What to Know
- High school officials on Staten Island are promising to protect students from ongoing safety concerns after hundreds of young adults staged a walkout on Monday, as well as more threats of violence on the same day.
- Students at Susan E. Wagner High School say they're scared for their lives after several violent incidents in recent weeks --- so they decided to walk out into the football field, asking the school to "do better" when it comes to alarming security issues.
- The walkout comes a week after a student was seen in a viral video being hit by what appeared to be a gun. A month earlier, a brawl in a hallway involving a knife also went viral on social media.
High school officials on Staten Island are promising to protect students from ongoing safety concerns after hundreds of young adults staged a walkout on Monday, as well as more threats of violence on the same day.
Students at Susan E. Wagner High School say they're scared for their lives after several violent incidents in recent weeks --- so they decided to walk out into the football field, asking the school to "do better" when it comes to alarming security issues.
The walkout comes a week after a student was seen in a viral video being hit by what appeared to be a gun. According to Staten Island Advance, the 16-year-old victim was repeatedly beaten by another teen who didn't attend the same school.
A month earlier, a brawl in a hallway involving a knife also went viral on social media.
Students say they noticed a decreased security presence in school this year. On top of the ongoing pandemic, parents and kids say they don't feel safe at school.
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Even during the students' walkout on Monday, there was a threat against a student on social media. However, that was later determined to be a false alarm.
Local
At a school meeting on Monday night, Principal David Cugini addressed those concerns and what the school will do going forward.
"Needless to say, we had one of the scariest moments you can imagine in one of the last few weeks," Cugini said, adding that the school will be “building on several measures instituted over the past couple of months to address all safety concerns.”
The principal said that anti-violence workshops are on the way as well as possibly more hallway patrols. The school is also considering scattered dismissals to avoid bottlenecking and too many students gathering at one time.
