After reports of small metal weapons getting through scanning in city schools, NYC School Safety Enforcement is revising safety procedures with students’ well-being the main priority.
On the Lehman campus from July 2024 to June 2025, 131 weapons were recovered, according to a Department of Education report. Despite that, no injuries related to these weapons occurred on campus.
Smaller weapons, such as scalpels and disassembled weapons, aren’t always detected by metal detectors. NYC School Safety drafted plans on how to handle these risks, but confusion arose when school officials received a message that students who bring weapons to school would automatically be arrested.
Turns out the message was sent prematurely and wasn’t accurate. Although the message was quickly recalled, some schools had already shared the incorrect information with parents, causing concern and confusion.
“People make mistakes, adults make mistakes, and that messaging was definitely an error,’’ Melissa Aviles-Ramos, the DOE Chancellor, said during a meeting with student journalists on Dec. 16. “As soon as it came to our offices we immediately pulled it back because it was incorrect. Students are not being arrested for scalpels and other [weapons].”
“We want to make sure that we’re focusing on schools that are safe and have a lot of mental health support because when kids, or adults, do certain acts usually that’s a symptom of a larger issue,” she said.
“For me, when I think about safety I also think about mental health, but we also want to make sure that the consequence fits the act. And more importantly, after someone has served their consequence, how are we re-engaging them into the community?”
Tene Kelly, the assistant principal, said “Every time you make a rule people try to find a way around the rule.”
While the rule may have been revoked, Ms. Kelly says that she wouldn’t have been against the idea of arrests at scanning. “It is always, it has always, it will always be possible for a student to be arrested from bringing a weapon,” she said. “It has the potential to occur at any school … We’re always concerned about the potential of violence.”
Gregory Fucheck, the principal, said that “We are a scanning school, in theory, everything metal isn’t brought in.” He added that in the past, “Bronx River suspended any student with a scalpel or pepper spray.”
Ms. Kelly says the school already has a similar procedure when it comes to a weapon being brought into the school. She says there are three phases; regular scanning, then hand wanding, then a private search. “Adding an arrest will be an extension or shift of an already established process,” she said.
Despite her concerns, Ms. Kelly believes Bronx River is still a safe place because “The thing that keeps our school the most safe is our students.” She says that anytime something occurs whether it’s small or big, the students who inform the admin about it are the reason for our schools safety.
“I highly encourage students that the best way to keep us all safe is to keep us all informed.”
