BUFFALO, N.Y. — The latest data from Buffalo Public Schools shows that approximately 460 students are under long-term suspension.
Buffalo Common Council member Zeneta Everhart expressed her concern that there needs to be other solutions in order to help those students continue their education.
A lot of students at Buffalo Public Schools feel that they don't get to defend themselves for their actions or behavior.
In many cases, students at the schools get a suspension of up to 45 days, and they have to continue their education from home.
But what they truly want is someone to listen to them, and that's what BPS student Deonne Wedlington is working towards.
"You all are not talking. We have voices for a reason. Just talk, have a conversation with us. When they play with us, we understand it. Some Peacemakers come up to me and be like, 'You know you're not supposed to be down here right?' I'm like, 'Yeah. I know. I'm about to go home,'" Wedlington says. "You can't argue with that, but when someone comes up to you and they nasty and talking to you crazy, you're not going to respect that at all."
Freshman Wedlington wants her principals, parents, or anyone to listen to her.
"They don't care about the students. At all. They care about the paycheck they're getting, and if they don't want to deal with you, then you're out. It's crazy because I had a teacher tell me, 'If you don't leave the situation alone, I'm pushing for those 45 days."'
That's what happened. We obtained a video of a fight that took place off school grounds. It played a part in Weldington's suspension. Weldington says she was walking home from Emerson Catering School Downtown when a fight broke out. "They had jumped this one girl. She was small. So I walked up to her and was like, 'Yo! What are you doing?' I don't know why I'm like this, but I don't like someone getting hurt in front of my face. Let alone someone getting jumped."
Weldington says she then went to the library but was told someone was looking for her. She says another student swung at her, and they started fighting.
Keelin: "Why didn't you mind your business?"
Deone: "I do. I'm not going to lie, I do understand that, but I couldn't."
She's suspended for 45 days, and Tuesday was day one. Riding those 45 days with her is John Smith with Peacemakers WNY.
"We are the bow. They are the arrow. We shoot them. If they land in the dirt, we pick them up and shoot them again, but we have to keep shooting until we meet the mark. We don't give up on that," Smith says.
Adults call him Mr. Smith, but the kids call him "Tubbs." The one thing Tubbs says he constantly hears from students is to listen.
"Let them speak. You'll learn that these kids have been in such hard situations. Some of them are literally hungry."