BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Parent leaders at Buffalo Public Schools want a different narrative after stories in recent days regarding an altercation between a teacher and a student at McKinley High School.
A teacher at the school told WGRZ that he was body slammed by a 14-year-old student last week after the student acted up in the hallway after his phone was taken away. They also highlighted concerns from neighbors about students behavior.
The student is facing felony charges.
"It painted this picture that this black boy was this huge, monster child that assaulted his teacher and no one knows why," Duncan Kirkwood said. "We're not condoning it but we want to be clear that there is a district policy on restorative justice practices. There is a district policy that all the teachers were trained on culturally responsive learning and trauma-informed care. We didn't see any of that happening on this incident."
Kirkwood and other parent leaders described the incident as a black boy who was "barely 100 pounds" that now faces a felony against a teacher who coached football.
"(At McKinley) you see a respectful, quiet school that should be the way a school should be," Sam Radford, President of the District Parent Coordinating Council, said. "But if you look on the media you got images of kids showing every negative stereotype you can have of a black male. They aren't showing the fact that the graduation rate is one of the highest in the state for black males here."
Regarding last week's incident, Radford pinned some blame on the teacher for escalating the situation.
"This young man should have had an intervention that helped him," Radford said. "For a cell phone, should he have a felony charge right now? I can tell you right now every day students at Buffalo Public Schools walk around using cell phones...It is because it was handled inappropriately by the teacher."
Radford discussed that a lot of the narrative feeds into "union politics" because of the upcoming contract discussion between the school board and the union.
When pressed about information regarding the teacher and the student that day, Radford said they have information because they're parents.
"There was enough information to know that the boy was provoked," Radford explained. "He had no business doing that to that boy. He didn't have to put a front on that boy on front street. He was trying to show off on that boy. He was trying to provoke the boy...The boy backed him into a corner. God, I wish the boy was a little bit more mature and handled the situation better. But I'm not surprised a 14-year-old acted that way."
Radford also noted that the boy did not relate to the teachers because he is black and many of the teachers are white.
"As a parent I don't know what else to ask for at this point other than we need to have more teachers of color in the school district," he said. "But that's not going to happen overnight. In the interim, efforts are being made. Let's talk about those efforts. I'm afraid the teacher's union is trying to use this situation to spark something in the community and that's where my real concern is at. You're trying to provoke the whole school now and spark a race issue."
When asked who brought up race, Radford replied by saying everybody who was interviewed by the media was white.
"I don't have to bring up race," he added. "The only pictures and images we saw were black people. Race was front and center. All I'm simply saying is we've got to do better. We can't continue to attack our boys and expect them to come out of that and be peaceful and passive. They're going to have a reaction to that."
Parent leaders sound off on the narrative over last week's incident at McKinley High School where a 14 year old allegedly attacked a teacher. Parents discussed the high graduation rate at McKinley but also discussed how the student was "provoked" by the teacher. pic.twitter.com/PGyw4IaC7J
— WBEN NewsRadio 930AM (@NewsRadio930) January 14, 2019
