BPS Board President, Mayor Brown speak out after a 16-year-old was stabbed in Niagara Square

"We're grateful that this young person was not critically injured. The Buffalo Public Schools just cannot be the sole source responsible to protect children in the city. We are missing an adult accountability piece in this equation. We need additional support from parents, the community, the city, county and the state to move things to the next level. The board will be doing community meetings throughout the city regarding the community's concerns and ideas. We want our children to be safe."

"Behavior like today's incident is dangerous and unacceptable. There have been a number of fights involving large groups of teenagers after school. I urge our young people and in particular, parents to do their part to help resolve these types of situations."

“As the Superintendent of the Buffalo Public Schools, I have been vocal about the importance of safety. It is our highest priority. While I am very thankful that the student who suffered injuries yesterday is healing and the injuries that were sustained are not life-threatening, I am still very concerned. Our staff and partners, including the Peacemakers, have been diligent and proactive about working to mitigate any harm that staff or students experience while on any of our school campuses, buses, or even while at BPS sporting or artistic events. The issue of community safety for youth is becoming increasingly complex and will require collective efforts from all stakeholder groups. The Buffalo Public Schools cannot do it all alone. Our youth are experiencing extreme levels of mental health issues and trauma like we have never seen before. There is a growing need for the youth in our city to be engaged in appropriate, meaningful, safe, and well-supervised social, counseling, recreational, mentoring, and employment apprenticeship opportunities after school.”