Educators Take a Stand in New Britain Against the Increase in Violence

Today, educators at the New Britain High School held a demonstration in response to the violence happening in and around the school.

“We have been on a downward spiral for many, many years,” said Susan Humanick, a New Britain High School English teacher.

“I think the uptick with being out of school but also the lack of supervision, the lack of rules, the lack of enforcement of the rules already on the books is resulting in guns, knives, bullets and more," Humanick said.

Steve Gray, president of New Britain Federation of Teachers, described some of the events that took place over the past two weeks.

“There was a shooting reported up the street last week. There was another drive-by and then we had ammunition bullets found within the building” Gray said.

Educators included being in lockdown three times in the past two weeks and said the students and staff want change.

Parents like Tina Santana are in agreement.

“We’re not going to be able to as a community get ahead or see what better is going to look like if we let it keep going and if we’re not demanding change,” said Santana, who is also a member of the Board of Education for the city of New Britain.

She said there has been a lack of security at the school and inconsistent communication between administrators and parents. 

“Regardless of what you do out in the community, you're mom first, you're dad first; your heart is right here in this building, and you want to make sure it’s the best for them,” Santana said.

New Britain Superintendent Sarra and Assistant Superintendent Foran sent NBC Connecticut a statement saying, “CSDNB remains committed to ensuring the safety and security of all students and staff. We are on the side of safety as well. Through our ESSSER funding, we have added multiple staff members at New Britain High School, and all other schools, to ensure the safety of all New Britain staff and students."

The statement continues, stating, " We have been working closely with the police department through ongoing communication to ensure there is extra police presence at our buildings. The instances that happened last week occurred off school property. As stated in our earlier comments, it is a community wide problem. CSDNB continues to be willing to work with teachers, staff, students, board of education members and city leaders to find community solutions and ensure safety for all.”