Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As the investigation continues into the incident at McKinley High School that left one student stabbed multiple times, and, at least, a school security officer shot more than a week ago, plans have started to take shape towards the return of students to in-person learning.
While the original plan was to start returning students to McKinley High School in a phased approach on Tuesday, it will now be delayed until the week of Feb. 28 after "overwhelming input" in the aftermath of last week's violent incident.
According to Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash, seniors will return to class on the 28th, while juniors will return on Tuesday, March 1 and freshman and sophomores will return on Wednesday, March 2.
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As students get ready to return to class at McKinley High School after the February break, some local organizations will also be in attendance to assist the re-integration of these kids. Organizations like the Stop The Violence Coalition and Buffalo Peacemakers will be on site to help ensure students of a warm welcome back to school.
"It's a role that we have had before at different schools, not just at McKinley, but we were at Burgard years ago. We were going to South Park and other schools, and dealing with issues they might have with kids with fights, kids in detention, giving them outlets so it's not a road that we're just picking up and trying to start off anew," said Murray Holman from both Stop The Violence and Buffalo Peacemakers.
"The administration went to great lengths to develop these partnerships with community groups such as myself, and we have been trained, we've been working with many of the students outside of McKinley, a matter of fact since school started," added Pastor James Giles, also from Buffalo Peacemakers. "We want to make sure that they're comfortable, that they feel safe. As well as some of the problems and tension, they will now have other elements inside the school that they'll be able to talk with and release that based upon the trust building."
While all the facts around this past week's incident have yet to come to light, the nature of the incident brings to light the violence involving teenagers in schools, and how things reached a boiling point to where this type of violence broke out to settle the dispute.
Buffalo Police has already made the arrest of two 17-year-old males that had a role in the incident.
The first adolescent offender was arraigned under the legal theory of accomplice liability after his association with the stabbing of a 14-year-old student. The victim was also kicked and beaten by a number of individuals, including the offender arrested.
The second adolescent offender, on the other hand, was arrested and is accused of shooting the 27-year-old school security officer, and could potentially face more charges if he's found to have also shot a 13-year-old student in the parking lot where the fight broke out.
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Sadly, violence similar to what transpired last Wednesday seems to have become more of an occurrence across the country over the last few years. When trying to break down why this could be the case, it might be as simple as more and more kids are in school, with many different groups trying to assimilate with one another and having many different viewpoints.
"Things happen, but the fights and things that start picking up throughout America, we've seen this coming a long time ago," Holman said on Wednesday with Brian Mazurowski and Susan Rose. "When the violence comes in, people think it's just gang related. It's not. It's a cultural relationship that's starting to take place as well. We have different groups of not just black and white and Latino kids - you have all these different cultured people in one place, and tensions are going to flare up if you don't have the right type of people in there. So it makes it a challenge across America, not just here in Buffalo."
Often times, it never comes down to just one single theme for all the violence breaking out with teenagers and other youth of the community. Paster Giles believes there are a number of contributing factors that begin with a lack of economic opportunities in urban communities. From there, more dysfunctions are developed in those communities, as residents do all they can to try to make ends meet.
"In that survival, we have a lot of things going on. We have fathers being misplaced, we have the family structure break down, we have children bombarded by these new technological instruments that are not only distractive, but they work against family binding and family communication," Pastor Giles explained. "Then you have problems in school. They've taken away a lot of the ancillary programs for schools, those are budget cutbacks that came down from Congress. So all the resources and things that are designed to help children achieve are being mitigated or taken away, and so it is contributing to urban communities being what they are.
"The children are angry, frustrated, agitated, don't trust adults in general, because they believe the system has failed them. They believe that the system has not done what they could have done to make things better for their lives or for their family's lives. We're dealing with that, and then you get COVID, which traps people off. Now you got to make this huge adjustment with virtual learning, some people are not technologically savvy, but while they're there, children that are sitting around create their own mischief. Now they're plugging in on social media, creating tensions on social media. 'This person did this, this person said that, and then now you bring them back, like you brought them back this September, and all schools were having problems and tensions among children. ... We are creating a bad posture for the future of our generations, so this is a sense of urgency. The things that happened at McKinley, or things that happened at Riverside, the things that happen at some of the other schools, those things are going to continue unless we begin to reach out and touch each other and say, 'What can we do collectively?'"
When organizations like the Stop The Violence Coalition and Buffalo Peacemakers are in the schools with students, the goal is not to just monitor any situation taking place amongst different groups, but it is to directly engage with kids and assessing matters that way.
"We have sat down with members of the administration, to kind of look at what's happening in our school dynamics. What are the things going on? What's contributing to all the tension, and where are we failing? Where are the gaps at?," Pastor Giles said. "We have contrived a real massive, comprehensive effort to go in and reduce those things. To mitigate some of the tension that exists certainly between students, but also to create an atmosphere where students can not only learn, but they feel safe. To also have some of their issues and some of their learning barriers addressed, as well."
In those relationships that organizations like the Buffalo Peacemakers are trying to establish with kids of the community, members know the families, they are friends with some of the parents. That helps to create a different dynamic with kids working with somebody that knows them which then helps to build trust and confidence in the students, establish some important relationships.
As for the message being sent to parents during these trying times in the community, it's as simple as talking to their kids and having a conversation about what's happening in and around school. In addition, Holman believes it's time for parents to get more involved in the schools once again.
"It's time for the PTAs and things like that there to be back in effect. So it's a point now that now we're going to need more and more programs involving parents," Holman said. "I will say this, as well: We need a better system for when these incidents happens, that goes out like the Amber Alert. A young kid yesterday was missing in Lackawanna, no Amber Alert. Now we have a shooting; the system is not that great to notify people in a community and its surrounding areas, and for parents to know that these situations are happening. So it makes things a little bit hard on a parent when they get there, because they don't understand it."
As kids will soon return to McKinley and try to get back to a sense of normalcy in the classroom, organizations like Buffalo Peacemakers are steadfast on being committed to the well-being of the children.
"It's about them, and it's always been about them for us," said Pastor Giles. "It's not about what money they were getting, what program you want to do. At the end of the day, we want to do what's necessary and what's best for the well-being of our students and our children so they stand a chance to make it in this life. That's all we're asking for."
