Mayor Steven L. Reed addressed recent fights and disruptive behavior in Montgomery schools, urging parents and community leaders to help reduce incidents and support discipline at school.

“Somehow or another we got to a point where too many parents are agitators in this,” Reed said, adding that ubiquitous recording devices and social media can inflame tensions. “Everybody's recording…We can't have that, and not want to correct those issues.”

Reed also spoke about student suspensions and consequences. “Fights were happening at JD when I was there…you didn't have parents encouraging it,” he said, adding that students must understand school discipline prepares them for work and adult life. “We gotta make sure that from a community standpoint, if we can be better partners, then allow us to be better partners. But we might have to have some no nonsense conversations.”

He called for more resources focused on conflict resolution and anger management: “Let's also make sure we have the resources for young people to deal with conflict resolution, to deal with anger management and to deal with things that they may be seeing at home or in their community.” Reed suggested community organizations and men in the community should step up as mentors and role models.

The mayor did not provide specific program names, budgets or timelines during the interview, nor did he offer a formal policy action taken by the city during the conversation. The transcript does not quantify how many incidents have occurred or provide school-district data; those numbers were not specified.