Parents tell board of assaults and weapon incident at high school, call for tougher discipline

Several parents and community members used the public-comment period to report violent incidents at Fayetteville-Manlius High School and to press the board and superintendent for clearer discipline and communication.

Parent Jason Held described what he said was an assault with a knife on his child and said the school had characterized the incident as a "verbal altercation" before local authorities described it differently. Held, a combat veteran, said the student who produced the knife attempted to stab his son in the chest in a bathroom and that the district’s code of conduct treats weapons incidents in general terms; he urged the board to pursue expulsion rather than temporary suspension. "I just implore that you cannot and should not let this assailant back on school campus ever," Held said.

Another parent, Habiba, said her son was attacked in the high school bathroom in January, suffered a bloody nose, and later defended himself; she said he was suspended for four months and is only now returning. She reported threats extending beyond school, including property damage at the family home, and said she had not received satisfactory answers about why staff had not checked on her son when he was bleeding in class.

Resident Alexa Glenny urged the board to make student safety and student mental health a more open topic of discussion rather than treating incidents as if they do not happen, saying victims feel blamed and punished.

Speakers asked for clearer communication from the district about discipline outcomes and for measures that prioritize student safety. The board did not take any immediate disciplinary votes on these matters during the public session; speakers said decisions about individual discipline were proceeding through superintendent hearings and related administrative processes.