Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams on Wednesday addressed the Board of Education for a special presentation and board meeting that highlighted safety and security plans that she has implemented and will continue to expand upon throughout her tenure.
This special meeting, called by Board President Sharon Belton-Cottman, comes exactly one week following a slashing that occurred at Riverside Academy, where a 19-year-old non-student stabbed an 18-year-old male student with box cutters. This incident, among many recent others, have both teachers, students and parents once again raising concerns about safety in the school district.
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"There cannot be one person that can, alone, ensure the safety and security for more than 40,000 folks," opened Dr. Williams. "It's my goal, that not only will all of our children be safe every day, but all of our staff, any visitors, any parents that are in and around our schools or school offices, as well as community-based partners that may be working in any of our schools or offices. So, that's a lot, and it's going to take due diligence of our entire city of Buffalo community."
Dr. Williams highlighted some of the prevention, intervention and response initiatives used regularly by the schools in their district to help deter things such as bullying and harassment and promotes a safe school and work environment.
New prevention deliverables include; mandatory professional development training for all building leaders and BPS Security on gang affiliation and intervention, active shooter safety measures, suicide prevention daily debriefing between the BPS and the Buffalo Police Department, in addition to training for principals on bullying awareness, intervention and behavior screening for all students.
"We're in the process of engaging in a behavioral screening for all of our children. That is huge. That's huge. So it won't just be targeted for children that may be on the radar as having issues, all of our children. Because you could be a child that is not on the radar for having issues, and we want to do a quick screening, it's very quick, it's very easy. It's developmental, so that children who are younger, take a different screening than those who are older aged. But that's going to be huge, and it will again be another step in us being able to identify early if a child is having any issues."
Dr. Williams also spoke to the appointing of more security officers, who must be a resident of the City of Buffalo and undergo various screenings and testings. This school year, they district employed 91 officers. Last year, they employed 79. The goal of the district is to employ 137 by June of 2025.
In addition, the district has also employed a Chief of Staff and Security as well as an Executive Director, in addition to two supervisors. The main role of the supervisors is to fill in for security when needed.
In addition, BPS Security Officers are now assigned to the district's 21 elementary schools. As additional officers are hired, more will be placed in elementary schools and high schools with the following considerations:
- Number of students enrolled at school
- Number of safety infractions happening
- Gender balancing where possible
"This summer, we had summer school, and the buildings that had our Evolv scanners implemented, we knew that we needed a person there who was trained to engage with the children as they were coming in and move them through the scanners. That's the first phase of schools that were able to have school security in them, but we've got about 30+ security officers that are in the pipeline to possibly be hired," said Superintendent Williams.
The superintendent also highlighted the numerous simulated drills that must be conducted under state and federal law. This includes a certain amount of fire drills, lockdown drills, shelter in place and lockout drills.
"When we do all of this work preventively, the hope is that we decrease children experiencing any challenges, but we know with all the preventive work we are doing, there will still be some that will need more support," said Dr. Williams.