Fighting is when two or more people inflict harm to one another. Some examples of fighting are, hand to hand combat or a physical altercation and arguing (verbal or texting).

Fighting can impact school culture in several different ways.

The negative impact of fighting on school culture can include losing out on school activity's like sports and extra curriculars. Fighting can also lead to disrupting classes. Teachers are more likely to stop class to intervene and stop the fight, thus resulting in a loss of class time.   

Most of the time most of the fighting come from the freshman, because they all  want to be put out there.  Most of them didn't learn common respect  during covId-19.  Most of the time when older people fight younger people everyone makes a big deal out of it. Most of them just talk over the phone and never say anything to anyone in person. 

Other schools in New Hampshire are struggling with fighting as well. Manchester and Nashua school districts faced a very difficult situation in March of 2023 when a fight occurred after a basketball game. Multiple students were arrested following the incident and spectators were not allowed at sporting events. Only immediate family were allowed to attend games. This was a serious consequence of a destructive decision made by a group of students. 

After looking at some school handbooks for the area surrounding Laconia, fighting seems to be something that is being ignored. The Laconia High School handbook does not mention fighting at all, the Belmont High School handbook mentions it briefly with potential consequences. Gilford High School has a very clear outline of the consequences of fighting, with specfic step for each potential offense. 

Educate students on coping solutions - We believe that fighting can sometimes be caused by a lack of coping solutions. Students should be educated on ways to cope with their emotions and potential behaviors. They should be encouraged to seek help from guidance or administration to process their feelings. We believe that having a motivational speaker come in and talk to students about coping solutions will help them make better decisions.

Hall monitors - We think having a dedicated person to monitor the halls would help reduce fighting. This person could watch the security cameras to observe students who are skipping class and escort them back to where they need to be. They could also be in the hall during transition times to monitor students and be on call to assist bathroom monitors if a fight happens in the bathroom. They would also be in the cafeteria during lunch and before school, since this is where most fights happen.

Equal consequences for both parties - We think that students fight each other regardless of the consequences. Sometimes administration doesn’t see both sides of the story and the victim is the one that gets in trouble when they are only trying to “protect” themselves. We think that there should be equal consequences for both people involved in a fight and administrators should talk to student about what happened so they understand what led to the fight.