Schenectady Parents Call for Urgent School Safety Changes After Knife Fight Incident!
Parents in Schenectady are urging action after several violent incidents have occurred in local schools. Over the past few weeks, Schenectady High School has seen multiple fights, one of which involved a weapon. This has led to growing concerns among parents, students, and community members about the safety of their children while attending school.
On Sunday, a group of parents, two students, and community members gathered at Jerry Burrell Park to voice their concerns and discuss possible solutions. The meeting, hosted by Jamaica Miles, a member of the Schenectady School Board and co-founder of the advocacy group All Of Us, aimed to bring the community together to discuss what can be done to improve student safety.
Many parents expressed frustration with the school district’s lack of action to address the growing violence. While the district has stated that they are actively working on ways to make students feel safer, such as potentially installing metal detectors, some parents believe that more immediate and effective steps are needed.
Aisha, a parent of a Schenectady High School student, expressed her disappointment at the meeting’s low turnout. “My heart is broken this afternoon because there’s nobody here,” she said. This is really sad.” Like many other parents at the gathering, Aisha wants to see concrete changes for the safety of her child.
Another parent, Takeylyn, shared her concerns about the constant lockdowns and disruptions at the school. “What are the solutions? My daughter is not going to keep texting me, calling me, ‘Oh, we’re in a lockdown; what’s going on,’” she said, reflecting the frustration of many parents who feel like they are left in the dark during these situations.
Marquan, a senior at Schenectady High School, also voiced his concerns about the rising violence this year. “It’s never been perfect, but this year just started, and a lot’s been happening,” he said, indicating that things seem to be getting worse as the school year progresses.
Jamaica Miles, along with several parents, believes that the root cause of the problem does not lie with the students themselves. Instead, she argues that the school system needs more support, training, and empathy from the adults working in the schools.
“We need more support, more training, more understanding from the adults in our building, and we need more empathy and support and guidance for all of our students because none of our students are a problem, a lot of our students have problems,” she said, pointing out the need for a more compassionate approach to student issues.
One of the key topics discussed at the gathering was the role of school resource officers. While the Schenectady School District is considering increasing the presence of police in schools, many community members and parents are against this idea. They believe that more police presence could actually lead to more violence rather than solving the problem.
Kasey Charles, a community organizer in the Capital Region, was among those who voiced opposition to adding more police to schools. “We quite literally told them, as soon as you put police in schools, more violence is going to happen, and we’re all seeing that right now,” Kasey said. Many attendees agreed, saying that police presence might escalate tensions rather than create a safer environment.
Instead of more police, the attendees suggested increasing the number of school counselors who reflect the backgrounds and experiences of the students. Kasey believes that if students had someone they could trust and feel safe talking to, much of the violence in schools would decrease. “If they actually had someone safe to speak to, the violence in our schools would automatically plummet,” she said.
Jamaica also noted that while the school district has increased the number of counselors, it still may not be enough to address the students’ needs. “We have increased counselors, we have increased staff, but it doesn’t mean that we have enough,” she said, pointing out the need for more resources to support students.
As the meeting came to a close, there was one thing everyone agreed on: now is the time for action. The problems facing Schenectady schools need to be addressed immediately before they get worse. “The more voices we have in the room, the closer we will get to the solutions we need,” said Jamaica, urging more community members to get involved in the discussions.
Former Schenectady schools employee Gherian Foster echoed this sentiment, saying that the youth of Schenectady are full of potential and should not be dismissed because of these incidents. “These kids are not demons. You say we have a lot of greatness in Schenectady; it’s the youth,” Gherian said, urging the community to come together to support the students.
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For those interested in getting involved, there will be a school board meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at Schenectady High School. Parents, students, and community members are encouraged to attend to voice their concerns and help contribute to finding solutions to the issues of violence and safety in Schenectady schools. The district has stated that they plan to continue the conversation about school safety at this meeting.