MIDDLEBORO – Vandalism rates at John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School have improved since pre-pandemic years according to Middleboro School Committee member Jessica Chartoff.

Parents have raised concerns on social media and at school committee meetings about conditions of Middle school particularly regarding the bathrooms.

Chartoff said during the school committee meeting on Thursday, Nov. 2 that she had contacted John T. Nichols head custodian Garrett Perry to get a different perspective on the vandalism situation.

“There was a lot going on that was being publicized on social media as negative and I just wanted to get a different opinion,” said Chartoff.

She said that Perry, who has been in charge of the facility staff for 22 years, stated that “vandalism levels throughout the building and on campus, noise and mess levels in the cafeteria have been what [he] would consider lower than average recently.”

According to Chartoff, Perry said that before the Covid pandemic, vandalism rates were “nearly twice” as much as they are today.

“The current level of destructive behavior is not particularly high at all,” said Perry.

Perry also noted that in general vandalism levels are the highest in every school system at the middle school level from his experience. He said that he has seen a pattern of the amount of damage levels rising in the spring.

According to Chartoff, Perry said that although some administrators have been more effective than others at controlling the school, “it is always dependent on how destructive the grades are in the building each year.”

“The current Nichols administration made some changes in policy and procedure that definitely helped to control the situation,” said Perry.

During the school committee meeting, John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School principal Heather Tucker said that students have responded positively to a new merit based reward system called “tiger stripes.”

“Kids are excited, tiger stripes are a big deal, it really is a note home to say ‘wow you did this, this is helpful.”’