Mother from Garfield, New Jersey, calls for more security and attacks on son at school

A Garfield mother is calling for increased security measures at her son’s school after he was allegedly attacked by a classmate.

On April 10, her son, a seventh-grader, was allegedly stabbed in the thigh with a pencil at Garfield Middle School, she said.

The mother, Latasha Williams, said there were no previous problems between her son and the other student and the incident was unprovoked. She said her son was sitting across the classroom when the other student left the room, waited for him and then attacked him.

School officials advised Williams not to contact the other student’s family. She said she has been in regular contact with the school since then, asking for assurances about her son’s safety.

A detective assigned to the case prepared an incident report, and the school finally implemented a safety plan in late April. That plan included administrative supervision when her son moved between classes and rotating his language classes to avoid contact with the other students.