This week, teachers and a parent described to the Fresno Unified School Board 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.”