BUFFALO, N.Y. — When students return to classes later this week at McKinley High School with its phased reopening, they will see some additional people in the building offering support and counseling.
2 On Your Side spoke with one of the organizers of the Buffalo Peacemakers group to find out more about their new role.
They were first introduced at Friday's press conference at McKinley High School by Supt. Kriner Cash as he discussed the school's reopening plan. This is after the outbreak of violence with last week's parking lot stabbing and shooting.
But Pastor James Giles says for several years his organization known as the Peacemakers along with Most Valuable Parents, Mad Dads, and Homicide Education and others have all at times been outside McKinley and other schools like I - Prep, Emerson, Burgard, Riverside, and South Park. They have been working with upset children or those with discipline issues.
Now they will actually be inside the buildings as well. They stress they are not taking over from school district counselors and staffers. But they can add another layer of support as mentors to kids with problems.
"To varying degrees, we will be inside those schools during the classroom days -we will be working with anywhere from 25 to 30 of them. Those individuals that are struggling to make the adjustments, a classroom adjustment, social adjustments," Giles said.
"These are not necessarily bad children. We must begin to understand these are children that come from circumstances.. that they are traumatized because of the loss of friends, loss of relatives, loss of fathers in the household. And in some cases, they have not gotten the proper guidance,"
Giles also points out "We wanna bring in an element that students happen to relate to. We're not part of the system and we're not opting to be part of the system. We are community-based people," Giles said.
The anti-violence or de-escalation groups and their counselors will be formally compensated by the Buffalo school district. They have an agreement that runs through the school year into June with follow-up beyond that for struggling young people.
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