BUFFALO, N.Y. — Another violent outburst involving students took place at a Buffalo Public Schools campus Wednesday afternoon — this time at PS #45 International School during dismissal.
Buffalo Police confirmed the shelter-in-place and said it occurred in response to a 12-year-old student becoming unruly.
Buffalo Public Schools also confirmed the shelter in place and issued a statement.
“A shelter in place is a safety protocol used at schools when there are certain types of incidents, such as when a student is in crisis, to protect other students and staff,” the statement read. “International School PS 45 staff followed the safety protocols, and used a shelter in place on Wednesday, Oct. 25th, to respond to a student in crisis. The shelter in place was approximately 10 minutes.”
Wednesday’s incident follows a number of outbursts by BPS students in the past few weeks, including a handful at Riverside High School and Burgard Vocational High School. However, the outburst at International School marked the first that’s taken place at an elementary school. International School serves students in Pre-K through eighth grade.
2 On Your Side spoke with Rich Nigro, the president of the Buffalo Teachers Federation, earlier this week about the uptick in violence at schools across the district. He said action needs to be taken but that discipline is more complicated when violence involves a younger student like the 12-year-old Wednesday.
“If you're 14 years old or 13 years old, or 15 years old, we don't have a process of expelling students from school,” Nigro said. “You can send them to another building. But there are many pieces to that process. … If you’re 17 years old, it's a different story or 18. If you're creeping up on adulthood and you do something like that, then then options change.”