Source: Newsday LLC / Getty
Tensions have flared among students attending Southwood High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, this week. Twenty-three arrests were made in just 24 hours after students from the school were caught engaging in several violent altercations on campus. According to Yahoo News, Southwood’s campus security and officials say they tried everything to help tame the sudden uptick of violent confrontations, but to no avail. Now a group of local fathers has stepped in to help amid the controversy.
Michael R. La’Fitte II formed the Dads on Duty coalition to keep the halls of Southwood High safe. A group of 40 fathers takes shifts patrolling the halls of the school to prevent fights from breaking out. Since La’Fitte launched the initiative, the school has not reported any new cases of violence.
“We’re dads. We decided the best people who can take care of our kids are who? Are us,” La’Fitte said of the group’s mission.
When he’s not patrolling the halls of Southwood High, La’Fitte extends his passion for community service to the city’s NAACP chapter, where he serves as president. Students say they feel much safer now that the Dads on Duty have been deployed throughout the campus.
“I immediately felt a form of safety,” one Southwood student told CBS News. “We stopped fighting; people started going to class,” said another.
The Dads on Duty may show a bit of tough love to students, but the group of fathers has also provided a little source of entertainment. “They just make funny jokes like, ‘Oh, hey, your shoe is untied,’ but it’s really not untied,” a student told reporters. “They hate it! They’re so embarrassed by it, “La’ Fitte added.
The Dads on Duty hope to continue spreading positivity at Southwood. The group shared that they would eventually like to expand the initiative with other chapters across the state of Louisiana.
“Because not everybody has a father figure at home – or a male, period, in their life. So just to be here makes a big difference,” one of the group members shared to CBS News.
DOJ Launches New Program To Combat Redlining And Lending Discrimination
Freedom To Vote Act: 5 Things To Know About The Landmark Voting Rights Legislation