Violence at a Louisiana high school has dropped following a group of fathers who began patrolling the campus. “Dads on Duty” started in response to a series of fights at Shreveport’s Southwood High School in September that led to the arrests of 23 students, The Times reported.
“I immediately felt a form of safety. We stopped fighting; people started going to class,” one of the students said, per CBS. “You ever heard of ‘a look?’” one student asked while describing the “power” behind such a gaze that stern fathers have. “They just make funny jokes like, ‘Oh, hey, your shoe is untied,’ but it’s really not untied,” a student commented.
“We’re dads. We decided the best people who can take care of our kids are who? Are us,” said Michael LaFitte, the mastermind behind Dads on Duty. “The school has just been happy — and you can feel it,” a student said. “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.
Dads on duty have said that they hope to start several chapters throughout Louisiana and then progress to a more nationwide approach.
