Concerned dads patrol high school, spate of fights suddenly end: ‘People started going to class’

(Shreveport, LA) Exclusive News: After multiple fights at Southwood High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, resulted in the arrests of 23 students, a group of about 40 dads stepped up to put a stop to the violence.

Known as Dads on Duty, the men are on campus from the time students first arrive to when they go home for the day, taking shifts to ensure there are always several fathers at the school. The dads are there to lift spirits, tell jokes, dole out advice, and just let the kids know there’s someone looking out for them.

Michael LaFitte told CBS News he started Dads on Duty because “we decided the best people who can take care of kids are who? Are us.” Since the group formed, there have been no fights on campus, with one student explaining, “The school has just been happy, and you can feel it.”

Dads on Duty will have a permanent presence at Southwood High, and the group would like to see other chapters form across the country. Not every student has a father figure or male role model in their life, one dad said, “so just to be here makes a big difference.”