Buffalo school board member appeals for parent help at home to curb violence in schools: 'Be better models'

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Buffalo School Board member appeals for parents to 'step up' amid school violence

Buffalo School Board member Larry Scott says parents have a key role to play in curbing violence in schools.

A Buffalo school board member is pleading with parents to enforce more discipline at home to help curb violence in schools.

"I need to speak to parents and the community," Buffalo School Board member Larry Scott said at a special meeting last Wednesday on student safety. "We need your help on this. There needs to be accountability at home for your children."

"There's only so much we can do in school," he said.

At Buffalo's Riverside High School this month, one student was stabbed on campus, before another student had to be restrained after punching a hole in the school's front office. Fights in the stands canceled the second half of a McKinley-Bennett high school football game at a separate campus in September, resulting in multiple arrests. 

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Scott acknowledged the very real incidents that have made headlines, but refuted the notion that Buffalo schools are experiencing a widespread rise in violence.

"Ninety-plus percent of our students across the district are doing what they need to do, are coming to school, behaving appropriately and are learning," he told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Buffalo school board member Larry Scott appeals to parents to help curb violence in schools. (Fox News Digital)

To help curb the violence occurring in select schools, Scott expanded on the change that needs to first happen at home.  

"It begins with this adult and how we're, I think, modeling behavior as adults," Scott said. "I'm seeing some sometimes adults that are responding to conflict, frustration in a violent manner, and they're displaying that in front of children."

"We need our parents to step up and be better models for their children and most importantly, just overseeing some of their behavior so that we're ensuring that they're coming to school safe and ready to learn," he later added.

At last Wednesday's school board meeting, Buffalo Schools Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams discussed new prevention techniques and de-escalation training.

A few of the new prevention techniques include active shooter safety measures and suicide prevention, daily debriefings between Buffalo Public Schools and the Buffalo Police Department, training for principals on bullying awareness and intervention, and behavioral screening for all students. Other measures outlined in Williams's presentation note that students who received a long-term suspension for an extremely violent and dangerous aggression will not be readmitted until they participate in a school-based re-entry process that is being designed.

"Our students must feel safe and secure every day," Williams said. "Our teachers, our administrators, our parents who may be in our schools and our board members who may be visiting our schools have got to feel safe and secure so that we can focus on these student outcomes." 

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Williams also put an emphasis on restorative justice, a theory that focuses on mediation and agreement rather than punishment. Some critics say restorative justice is not enough to counter the very real threat of recent violence in Buffalo schools. Scott said he "absolutely believes" in it, while admitting it "has its limitations."

At a recent school board meeting, Buffalo Schools Superintendent Dr. Tonja Williams discussed new prevention techniques and de-escalation training, with an emphasis on restorative justice. (iStock)

The process can be effective, he said, but only if the involved parties are engaged, again appealing especially to parents.

"It can be very effective in addressing minor conflict and serious conflict, but it has its limitations," Scott said of restorative justice. "If you have any involved parties that aren't willing to engage in the process, aren't voluntarily engaging in that process and taking accountability, then it's not going to be effective and sometimes can cause more harm. So I think there's where we need our parents to step up and be supportive and embrace that their child has misbehaved. But here is an opportunity for them to fix that problem, to repair any harm that they've caused, and potentially either have not serve a suspension or have a suspension reduced if they willingly participate in that process and take accountability."

Scott also pinned some students' violent behavior on their social media use, and again said this is an area where parents can and should intervene.

"Some of these platforms out there are absolutely awful, are conditioning some individuals to be hateful and do some violent things," Scott said. "So parents need to be aware of what type of social media platforms their children are going on, and they need to limit access to devices. That's one of the things that I exercise with both of my boys that attend two different Buffalo Public schools is that we don't allow them to take a device, have any access to technology when they go to bed at night."

Several school districts across the country agree and have sued social media companies for alleged harm to students mental well-being.

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School districts have sued social media companies for alleged harm to students' mental health. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

In terms of immediate measures taken by Buffalo schools, Scott said they are working with over 100 community based organizations and have added mental health professionals throughout the district, and are hoping to hire additional security officers. 

Scott added that the superintendent drafted a letter for parents Tuesday that outlined "some steps that parents need to consider to help ensure that our children are safe, are coming to school safe and ready to learn."

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