‘Hate has no place.’ Wake school board speaks out against gun violence, hate speech
Wake County school board members spoke out Tuesday against a wave of gun violence and antisemitic, racist and homophobic remarks hitting county schools and the community.
In the past few months, students have fired guns in at least two Wake County schools and another student is the suspect in the October mass shooting in the Hedingham community in Raleigh. Schools also have dealt with hateful comments being made on campus, including a person who hacked into Enloe High School’s intercom system last week to make antisemitic comments.
“We’ve seen throughout this semester some things that are really difficult to talk about and hear about happening in our schools,” said school board chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey. “Whether it’s incidents of racism, homophobia, antisemitism, weapons, different forms that make our students feel unsafe.”
Mahaffey urged parents to talk with their children about what behavior is expected in schools.
“I’m not trying to parent for every student,” Mahaffey said. “Please, I don’t want it to come across that way. But just please take the moment and partner with us and consider having that conversation with your kids.
“I know that I’m going to be having that conversation with my three.”
‘That will stick with them’
On Oct. 12, a single gunshot was fired in a restroom at Cary High School. There were no injuries, but two juveniles face charges, The News & Observer previously reported.
On Oct. 13, a gunman killed five people and injured two others in the Hedingham community in northeast Raleigh. The 15-year-old suspect, a Knightdale High School student, will be tried as an adult, The News & Observer reported.
On Dec. 8, a teacher and assistant principal disarmed a 12-year-old Fuquay-Varina Middle School student who fired a gun in a classroom. There were no injuries.
The student and the adult who allegedly gave the gun to the juvenile face charges.
“The incident doesn’t stop at the moment that it happened,” said board member Monika Johnson-Hostler. “This will be like every tragedy. It will stick with us. The students, the teacher, the assistant principal who had to disarm a weapon — that will stick with them.”
Johnson-Hostler said that after all these incidents it’s time for the community to talk about gun violence.
Multiple Wake schools have been placed on lockdown this school year because of reported threats or guns on campus.
“We’ve seen such a rise in incidents of violence in our community, whether it was something as horrible as the violence on the Neuse River Greenway in Hedingham to just violent threats made against our students individually or collectively,” said board vice chairman Chris Heagarty. “Incidents of violence are wrong.”
‘Makes my blood boil’
The nation has also seen a rise in hate speech directed at different groups.
“I also just want to echo the words my colleagues have said that hate has no place in our society and especially in our schools,” said board member Tyler Swanson.
The most recent incident in Wake happened last week when a student got into Enloe High’s intercom system to make remarks such as “Heil Hitler.” Enloe’s principal has said that the person will be disciplined.
The incident occurred just a few days before the start of Hanukkah on Sunday.
“I wanted to take a moment to express the heartache of seeing the growth of antisemitic occurrences and the prevalence,” said board member Tara Waters. “The behavior has no place in our society or in our schools.
“Respect for the Jewish faith and ensuring that students feel safe and protected is so important.”
Board member Sam Hershey said that antisemitism “makes my blood boil that our kids have to hear about it, see it, deal with it.”
“It shouldn’t exist anymore, but we will push back as a school board and as a community against that anytime that we see it,” Hershey said.
This story was originally published December 20, 2022 at 8:28 PM.
