No school can properly educate children unless all students and teachers are safe and secure. Obviously, Lafayette High School has a number of safety-related problems that prevent a sound education.

It is both outrageous and unconscionable that this dangerous situation has festered for so long and that thousands of children have been denied an education in a safe environment. It is the right of every child to attend a school that does not frighten or intimidate them.

Lafayette High School has a long history of violence. Some recent incidents include:

• May 12th, 2004—Police responded to a brawl outside the high school where it is claimed that two female students were assaulted by the father of another student.
• May 14th, 2004—Police from two precincts responded to a brawl that started at the school and spread to the adjacent block. Arrests were made and one student was sent to the hospital with injuries.
• May 19th, 2004—Police responded to an incident inside the school where an arrest was made.

As an initial step, Assemblymember William Colton and Senator Seymour Lachman call upon the New York City Department of Education to take swift action in dealing with this dangerous situation. The continuous violence in and around Lafayette High School cannot be allowed to continue.