In the past week, three kids from Boston Public Schools were hospitalised after a big fight and stabbing occurred near TechBoston School in Dorchester. School officials at South Boston’s James F. Condon Middle School reportedly confiscated a knife from a kid on Thursday, preventing any injuries.
Meanwhile, on the same day, workers at the City on the a Hills charter school in Boston reported finding a 16-year-old girl in possession of many weapons, including a butcher knife, a Taser, as well as a kitchen knife.
Concerns about school violence are growing among Boston parents and community groups, in part because of a lack of coordinated citywide efforts to address the problem.
Massachusetts SOS, or Safety of The Schools, stated in a news release, “Recent school safety incidents reveal more proof that our schools are in a school safety crisis.” For the past year, the group has been trying to get school district administrators to take commonsense action in response to school violence and raise public awareness of the problem.
Today’s Classrooms Are Armed Battlegrounds
The Rev. David Searles, who founded Boston SOS, told me, “We feel there are guns every day flowing into Boston schools.” Asking, “How many knives have been missed? What we have here is a time bomb waiting to go off. Are [local officials] waiting for a disaster to strike before taking any action?
Searles poses pertinent questions, to which BPS and municipal charters ought to provide a more satisfactory solution. His and others’ proposed remedies, such as reinstating body scanners and resource officers in schools after they were replaced by unarmed, plainclothes officers in 2021, are divisive.
However, at this juncture, every policy option needs to be placed on the table. According to a BPS representative, there are about 26 metal detectors in use across 22 schools.
Earlier this month, a consultant advised that the district reconsider police presence after conducting a safety audit required by the state’s education department when it signed an improvement plan with BPS last summer.
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The independent assessment suggests a focus group be formed to deliberate on whether or not BPS should “create an inside, sworn police department.” Moreover, the survey highlighted the fact that teachers and administrators reported spending less classroom time and more time speaking with safety issues. That can’t stand.
Mary Skipper, BPS’s superintendent, issued a statement saying the district is “actively examining” the report’s suggestions. School by school and kid by student, we are putting in place the necessary structures and supports,” Skipper added.
She emphasised that the decision of metal detector use is ultimately left up to the discretion of each individual institution. According to the spokeswoman, the district is also purchasing security cameras, and Skipper will be responsible for making sure that these cameras don’t violate the privacy of the pupils.
There are some city councillors in Boston who are in favour of installing metal detectors and sending police back into schools. Critics, however, are concerned that the majority-minority student body of BPS would be criminalised as a result of the proposed reforms. They argue that such initiatives do nothing but bolster the already existing school-to-prison nexus.
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This Is Why We Need A Contemporary Response To A Contemporary Challenge
In a Spanish interview, Polanco said, “I am always disturbed when I learn about what is happening on in other institutions.” The mother claimed that neither of her children’s schools had experienced any acts of violence.
“When I leave them to school nearly everyday, I am to some way leaving children in the arms and care of [BPS],” she said. Although Polanco is concerned about her children’s safety.
She will not feel at ease until the school takes measures: “install security checkpoints [in every school],” “position police officers trained to interact with youngsters of colour in every school,” and “employ more mental health counsellors.”
Body scanners are not a panacea, as Domingo and other parents I’ve spoken with have confirmed. While metal detectors might not stop a fight from breaking out on school premises, they could prevent students from bringing weapons to school.
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Lissi Guerrero, whose three children attend Mario ‘s fault K-8 School in East Boston, said, “If they assist catch some guns, that’s potentially averting fatal occurrences.”
Hyde Park parent of two Roosevelt K-8 School students Jess Hamilton has indicated that a lack of information about the problem’s breadth is a major obstacle. It’s frustrating to me that not all incidents are made public, as Hamilton put it.
These guardians have a point. The district needs to be more open and take swifter action. Isn’t it a good idea to temporarily reinstate security checkpoints and resource officers?
Frustratedly, Searles stated, “The city councillors who are averse to campus security and body scanners often argue, ‘we just need much more mental health care, more wraparound programmes,’ blah, blah, blah.
Naturally, we do. Nonetheless, BPS needs to offer a more all-encompassing response to the urgent problem of school violence.
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Conclusion
Marta Polanco, a mother from East Boston who is initially from El Salvador, should prioritise her family’s safety over her other worries. She’s a mother of two teenagers: a daughter, 11, who attends McKay K-8 School, and a boy, 16, who attends East Boston Junior High. She supports increased security as a volunteer of Boston SOS.