Superintendent removes forks from high school after students kept poking each other

A high school has removed utensils from the lunchroom and is implementing other changes in response to students misbehaving, the superintendent said.

The changes at Sto-Rox High School has parents and students upset, many whom flooded Channel 11 with emails Thursday with what they called "extreme" security measures at the school.

Parents said not only are students prohibited from having utensils, they’re also not allowed to have hall passes for bathroom breaks.

“They are taking the kids’ utensils from them for lunch, tell them to eat with their fingers and they are not allowed to use bathrooms. It’s just ridiculous,” one parent said.

According to parents and students, those are just a few of the restrictions as part of the new crackdown. The new policies were enacted after multiple incidents that required police and ambulances to respond.

Parents said police have been called to the high school almost daily over the last few weeks because of student fights and drug use in the bathrooms.

Superintendent Frank Dalmas said the reason behind the “no fork” policy is that students were using them to stab each other. He said there will be no forks or knives until students stop using them on each other.

With regard to the hall passes, Dalmas said in a statement, “From time to time schools must limit the use of hall passes, monitor the time students take moving from one class to another, and thoroughly investigate situations that hinder the learning process.”

Dalmas added that, “This redirection is a change to students’ normal routines and change is sometimes hard.”

Cox Media Group