The Lansing school board hosted a community conversation Oct. 19 at Everett High School to address violence in the district, including fights and gun violence.
Several parents and community leaders attended with the hope of creating solutions for schools in the Lansing School District. The event was the first of three conversations the school board plans to host as members develop possible solutions to the ongoing issue. The next two meetings will be held at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 16 Sexton High School and 6:30 p.m. Dec. 14 at Eastern High School.
“This is a conversation for action and strategizing,” said Robin Moore, a member of the Lansing school board.
The school district has experienced several high-profile incidents this year, including a lockdown at Everett last month because a student brought a gun to school. Videos of fights between students as well as a student and a teacher have also surfaced.
Pastor Coye Bouyer, a parent in the district, believes the conversation about violence in the community is important to get to the root of the issue.
“We recognize that it is not getting any better so one of the ways to make the situation better is to talk about it, open dialogue and communicate,” Bouyer said. ”We are trying to seek to understand maybe what’s going on and why it’s happening. We’ve all been affected by this violence.”
Only a few students were at the conversation, though board members said they wished more were present. Some parents at the meeting said they believed the community conversation was not the best way to get students involved in combating violence within schools.
School board member Missy Lilje said there need to be new strategies to get students to talk about the issues the district is facing.
“There were really great points about how this is not the format to get students to engage, so we have to go back to the drawing board and do better to figure out how to get them engaged,” Lilje said. ”There were some students that came and I’m happy with the way that the conversations started.”
Lilje said she’s satisfied with the way that the meeting turned out. She said it met the school board’s goal of creating a space for those affected by the issue to discuss their feelings as well as finding a way to strategize alongside parents.