After KC middle school stabbing death, kids need these tools to prevent another one

This weekend, Manuel Guzman will be laid to rest. He was stabbed during a fight April 12 inside a bathroom at Northeast Middle School. A neighborhood feud between Manuel and another student led to the deadly encounter.

Could the tragedy have been avoided? And what is being done to prevent more violence?

We don’t doubt that the board of Kansas City Public Schools and Superintendent Mark Bedell are committed to student safety and emotional support. But in addressing violence and mental health in our schools, there is no time to waste.

The pandemic harmed our kids’ emotional well-being and mental health, and there is plenty of evidence to back that up. “Violence and other behavioral challenges, including truancy, bullying, anxiety, depression and suicide risks, were up this fall in K-12 schools,” according to a November report by the nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts.

Child and adolescent mental health has become a national emergency, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently said.

What to do about it? What we don’t need in schools is more policing — armed security is not the answer. What we need to do is help students help themselves. In the wake of this tragedy, the school district must triple down on its commitment to trauma-informed learning.

Middle-grade students, like those at Northeast, aren’t emotionally equipped to handle volatile situations unless they learn the proper skills, conflict resolution experts said. If taught correctly, just one student can defuse a potential conflict by alerting a trusted adult.

Students at Northeast are taught these skills, but the coronavirus pandemic slowed the full rollout of the program this academic year, according to district administrators. Some did not receive the same training as in years past, officials said.

The district declined to comment this week on the investigation, but did offer a glimpse of what services students are offered at school.

A restorative justice coordinator trained to dissect potential conflicts between students is on site at Northeast. Students also have access to a counselor. A trauma-informed specialist is on staff as well to assist students with social emotional learning.

District officials made it a priority to reopen school the day after Manuel’s death to offer additional grief counselors to upset students. The work to ensure the safety of each and every of them must not stop there.

No-snitching mindset among students can be changed

Students are not sitting passively, as we learned recently when dozens of students walked out of Northeast Middle School, saying they demanded to know how the stabbing could have happened at a school with metal detectors and a policy requiring the use clear backpacks in school.

An investigation will determine how the student suspect obtained the weapon used in the killing and how he managed to bring it onto school property undetected.

Beyond the investigation, school officials also need to ensure they’re doing everything to prevent another act of violence. As the district considers consolidation as a part of its future, it’s imperative to add more counselors and other behavioral specialists in each building.

Students also have a crucial role to play in preventing violence.

It was known that Manuel and the other teen had history, Manuel’s mother Vicenta Guzman told reporters from The Star this week. Weeks before the fatal stabbing, the two fought outside of school grounds. Parents of other students wondered why there was no mediation or intervention by the school with the boys. (District officials cited privacy laws as preventing them from discussing any actions taken with individual students.)

A video of the previous fight circulated widely online among Northeast students, a parent told The Star. And nobody who saw the video thought to report it to school authorities? If that’s true, the no-snitching mindset prevalent among young people must change — and it can be changed with the right training, anti-violence advocates said. Training that needs to be done at the lowest grade level possible.

The death of any young person is tragic. Manny’s untimely passing is a reminder that it takes a village to not only raise a child but to protect one as well.

As a community, we must never forget that.

This story was originally published April 22, 2022 at 5:00 AM.