As I read about the tragic death of Joshua Lorbiecki, who was attending his first year at Everett High, I couldn’t help thinking back to our own teenager’s first (and only year) there. I am not suggesting Everett High had anything to do with Joshua’s death but there are some very real dangers at Everett High that put students, especially new arrivals in jeopardy every day.
Everett High School is not a safe place for kids. It is located very near to the commercial hub of downtown Everett. Convenience stores and a variety of low rent apartment buildings are all located within a minute’s walk. What makes this a serious problem is that the Everett High campus is bordered by two public streets and intersected by a third. There are no fences around the campus keeping bad people out and the students in. Since the kids are not required to wear uniforms and because there are so many students attending, it must be almost impossible to tell who is and is not supposed to be there.
At the time our teenager was attending, the school was so overpopulated that they had to resort to three separate lunch periods. To ensure all the kids were fed around lunchtime, they had to twist such fundamental classes as Algebra around lunch. Can you imagine attending Algebra for 10 minutes, going to lunch and then coming back to finish up the rest of the class? How could you concentrate?
The physical location and layout of the campus, and the chaos of trying to make things work despite such a large student enrollment, make Everett High a gang-banger and drug pusher’s dream. How hard do you think it is for this element to mingle among the multitude of kids going back and forth across public streets between classes? Not hard at all.
I am not trying to disparage those working at the school. I am sure they are doing their best with what they have available to them. I also know that the staff tries to be outside between classes to weed out individuals that aren’t supposed to be on campus. But the logistics and geography are working against them and your kids are the ones that are at risk. All these factors make newcomers to the school easy prey. Freshmen and new arrivals looking for a place to fit in can all too easily fall into the wrong crowd and there are more than enough bad guys waiting to take them in and make them feel wanted.
Perhaps your child is on the straight and narrow, mature and not at all confused about who they are and what they want in life. Perhaps your child picks only friends of outstanding moral character and settles for nothing less. If that is the case, then perhaps your child can safely navigate the dangers lurking in and around Everett High. Those of us whose kids are not quite there yet should find a safer school for them to attend.
Our teenager is now going to a private school. We are not rich and paying the tuition requires us to sacrifice other things. But what is more important than the safety, education and peace of mind of our child?
Everett
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