Charlotte-area parents, teachers, students and community leaders attended a recent town hall meeting to discuss school safety. | LinkedIn Sales Solutions/Unsplash
Charlotte-area parents, teachers, students and community leaders attended a recent town hall meeting to discuss school safety. | LinkedIn Sales Solutions/Unsplash
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) are coming off a school year in which 30 guns were found on various campuses across the district.
That, by itself, has raised concerns among state and community leaders who met Sunday to discuss school safety matters, during which some said the personal safety issue runs much deeper than students bringing guns to school.
“I feel like it comes from administration not taking the initiative to listen to the students,” Lydia Avoki, a former CMS student, said at a town hall meeting, quoted by Queen City News.
U.S. Rep. Alma Adams (D-Charlotte) was at the town hall meeting that featured students, parents, teachers and community leaders. Many of the students in attendance said their sense is that when students feel like they aren't being heard, some just take matters into their own hands.
“In Myers Park High School, a lot of students came forward, current and former students saying that they had been sexually assaulted and harassed, and nothing was done,” Kamryn Burton, a student from Northwest School of the Arts, said. “When students don’t feel like they’re being heard, they stop reaching out.”
CMS has tried some new approaches, including the development of an app in which students can file tips and information about concerns anonymously. But because it is difficult to gauge results, some students question the effectiveness of that measure.
“I used it once or twice with certain situations,” CMS student Trinity Snowten said. “Nobody really took it upon themself to really do anything."
Burton said the app has an inherent shortcoming—the fear of being labeled a tattletale.
“People are worried about, ‘I’m going to look like a snitch. I don’t want to tell on someone. I don’t want to get involved in someone else’s issue,’” she said.
CMS and other school districts must find viable solutions to deal with harassment and bullying, not just to minimize the prospect of gun violence on campus but also to save a generation.
“Hopefully, they definitely make some changes,” Snowten said. “Because if not, this generation is going to be totally lost.”