BUFFALO, N.Y. — Unfortunately fights and bullying in Buffalo Public Schools flared up again recently as parents sent the media videos of fights at McKinley High School.
Now there is more soul searching among school leaders, elected officials, police, and parents on potential solutions for school violence.
Cell phone videos of recent fights among students at McKinley High School. An incident where a parent brought a knife to Riverside High School. And teachers talking of daily calls to 911 for assistance. They are all elements of a seemingly age old problem that back in 2022 intensified with the stabbing of a student and a gunshot wound to a security guard on the parking lot outside McKinley High.
During the COVID city school shutdown, the Buffalo School Board, with a previous superintendent at the helm, actually voted in 2021 to end the hiring and posting of off duty police officers in schools.
But now calls for officers to be reinstated in schools surfaced at last night's school board meeting from Riverisde teacher and parent Mark Bruno.
Both my principal and my staff are really asking that Buffalo Police be returned, and the Peacemakers as well, to some Buffalo Public Schools that are in crisis," Bruno said.
He added that some schools have become targets for violence.
"I think it would be prudent to have police officers returned to those buildings. We want our kids to be safe," he said.
A member of the Board of Education can be heard murmuring "not in schools" when the idea came up.
Buffalo Police do have 10 school resource officers and an assigned lieutenant who rotate among the schools.
Buffalo Police commissioner Joseph Gramaglia was asked about for his opinion on the suggestion of resuming such a policy for schools.
He responded: "That's between the Buffalo schools and the school board in whether or not they are intending on employing any additional security. I know they have expanded their own Buffalo school security force, so I don't know if that's in the works, if they are looking for that additional employment or not."
Buffalo Common Council member Zeneta Everhart, who chairs the council's education committee and meets with school officials, has a different take on a police presence and approach.
"I don't know that a police officer standing at the door is the answer to the question, right?" she said. "Because a lot of these kids have issues with police officers in their neighborhoods, so now we're compounding on issues that they already have outside of the school."
Everhart has requested the state to fund more after school student intervention programs and seeks more counseling and mediation for students.
"We have to go to the parents and say how do we support you. We have to go to the students and say what are the issues that you're dealing with. Why are you angry? What's going on? What issues are you having with other students in the classroom?" Everhart said.
She added: "What mediation is happening in the schools? These students go to school together. They're fighting each other. What's happening after a fight, besides getting suspended? Are we bringing those two students together to talk out the issues that they're having?"
Leaders of the Buffalo Peacemakers, who have a deal with the district to calm students and resolve problems in and outside schools, are also concerned their agreement might be terminated in a projected $90 million budget shortfall for the school district. A similar concern about potential budget cutting hitting school staffers like counselors for students was raised by a district social worker.
Everhart, as council's education committee chair, will meet next week with school officials, who say they are talking with police and have beefed up security staffing and procedures.
A school district spokesman issued this statement from District Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams:
"Superintendent Williams has prioritized safety and security for all Buffalo Public Schools. All options are on the table, and she continues to have conversations with the commissioner of the Buffalo Police. Under this administration, BPS has increased the number of BPS security officers for schools, installed Evolv security scanning systems in all schools, implemented both a school visitor and sports spectator policy, and worked with community-based partners that provide mentoring, restorative practices, and safety patrols around school buildings after hours. Additionally, BPS has provided schools with significant supports, including full-time Student Support Teams, which are comprised of social workers, a school psychologist, and school counselors."