Who Is Responsible Of Reporting Incidents To The Police?
I understand that that could be quite vague. What incidents? Who are involved? What is the nature of the problem? What I am referring to are incidents that happen within the school premises; incidents that involve school children suffering injury from another person, may it be another student or any other individual.
These questions, among others, have been brought into the forefront of things because of an incident that occurred in Williamsville South High School. The Buffalo News has this story about what happened:
It started as an exchange of words in the cafeteria of Williamsville South High School. It ended with one student being beaten so badly that he suffered multiple cheek, nose and bone fractures to his face, and a torn retina.
Michael Lang, a 17-year-old junior, underwent surgery early this month and had four plates put in his face during a surgery that lasted nearly four hours. His attacker, a classmate and friend, has been arrested and charged with felony assault.
But it’s Michael’s mother, Edla Collora, who called the police to report the incident and who now questions why the school district didn’t do more.
“They did not explain to us why they did not call the police,” Collora said. “That’s just the way they handle things. They keep things within their own walls.”
Let us try to focus on the issue here and forget about why the fight started or how it was not prevented. Let us focus on what Michael’s mother was thinking: why did she have to be the one to report the incident to the police?
Indeed, why? Shouldn’t it have been the school safety officer? If they didn’t have one, then perhaps a school teacher or the principal or anyone else? The fact is that the altercation happened within the school premises. I think that that is enough reason for the school authorities to have called the police in.
According to Williamsville School Superintendent Howard Smith, there was no attempt on their part to hide the incident. He said that fights were being broken up all the time in the school and that not every single incident would be worth their time, and that at that time, they were not aware of the severity of Michael’s injuries.
You wanna know what I think of that? Baloney! Big or small, physical altercations should ALWAYS be brought to the attention of school authorities. These little things just might make a difference in school safety later on down the road, don’t you think? Bottom line: parents should not have to be the ones to report these things. It should start with the school, with support from the parents.
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Posted on April 24th, 2009 by Deborah J Thomas
Filed under: Administrators, Fighting, News, Parents, People Involved, School Safety Issues, Students
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