A Louisiana high school went through a week of fights that lead to 23 students being arrested in three days. The series of fights caused Southwood High School parents knew something had to change according to CBS News. Several Black dads decided to form Dads on Duty — a group of about 40 dads who take shifts spending time at the school in Shreveport, Louisiana. The dads greet students in the morning and helping maintain a positive environment at the school. The initiative seems to be working as it hasn’t been any fights on campus since the dads have been on campus.
None of the fathers have degrees or experience in school counseling or criminal justice, however, they do have some relevant experience. “We’re dads. We decided the best people who can take care of our kids are who? Are us,” Michael LaFitte, who started Dads on Duty told CBS News.
Students also think the dads are making an impact at the school.
“I immediately felt a form of safety,” one of the students said. “We stopped fighting; people started going to class.”
“You ever heard of ‘a look?’” one student asked while describing a “power” they said all dads have. However, it’s not just the stares and stern warnings it’s also the dad jokes.
“They just make funny jokes like, ‘Oh, hey, your shoe is untied,’ but it’s really not untied,” a student told the news station.
“They hate it! They’re so embarrassed by it,”LaFitte said of the students.
And it’s that perfect mix of tough love and gentle ribbing that dads do so well that has helped transform this school.
The dads plan to keep going to the school indefinitely.
“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,” the dads said. The fathers like to start chapters of Dads on Duty throughout Louisiana and eventually take on schools across the country.
