Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
'We Are in Crisis': Fresno School Staffers Detail Student Violence, Lack of Consequences
NANCY WEBSITE HEADSHOT 1
By Nancy Price, Multimedia Journalist
Published 2 years ago on
December 15, 2022

Share

Teachers and a parent described to the Fresno Unified School Board on Wednesday night a troubling scenario on a district campus where students are out of control and face no consequences for violence, profane language, and other forms of misbehavior.

Leanna Bromley, who is in her first year at Wawona Middle School but taught previously in Los Angeles, struggled to speak as she wept openly. “Essentially, our school is on fire,” she said.

Bromley said neither teachers nor students feel safe at the central Fresno school because of physical fights, bullying, and profanity by students who face no consequences for their misbehavior.

She said that when she was a student she always felt safe at school, but “as a teacher I don’t feel safe… We can’t put out this fire by ourselves.”

‘No Consequences’

According to Wawona staffers who spoke at the start of Wednesday’s School Board meeting, disruptive students are allowed to return to classrooms and continue to be disruptive, taking instruction time away from students who are in school to learn.

The school’s teacher librarian, Jennifer Agazarian, said she had considered the library a safe zone, unlike the cafeteria where bloody and violent fights have broken out. Her sense of safety ended the day of a book fair when a group of 30 rowdy students entered the library simultaneously, causing other students to try to find hiding places.

“This year is different than any other year,” she said.

Campus assistant Paul Viles, a security staffer, said he has been the target of racial slurs, including the n-word, by students, and consistently sees students roaming campus after the tardy bell has rung. Students who get a bathroom pass may stay out of class for 20 minutes, he said.

Why aren’t the teachers reporting the AWOL students? “I assume they don’t want them back in the room,” Viles said.

Son Transferred to New School

One parent said she transferred her 9-year-old son to another school because of the unrelenting bullying he faced. On his first day at his new school, “he was like a new kid,” Paula Andia said. “The weight was off his shoulders.”

The school also could face problems with staffing, as substitute teachers are leaving after one day and refusing to return. One retired teacher left midway through the day, a staffer recounted.

Teachers have tried without success to work collaboratively with school and district officials to resolve the issues at Wawona, said Manuel Bonilla president of the Fresno Teachers Association. Bonilla told the School Board that when he went to meet with teachers to learn about what they are dealing with, he was shocked to see so many of them crying outright.

Why did the matter have to come before the School Board instead of being addressed at the school level? It’s because “the system is broken,” Bonilla said. He detailed how teachers and union officials had prepared for a Dec. 8 meeting to talk with school and district leaders, but that meeting was abruptly cancelled.

Superintendent Bob Nelson said that the district is taking steps to address the issues raised by the teachers, including providing adequate support.

Bonilla said the problems of disruptive, misbehaving students isn’t isolated to Wawona but are also occurring at two other elementary schools. At one school that he declined to identify on the record, teachers are so concerned about retribution from the school’s top officials that they are reluctant to speak out on the issues, he said.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Former MLB All-Star Breaks Ground on BMW/Porsche/Audi Dealership in Clovis

DON'T MISS

Fresno, Clovis to Open Cooling Centers as Temperatures Expected to Soar

DON'T MISS

Costco Misses Quarterly Revenue Expectations Amid Reduced Consumer Spending

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Authorities Respond to Double Shooting in Goshen

DON'T MISS

US Appeals Court Reinstates Trump Tariffs, Sowing Market Confusion

DON'T MISS

A Program Paying CA Jurors $100 a Day Would End Due to Newsom’s Budget Cuts

DON'T MISS

Some Glaciers Will Vanish No Matter What, Study Finds

DON'T MISS

Dealmaker or Duped? Trump’s Embrace of Putin Shows Few Results

DON'T MISS

Fresno Will Build New Firehouse, Replacing ‘Temporary’ Station After 50 Years

DON'T MISS

Canada Wants to Kill 400 Ostriches. RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz Want to Save Them.

UP NEXT

Trump Gives Harvard 30 Days to Contest End of International Student Enrollment

UP NEXT

Tulare Student Will Compete in Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals

UP NEXT

Fresno Teachers Call for Probe After Superintendent Orders Up Dossier Against Union

UP NEXT

Harvard Agrees to Relinquish Early Photos of Slaves, Ending a Long Legal Battle

UP NEXT

Fresno Unified Safety Officer Alleges Battery by District Exec. What Does PD Say?

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Moves to Cut All Remaining Federal Contracts With Harvard

UP NEXT

Low-Income Compton Students Get $225M State-of-the-Art High School Campus

UP NEXT

Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Bar International Students at Harvard

UP NEXT

California TK-12 Enrollment Ticks Down, While Number of Homeless and Poor Students Rises

UP NEXT

Harvard Sues Trump Administration for Blocking Enrollment of Foreign Students

Nancy Price,
Multimedia Journalist
Nancy Price is a multimedia journalist for GV Wire. A longtime reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois and Kansas, Nancy joined GV Wire in July 2019. She previously worked as an assistant metro editor for 13 years at The Fresno Bee. Nancy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her hobbies include singing with the Fresno Master Chorale and volunteering with Fresno Filmworks. You can reach Nancy at 559-492-4087 or Send an Email

Tulare County Authorities Respond to Double Shooting in Goshen

1 hour ago

US Appeals Court Reinstates Trump Tariffs, Sowing Market Confusion

1 hour ago

A Program Paying CA Jurors $100 a Day Would End Due to Newsom’s Budget Cuts

2 hours ago

Some Glaciers Will Vanish No Matter What, Study Finds

2 hours ago

Dealmaker or Duped? Trump’s Embrace of Putin Shows Few Results

2 hours ago

Fresno Will Build New Firehouse, Replacing ‘Temporary’ Station After 50 Years

2 hours ago

Canada Wants to Kill 400 Ostriches. RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz Want to Save Them.

2 hours ago

White House Acknowledges Problems in RFK Jr.’s MAHA Report

3 hours ago

UN May Cut Staff by 20%, Internal Memo Says

3 hours ago

‘I’m Really Scared’: Elderly and Disabled Californians Could Lose Medi-Cal Over $2,000 Limit

4 hours ago

Former MLB All-Star Breaks Ground on BMW/Porsche/Audi Dealership in Clovis

Former Major League Baseball pitcher C.J. Wilson, a two-time All-Star, broke ground Wednesday on his new Audi, BMW, and Porsche dealership i...

25 minutes ago

25 minutes ago

Former MLB All-Star Breaks Ground on BMW/Porsche/Audi Dealership in Clovis

49 minutes ago

Fresno, Clovis to Open Cooling Centers as Temperatures Expected to Soar

1 hour ago

Costco Misses Quarterly Revenue Expectations Amid Reduced Consumer Spending

Tulare County sheriff’s detectives are investigating a double shooting in Goshen after two people were found wounded Thursday, May 29, 2025. (Tulare County SO)
1 hour ago

Tulare County Authorities Respond to Double Shooting in Goshen

1 hour ago

US Appeals Court Reinstates Trump Tariffs, Sowing Market Confusion

2 hours ago

A Program Paying CA Jurors $100 a Day Would End Due to Newsom’s Budget Cuts

2 hours ago

Some Glaciers Will Vanish No Matter What, Study Finds

2 hours ago

Dealmaker or Duped? Trump’s Embrace of Putin Shows Few Results

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend