Medford Police Promise Visible Presence At High School After Stabbing

MEDFORD, MA — Medford officials said Monday that community members should expect a “visible police presence” at Medford High School and an increase in available counselors for those in need this week after a student was stabbed in an incident Monday morning.

Beyond this week, though, school community members have called for more long-term action, voicing widespread frustration over safety concerns most recently in a School Committee meeting Monday night.

“I just don’t feel like these kids feel safe anymore,” Medford resident and Medford parent Kathleen Reynolds told the School Committee this week.

The incident on Monday took place around 10 a.m., according to police, when a fight in a men’s bathroom left one student stabbed in the torso.

Police said the student was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. A second student was later taken into police custody and brought to Medford Police Headquarters, according to police.

Medford High School went under a shelter-in-place order following the incident as emergency crews responded to the scene. Police said the order remained in place for roughly three hours.

Police on Monday said the incident appeared to be isolated, saying there is no ongoing threat to school faculty and students.

Police said they were working as of Monday night with the Medford Mayor’s Office, the Medford Public Schools, the Medford Fire Department, State Police and the Middlesex District Attorney’s office “to ensure the safety and integrity of the school environment in order to resume school tomorrow.”

Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn previously addressed this incident in a statement Monday afternoon, describing the stabbing as a “vicious attack.”

The injured student was in stable condition early Monday afternoon, according to Lungo-Koehn.

Lungo-Koehn said the safety and security of students remains the top priority of city and school personnel, adding that officials will work to make sure that students feel supported.

“While this is an isolated incident and is in no way representative of the values and ideals the school administration strives for, it’s a horrific day for our school community and I’m appalled that this happened,” Lungo-Koehn said. “My thoughts are with the families, students and our Mustang community.”

The Medford School Committee met Monday night, featuring a lengthy and, at times, heated discussion involving Lungo-Koehn, Schools Superintendent Marice Edouard-Vincent, members of the School Committee, some City Councilors and members of the public. Across roughly two hours, community members largely criticized the response to what many described as a pattern of violent incidents at Medford High School.

“Where is the urgency?” City Councilor and Medford parent George Scarpelli asked, citing prior incidents and discussions around them.

“Nothing has been done,” Scarpelli later said.

City Council colleague Richard Caraviello spoke after Scarpelli.

“The school is supposed to be their safe place,” he said of students. “…For far too long, it has not been a safe place for them.”

Multiple parents, grandparents, teachers and students took the microphone in front the School Committee throughout the evening Monday, detailing what they described as insufficient discipline in schools leading to frequent outbreaks of violence before this week.

Students described their experience sheltering in place in classrooms on Monday, among other things. Multiple parents and grandparents separately recalled racing to the high school after hearing about the incident and searching for information while texting with their children still locked inside.

Several community members called for better communication from the Medford Schools, flagging concerns with the ways district personnel shared information on Monday morning.

“We need to do better,” multiple speakers told the School Committee.

A handful of School Committee officials responded to public comments. Among other things, Committee Member Melanie McLaughlin pushed back on comments from Scarpelli.

“It’s inaccurate to say that nothing has been done,” McLaughlin said, pointing to work to date by police and school counselors in response to safety concerns.

While responding, McLaughlin and others on the School Committee noted what McLaughlin said is a “systemic issue” impacting school safety.

“We know there’s a systemic issue,” McLaughlin said. “That’s why we’re here to change that. But it takes more than seven people to change a school district. It takes a community.”

Multiple committee members responded to concerns about discipline and transparency in discipline, noting state law limiting what officials can and can't say publicly.

Crisis communication, School Committee Member Jenny Graham separately said, has been a struggle in the past.

After Monday morning’s stabbing and after comments Monday night, Graham said the Medford Schools will need to address communication issues moving forward.

“I know that there is a lot going on behind the scenes,” she said. “…But I think what we have to really grapple with is striking some balance between improving our communications in a truly systemic way.”

“Our parents feel unsupported,” she said. “Our students feel unsupported.”

School officials this week said measures are underway to address safety concerns. Among measures, the School Committee is now set to meet before students return to school next month following the upcoming holiday vacation to discuss school safety and security and to update to community members on current protocols, changes and next steps.

“We have a lot of work to do and we’re committed to doing it,” Lungo-Koehn said.

In the meantime, a heightened police presence at Medford High School this week will include police personnel visible in high school hallways around the high school facility, according to Medford Police Captain Paul Covino.

School officials have separately worked to bring in extra counselors to support students and faculty members in need. These counselors are coming both from other Medford schools and from outside agencies, Lungo-Koehn said on Monday.