New Safety Plans expected after violent attack at BPS school

New safety plans are expected to be announced Friday after a student was arrested for attacking her principal at the Henderson School earlier this week. Principal Patricia Lampron was knocked unconscious and taken to an area hospital. Lampron is now recovering at home.

Boston police reported the student involved is a 16-year-old girl faces charges including assault and battery on a victim over the age of 60; one count of assault causing serious bodily injury and two counts of assault and battery on a public employee.

A press release from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office stated the judge set bail in the amount of $5,000 and ordered the juvenile to stay away from and have no contact with the victim, stay away from the school, submit to GPS monitoring and remain under home confinement in the event she is released on bail.

According to the police report, an officer found Lampron unconscious on the ground, being helped by staff members. Lampron was left unconscious for approximately four minutes and suffered a concussion and possible rib fracture as well as swelling to her face and the back of her head.

According to witnesses in the police report, the student threw closed-fist punches at Lampron’s head while grabbing her hair.  Before the attack, the principal told the student to leave the area because school ended, the teen responded to the principal to stop following her. The police report also stated the mother of the 16-year-old had threatened the principal the night before the incident.

There is no longer police presence at BPS. Boston School Police lost their power to arrest anyone earlier this year, and are now called safety services officers. A police reform law passed in 2020 eliminated the requirement that Massachusetts schools must have police officers.  According to WCVB, mayor elect Michelle Wu is firm on her stance of no police in BPS.

“It points for the need for us really to be really investing in our young people, in our school system, in the supports that are necessary all throughout the system,” Wu said. “We need in particularly in this moment coming out of the pandemic, when there’s been such stress, anxiety, trauma on our families to be putting more resources into social and emotional supports, into the wraparound services that our schools should be providing,” said Wu.

The Henderson School was closed on Thursday and Friday.  Superintendent Brenda Cassellius held a virtual meeting for the families of the Henderson School on Thursday evening. The school’s director of instruction or grades 7 through 12, Samuel Podbelski, said the upper campus will remain closed Friday while teachers meet and counselors offer help to students traumatized by the attack. Students in grades 2 through 6 will return to the school’s upper campus Monday, and 7th graders through seniors are expected to return on Tuesday. The Globe has a detailed account of what transpired during the meeting including yelling, profanity and arguments between meeting attendees.