BUFFALO, N.Y. — Ebony Scott is the mother of three McKinley High School students.
She said on Monday, her daughter, a senior, was involved in a fight with another senior. The school called Scott to provide transportation for her daughter who was being suspended.
Scott said about a half-hour later, her daughter in the ninth grade was jumped by seniors. Her son who is in the tenth grade intervened to protect his sister.
According to the parent, "No one from the school called to let me know that my daughter got jumped, that my daughter was in a fight."
While not upholding the conduct of her daughter, Scott is upset that she was not informed and that her son, she said, was escorted out of the school building and not allowed to re-enter.
She learned he was outside when he used a stranger's phone and called home. She then went to the school to pick him up along with her younger daughter.
When she arrived he was standing in the bushes near the school.
"I asked him why are you standing over there in the bushes, and he said because I don't know if they (other students) would have called anybody, to tell them that I was outside, so I don't understand why would anybody in the school take my son outside and leave my son outside when everybody knows when children get into fights (we've seen) so many people come up to the school."
"My son is 15, he should have never left the building."
"I pull up and my son is standing outside the building. What mother is thinking clearly, I want to get inside the building. I need answers. I'm not an intruder, I'm a concerned parent," Scott said.
"Three of my kids go to this school, my daughter just got jumped by three 12th graders, y'all did not notify me. My 10th grader is outside of the building standing there because an administrator kicked him out of the building, I'm not an intruder, I'm a concerned parent," she emphasized.
Scott said she was yelling but was not there to do harm but get answers.
"My daughter's face was cut and bleeding, how am I an intruder," she said.
Her attempts for answers from the administration have gone unanswered.
A spokesman for the Buffalo Public Schools responded to our request after the initial story aired. Below is the statement.
Per Mr. Mustafa Khalil, the building principal at McKinley High School, the parent has three children enrolled at the high school who were involved in physical altercations and insubordination (not following the directive of the principal).
The first child, a female senior student, got into a physical altercation with another female student on Monday, October 24, 2022. Once the altercation was de-escalated, the parent was contacted immediately. There is evidence that two phone calls were made to the female senior student's mother at 10:59 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., respectively.
The female senior student's mother stated that she scheduled an Uber to pick up the female senior student and her brother from school, without mentioning her third child was also in school that day. The female senior student did leave in the Uber to report home, but her brother and sister remained in school. The principal later learned that the brother never left as he'd been instructed to do.
While addressing this matter, the mother's other daughter got into a different fight shortly thereafter. Before the principal could intervene in this last altercation and complete the investigation into the incident, the mother had reported to the school. The third sibling allowed the parent to enter the building. This action does NOT follow security and safety protocols, which require visitors to report to the office to be cleared and signed in. The mother then bypassed the office and went throughout the building, creating a very concerning situation.