PHILADELPHIA — An 11-year-old boy is in custody after police say he stabbed two teachers with a kitchen knife at a Philadelphia middle school.
The double stabbing happened around 12:15 p.m. Tuesday at Castor Gardens Middle School. Philadelphia Police say the student took out the knife and stabbed a 63-year-old woman in the stomach and a 31-year-old woman in the arm.
“It’s my understanding [that] the boy has some developmental issues. [He] took out the knife at some point and the students alerted the teachers,” said Deputy Commander Frank Vanore. “They moved to make sure no one was injured and they were injured. So they kept anyone else from being injured.”
The 63-year-old teacher was taken to the hospital and later released. The 31-year-old teacher refused medical treatment. Principal Dr. Shawn McGuigan described their injuries as minor. The student was taken into custody and police recovered the knife.
In a letter sent to the school community, McGuigan said the school was placed on lockdown during the incident. It was lifted 90 minutes later.
Philly Teachers Union Leader Calls Incident ‘Epic Administrative Failure’
During a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Arthur Steinberg blamed the incident on an “epic administrative failure” by the school, according to NBC10. Steinberg said the school did not follow protocol after the stabbing and instead credited a teacher’s assistant with preventing the student from injuring others after the attack. Steinberg claims the teacher had to warn staff because an alert was not sent out immediately after the incident.
“I want to commend Rasheima Hainey, a paraprofessional who’s one of our members, who ran down the hallway while the assailant was on the loose looking for more people to stab, alerting staff members in their rooms not to open the door,” Steinberg said. “She put herself at great risk and saved I’m sure countless lives and injuries.”
Steinberg also blames the incident on the school’s “chronic disinvestment” in various resources, personnel, and equipment. According to school data, there were 44 assaults on teachers reported at Castor Gardens Middle School last year.
“The chronic disinvestment goes to services the kids need. Equipment at the schools that detect metal and any other kind of weapons and personnel to adequately staff and monitor,” Steinberg said. “We hope that the student allegedly responsible receives the professional support they should have had, and which could also have prevented this.”
Steinberg met with Superintendent Tony Watlington on Wednesday to demand a full investigation and changes to the district’s security protocols.
Philly School Police Association President: Employees Not Adequately Trained on Weapons Detection System
All middle schools and high schools within the Philadelphia School District are equipped with weapons detection systems. District spokesperson Monique Braxton said the student did pass through the system when he entered the building but the knife did not set off the alarm.
Bernadette Ambrose-Smith, president of the School Police Association of Philadelphia, says school security officers have received no formal training on using the systems, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. When the district piloted the program, she said her union flagged to district officials that principals were given directives to assign whichever employee they wanted to run the scan. Ambrose-Smith said the district subsequently allowed non-safety personnel to run scans without any training. The union asked to negotiate with the district on the matter but district officials ignored the request, according to Ambrose-Smith.
Ambrose-Smith also said students often place objects that contain metal on a table before walking through the scanners. Those items are not searched, she said, and students pick them up after walking through the detector.
“The metal detectors go off and people don’t check the bags and stuff of the children that go through the metal detectors,” a Castor Gardens Middle School student told NBC10.
Braxton denies the allegations, saying employees are trained on how to operate the system.
