Two out-of-district students arrested after altercation with Pelham security guard near Franklin Field
Entrance to Franklin Field.
On Monday afternoon, Village of Pelham police responded to the area around Franklin Field near the high school and middle school campus. There was a brief altercation between a group of students from a nearby high school and one of the district’s safety guards, according to an email sent out by Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Champ.
“The altercation occurred after a safety monitor observed the students near Franklin Field and attempted to determine who they were and why they were in such close proximity to the schools,” said Champ in the email that was addressed to families and staff at 5:50 p.m. Monday evening.
Two students involved in the dispute were arrested by Village of Pelham police.
“To be clear, the students involved in Monday’s incident in Pelham did not make an attempt to enter our schools,” said the email.
Champ referenced a recent event that occurred at Eastchester High School where students from a neighboring school district attempted to enter Eastchester’s building.
Bella is a senior at Pelham Memorial High School. She plays field hockey and golf, is on the Pelican Yearbook Staff and is the President of the Pelham...
Arthur Long • Jan 25, 2023 at 8:30 am
This article would benefit some from more of the critical questions of journalism: who what where and why – where were these students from, what did they do, why were they arrested? Perhaps the Examiner should go back to printing the police blotter.
Natali Wind • Jan 25, 2023 at 2:50 pm
Agreed. I mean, why was a safety officer trying to see why a bunch of kids were hanging around a school? And that officer can’t possibly check every kid so why them?
Deanna M Zammit • Jan 24, 2023 at 10:48 am
I’d like to know what the kids did to get arrested. They didn’t try to enter the building. Why saddle them with a police record? Was there a gun? Was there a fight? These are relevant details the community deserves to know, otherwise we’re just blindly accepting the school’s version of events. Surely the police blotter or some friendly officer will have more information.
Thyra Roff • Jan 24, 2023 at 8:29 pm
The email said that the kids “initiated” a conflict with our security. They have no business being near the Franklin entrance. I would have been upset if no arrests were made. Our kids deserve to leave school and not have to worry about troublemakers from other districts hanging out across the street. I am there every day for pickup and I can assure you our staff were not aggressive. We need to stop defending disrespectful behavior from adolescents and hold them accountable.
Natali Wind • Jan 25, 2023 at 2:37 pm
We don’t know if there was a conflict before they were confronted meaning they may not have come off as “troublemakers” to “worry about” to kids leaving school.
Thyra Roff • Jan 25, 2023 at 6:31 pm
Do you have children in the middle school? Do you know the two men who stand there and cross the kids at that corner? Because I do. I can promise you that they were not the ones causing a problem. I sit there every day in my car right at the front entrance. The only people who should be anywhere near Franklin at pickup are students, parents and employees of the school. I call them troublemakers because that’s what they did – made trouble when really all they needed to do was leave. And yes, I worry. These are my children.
Natali Wind • Jan 26, 2023 at 12:53 pm
You knowing those men means nothing. Their behavior towards these kids could have been problematic and you just don’t find it to be because you agree with it.
Deanna M Zammit • Jan 25, 2023 at 8:49 pm
With respect, the letter said that the students “initiated a brief altercation.” Dr. Champ knows what she is doing when she chooses vague, anodyne language to describe these events. How did they initiate it? Did they simply walk toward the staff? Did they talk back? Was it something that really required police intervention? And what crime allegedly took place? Was there physical aggression, or did the police simply respond to a school request to arrest trespassers? No one is asking this district any hard questions. Or any questions at all.
Natali Wind • Jan 26, 2023 at 12:48 pm
Exactly. Her wording is her way of attempting to skirt any wrongdoing because she knows the district could be sued for this.
Bob Shepherd • Jan 24, 2023 at 10:11 am
NOT ENOUGH INFORMATION!
As a parent of a student of Pelham schools, I don’t understand why there was an altercation in the first place if the kids were not on campus, and had no intention to attempt to enter the middle/high school complex as mentioned? Therefore more information would help us all to understand the seriousness (or not) of this “incident.”
This incident was followed up by a second email, received this morning from Dr Champ explaining how students have to continue to show their school ID cards for access to the schools…and wear it throughout the day.
These ID cards are double edged (I won’t explain why on here for obvious reasons), and could allow a stranger to gain access if required.
However, statistics of college/high school shootings of the recent past, show that the dangers are from within. I’ve mentioned this time and time again over the last 9 years of living here. The likely shooter is more often someone known to the school, therefore they will be carrying an issued ID card! If there are no red flags before hand…they are in with everyone else.
Given that deaths from mass shootings overall have increased almost 3 fold since 2014, it’s high time that the schools’ BOE and those involved on the security side, took the statistics seriously, and in 2023 get away from the dangerous lockdown only drills, and teach high school students (and those over the age of 12 years) and their staff the options based RUN, HIDE, FIGHT, which is taught in many schools now in other States, and also at work places in our own State of New York. Remember, living day to day in hope is not a plan. Our high schoolers and their staff deserve the right to live…give them the realistic training to do so. They can then take the training on to the rest of their lives, no matter where they find themselves.