NIAGARA FALLS —
Communication is key to keeping students safe, according to Niagara region educators.
Especially when it comes to incidents which can shake entire communities, like Monday morning’s shooting at Chardon High School in Ohio. Niagara region educators say communication lines need to be strongest to keep students safe.
And as the death toll from the tragedy rose to three Tuesday, local focus is on making sure responses are timely and effective.
“Our No. 1 defense is trying to build relationships with our students,” James Spanbauer, chief administrator at Niagara Falls High School, said. “Many of our classroom teachers talk about these things with our students as this happens. They discuss these social issues in general. Our teachers always take the time to talk with their students.”
Following Monday’s shooting, Russell King Jr., 17, died early Tuesday morning of gunshot wounds, while Demetrius Hewlin also died. Another student, Daniel Parmertor, 16, died on Monday.
Suspected shooter, T.J. Lane, 17, of Chardon Township, reportedly turned himself in after opening fire Monday morning in the cafeteria, injuring five people.
Original reports were that Lane, who was reportedly not a student at the school, knew his targets and may have been bullied by the victims.
Locally, the struggle to keep bullying from taking lives has also been in the spotlight. After the September suicide of Williamsville’s Jamey Rodemeyer, each of the local school districts took deep looks at their responses to claims of mistreatment and how it’s affecting the student body in general.
“It's a school district’s worst nightmare any time senseless violence like this happens,” Niagara-Wheatfield School Board President Steve Sabo said. “That's why we have our bullying prevention program in place and why New York state has taken such a hard stance on bullying. As a district, though, we need to be prepared for all those scenarios.”
But none of the programs in place can work without strong communication between the students and school staff, whether it be teachers, counselors or even the principals themselves. Sabo, who teaches at North Tonawanda High School, said having great leadership at the top allows the district to believe responses in certain situations are proper and made swiftly.
In Lewiston-Porter, however, the response has been different.
High School Principal Paul Casseri said his building has yet to make any formal announcement regarding the shootings, choosing instead to focus on addressing it at the staff level.
“As a district, it’s walking a fine line between the increasing concern of an incident like this and dealing with the animosity,” Casseri said. “We deal with incidences as they develop over time and we have tried to weigh the need to be upfront with our student body, but we also realize where we have to draw that line.”
Though the administration is taking an almost hands-off approach to the school shooting, Casseri said among the school officials, there have been numerous discussions about dealing with any questions that might come their way. He said the district is fully prepared with safety plans and practice drills, which are ironed out before each school year begins and performed throughout the year, to help response to any situation which might arise.
He said the district isn’t letting its guard down.
Back in the Falls, Spanbauer said guards are also being kept up, because incidents like this shooting and previous ones, including the 1999 shootings in Columbine, Colo., serve as constant reminders that maintaining a high school is never easy.
“We do all we can,” Spanbauer said. “We try to do as much as we can to be proactive, to be in close contact with all of our families. But we can never let our guard down. But the more relationships we can build, the more in contact we are with our students, the easier we can prevent something like this from happening here.”
Local News
Related Photos
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Henry J. Kalfas Magnet School sixth grade students Laura Martinez, left, and Grace Schwerinski, right, join classmates in gesturing with both hands and saying the word “stop” loudly. Niagara Falls Police Officer Dave Cudahy, said this is one of techniques used to get a potential bully’s attention and notifying them that their actions are unacceptable. Cudahy held an anti-bullying session at the school last month for fifth- and sixth-graders. Photo by James Neiss
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