‘Making sure things don’t happen:’ Community pleads with Rochester City School District as 2024-2025 Safety Plan nears finalization

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to re-clarify Councilmember Lupien’s quote.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — As the countdown for students to return back to school continues, the Rochester City School District is putting the finishing touches on their annual Safety Plan .

Tuesday, community members were given the chance to give their opinions on ways to keep students safe.

The current draft of the safety plan mentions plans for preventative factors including evacuation, fire, and lockdown drills. But those who spoke before the School Board say while it is critical to have those emergency plans in place, it’s also important to invest in social-emotional growth to prevent those crises.

“Too often we speak about crisis intervention in terms of external control, and external controls don’t generally persist on their own after the pressure is lifted, external control does not heal trauma,” Rochester Parent Kelly Cheatle said.

Cheatle is a mother of four students within RCSD. She told the board after reviewing the draft of this year’s Safety Plan, she wants to see the investment of peer education.

“No matter our age, our friends are often the first to know when we are struggling by empowering. Students to help one another, even just on what to do when a problem is too big for a kid to manage on their own,” Cheatle said.

In the current draft of the Safety Plan, the Board of Education has approved having Rochester Police continue to support the arrival and dismissal of students to have an active presence on school grounds.

Interim Superintendent Demario Strickland described more about how the district plans to implement safety measures outside of the schools.

“We also have, in fact, passed a Pathways to Peace contract, which those are individuals that are grounded in this community,” Interim Superintendent Strickland said. “They are individuals that come into our campuses and are able to hear what’s happening out on the street, bring that intel inside of the school and be preventative and making sure that things don’t happen in our school buildings.”

Rochester City Councilmember Mary Lupien also pleaded with the board to implement preventative support for students to do more than just have Rochester police officers outside of schools at those times. She said it does nothing to solve the roots causes of safety issues. Lupien also praised the addition of Pathways to Peace.

“I don’t think we do enough to empower our kids to help their peers. They’re our first line of defense. They care about their friends. They don’t want them to get in trouble. And this could be getting involved in crime and violence, but this could also be self-harm, eating disorders, abuse. How do we help kids help their peers?,” Councilmember Lupien said.

The Rochester City School District urges the community to voice their support and concerns as to what improvements can be made. That opportunity for public comment goes until this Sunday and can be submitted through the District’s Office of Safety and Security .

The current draft of the RCSD Safety Plan is available to view on the district’s website .

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