Ask the Kids; Then Listen

Parents in Burbank are understandably angry and demanding answers after a student was stabbed to death, allegedly by a classmate at Burbank High School. Sadly, answers are not so easy to find.

As Burbank Police Chief Dave Newsham so simply and eloquently told parents and teachers at a meeting last week: “If we had 100 more police officers, that wouldn’t have stopped it. If we had 100 more security aids, that wouldn’t have stopped it. If we had metal detectors at every door, that wouldn’t have been a guarantee to stop it.”

School is supposed to be a sanctuary from violence. It’s a sad state when kids use the same sneaky efficiency they once reserved for an illicit drink, smoke or kiss to nowadays find a way to kill.

The questions from parents and teachers are the right ones to ask. How could this happen? What drives a child to kill? But they are asking the wrong people. Only the kids themselves can begin to answer. When they do, adults must listen.