. So, we’re having 4 lunches with smaller groups of kids art a time. We’re intentionally planning how our kids are gonna be moving through hallways so it’s smooth and flowy.”
The district is now working with a private security firm to hire more uniformed security specialists. The goal is that they’ll serve as monitors and mentors, rather than police, which can be perceived as intimidating.
The new administration is also taking a new approach to ensuring student safety in the community too, creating the safe transit program - a network of volunteers who now monitor areas in the district where students walk to school.
“They’re not the police. We don’t want them to be the police. We want them to call the police if there’s an issue,” says Van Fosson.
For the first time in a long time, school board members believe they have the best leadership in place.
“We were reactive and now we’re getting proactive about what’s to come and get these kids what they actually deserve,” says Culliver.
Dr. Price adds, “There’s a lot of work to do. There’s a lot of trauma we’re facing, but our kids, they deserve a joyful place to learn.”
Part of that joy is bringing back the fun of Friday night football. Coach Mills’ Vikings say they’re ready to go September 2nd, their first home game of the season - a season to prove that while life may be fragile, there’s a toughness in teamwork when *everyone* pulls together. That is a victory the Vikings can be proud of.