BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — A Buffalo school mother sent some disturbing videos of violence breaking out inside the hallway of McKinley High School and she’s calling on the Buffalo Public School District to address the program that she says is a common occurrence.
One of the video clips shows a fight that erupted at McKinley last Friday with students in a hallway, shouting, screaming and a student throwing punches at another student.
Videos were emailed to us from the McKinley parent, and it was also sent to many others in the Buffalo Public School system including Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams.
The parent wrote a message to the superintendent saying her daughter has been: "harassed", "bullied" and "assaulted" almost “every day” at McKinley.
"You just said you wanted to fight, so what's up?” a McKinley student stated in another video from a fight recorded on students’ phones last October.
Buffalo teachers’ union rep Marc Bruno, a Riverside High School teacher, was included in the email.
“The videos are horrific. I mean, there's a student getting her head stomped on the ground,” responded Bruno.
Bruno tells me they have similar problems at Riverside, and it must stop.
“It’s happening over and over and over again in some schools, so I think, for especially the schools in crisis, like Riverside, McKinley, East, there has to be a zero-tolerance policy, so to get in a fight in these schools, you will be removed you'll put up the put-on home instruction,” remarked Bruno.
But Bruno says the district must also provide support to the students involved.
“And more importantly, will, you know, the school district will try and give that student counseling, school psychologists, social workers will work with them to, you know, have anger management,” described Bruno. “I've been advocating for years for a state-of-the-art school of students support to replace the alternatives warm up well, and you know, have students go to math, trauma-informed care, you know, anger management class. so, suspending students and not helping them obviously, is not solving the problem.”
Bruno, who's been at Riverside for the last 24 years, tells me police are called to his school almost daily.
“I understand you have a lot of police calls to your school; can you explain that?” Buckley asked. “Unfortunately, 9-1-1 is called over kind of daily basis at Riverside. Now, if a student leaves a school, you know, without permission, we call 9-1-1. If there's a fight, we call 9-1-1, so there's many different reasons why we call 9-1-1, but the police are at our Riverside daily,” Bruno answered.
Superintendent Williams responded to the parent saying in part that she takes the information sent "very seriously" and would like to speak with her. but she also noted that "developing a positive and effective culture in a large urban high school is extremely challenging and one that takes the support of a total team, including parents and community partners."
Good Evening,
I want to thank you for sharing a heartfelt email with me, along with the attached documents. I will share that developing a positive and effective culture in a large urban high school is one that is extremely challenging and one that takes the support of a total team, including parents and community partners; this would be during the best of times.
In this post-Covid era, across the nation, students and staff are continuing to experience the effects of trauma, isolation, and grief. We have all been through a lot. We are seeing a huge increase in mental health diagnosis, more demonstrated aggressive behaviors, financial uncertainty, and anger like we have never seen before along with the influx of the social media era that we are all trying to navigate. Yes, these are difficult times.
Please know that I take very seriously the information in the documents that you have shared and would like very much to speak with you. I assure you that there will be no retaliation, as a result of us speaking. Much of my time is spent meeting with parents and caregivers to support a resolution of concerns that they may have. As I like to share, I have been around Buffalo Public Schools for most all of my life, having attended BPS from K-12 as a student and then working in many schools throughout my 34 years in a variety of capacities. I take great pride in my role as the Superintendent of this great school district and will share that I have no greater priority for our students than safety, which will take all of us collectively working together to address these issues, including all of my staff, our students, parents, caregivers, community-based partners, faith based and civic leaders, as well as all other concerned citizens.
Our Board Members work incredibly hard to be responsive to the concerns of our students and parents... more than I can ever recall over my tenure.
Please know that under my leadership, I have helped to ensure that our schools have (through the extra funding that the district received from NYS) the much needed additional administrative & teaching staff, school social workers, guidance counselors, school psychologist, and security staff as well as community partners like the Peace Makers who are credible partners in the community... all for the sole purpose of helping our students with navigating the healing, restorative practice and de-escalation skills needed to combat the trying times that we are in. To be positioned to resolving conflicts positively and positioning students to achieve academically.
McKinley High School has many great things happening every day. The school has a great legacy. The staff is a great staff who want to see the students succeed! I have visited the school and have been impressed with the care and concern that I have personally witnessed. There are concerns in schools across our nation, but what I can share is that we are working to each and every day to get better and better.
I hope you will take me up on my offer for you to call my office or if you are more comfortable to share your telephone with me privately, so that we can arrange a mutual time to meet and discuss all of you and your daughter's concerns. I know, respectfully that as a parent, your email was not an easy one for you to write and I appreciate the initiative that you have take to be part of the solution that will help us to continue to get better. Thank you.
Respectfully,
Dr. Williams
Dr. Tonja M. Williams
Superintendent
Buffalo Public Schools
65 Niagara Square
712 City Hall
Buffalo, NY 14202
(716) 816-3575
tmwilliams@buffaloschools.org
Bruno tells me he will be speaking Wednesday night at the Buffalo School Board meeting. He'll be asking that city police be returned to Riverside and at McKinley. Three years ago, the district announced the end of 'off-duty' police officers at city schools.
Superintendent Williams spoke to 7 News on Friday and responded to videos of student violence. You can watch her response below.
