KILLEEN, Texas (KXXV) — Parents, community leaders, and advocates gathered together in a town hall meeting to find solutions to save their students
- A town hall meeting was held to try and find solutions to protect children in schools moving forward
- Parents and community leaders discussed solutions to keep students safe at school and at home
- Resources were provided to parents to provide mentorship opportunities
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"I was flagged for search for this eyeglass case. Tell me earnestly that that system would not have detected a weapon on that kid," said one parent during Saturday's town hall meeting.
"Uniforms need to go into effect. Whether it's one color from the school," said another Killeen parent.
The town hall meeting was held at the Douse Community Center for parents and city leaders to come together to find a solution for future safety after a student at Killeen ISD was stabbed to death earlier this week.
One 14-year-old who attended the meeting said the issues that stem from his age group are deeper than most people can imagine.
"I experienced people telling others including, me that they can kill themselves," said 14-year-old Wesley Davis.
Those are words Davis has heard from his peers.
"And mostly because they didn't think the same and liked different things," said Davis.
Ray Garner said his daughter attends Roy J. Smith Middle School where the stabbing took place, and saw what happened. As a parent, he's helping her cope with the trauma she witnessed.
"They were changing classes, and she saw the fight break out, she saw the stabbing, she heard the sounds. She expressed all the sounds and everything, and it was troublesome. She said I'm having trouble hearing running water because it reminds me of blood splashing," said Garner.
Davis doesn't attend Killeen ISD, but said the news of the incident spread fast, and he became worried.
"My siblings go to school near where this happened so I was worried about people who were around here who may be hurting in different ways, and they've been treated in similar ways but never got to a full stabbing yet," said Davis.
Parents who attended the meeting said they wanted more from the school district.
"But the counselors need to do more. They need to see their students more than once a year," said Killeen ISD parent Dorothy Grogan-Gardner.
"If he got away with it this could cause so many more problems where more people start bringing weapons cause someone finally did it, and it's fine apparently," said Davis.
