for Chalkbeat: How violence shook a Newark high school, despite pleas for help by José A. Alvarado Jr.

News

for Chalkbeat: How violence shook a Newark high school, despite pleas for help

josé a. alvarado jr.

Jan 18, 2022

Location: Newark

The calls for help started the first week of classes at Malcolm X Shabazz High School. Week one: The police were called about a fight at the Newark school, police records from this September show. Week two: an assault in progress. Week three: “criminal mischief.” Week four: an alleged sexual assault. In October, a melee in the cafeteria sent the school into lockdown, according to students and videos. In a separate incident, two students punched and kicked a young woman as she cowered in a hallway, another video shows. In November, a gunman fired at students just after dismissal. Around the same time, a fight outside the school ended with a group of students stomping on a young man, a different video shows. The vast majority of Shabazz students aren’t involved in the violence or disorder; they just want a safe, stable place to learn. But the chaos still has disrupted their classes, tarnished their school’s reputation, and exacted a psychic toll.

Photographed for Chalkbeat, with words by Patrick Wall.

How violence shook a Newark high school, despite pleas for help
Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark has struggled with violence and low academic achievement for years, even as parents and employees pleaded for help.
Newark.chalkbeat.org

1,107

José A. Alvarado Jr.

Also by José A. Alvarado Jr. —

for The New York Times: Former Rikers Employees Are Charged With Smuggling in Contraband

for Seven Days VT: 'Safe Haven'

for The New York Times: Lawmaker Is Left With ‘Lifetime Trauma’ as Attacker Pleads Guilty

for The New York Times: Health Insurers’ Lucrative, Little-Known Alliance: 5 Takeaways

for The New York Times: Baruch College, an Upward-Mobility Machine

for The New Yorker: The Haunted Juror

for Bloomberg Originals:

for Bloomberg: Guyana Is Trying to Keep Its Oil Blessing From Becoming a Curse

for The New York Times: Audit Finds Fatal Lapses in Mental Health Program Meant to Curb Violence

for The Wall Street Journal: America’s Biggest Bank Is Growing the Old-Fashioned Way: Branches

for The New York Times: The Young Black Conservative Who Grew Up With, and Rejects, D.E.I.

for The New York Times: How Rikers Island Became New York’s Largest Mental Institution

for The New York Times: This Venezuelan Family Won Asylum. Days Later, They Lost It.

for Southern Foodways Alliance: Offsides Fowl

for Anglers Journal: End of an Era

for Bloomberg: ‘Market’s Wrong, I’m Not’: Mike Mayo Loves Playing a Provocateur

for Brooklyn Vegan: Glassjaw celebrated 30 years with career-spanning Brooklyn shows

for The New York Times: Kendra’s Law Was Meant to Prevent Violence. It Failed Hundreds of Times.

for The New York Times: A New Push to Improve Mental Health Care for Homeless New Yorkers

for Bloomberg: The Other Side of Greenwich: Hunger Among the Hedge Funds

for CULTURED Magazine: At 25, Artist Oscar yi Hou Has Already Had a Solo Museum Show—And Written a Memoir

TIME’s Top 100 Photos of 2023

for The New York Times: Behind 94 Acts of Shocking Violence, Years of Glaring Mistakes

for The New Yorker: What Will It Take to Win Brooklyn’s First Majority-Asian District?