Spring Valley High School fight: Two students injured by knives, neither critical

A fight involving several people at Spring Valley High School resulted in at least three injured students, according to Spring Valley Police Chief Richard Oleszczuk.

Two students suffered injuries that appeared to come from a knife, he said. East Ramapo Superintendent Clarence Ellis said a third student "suffered minor abrasions to the face."

All three were taken to local hospitals and none appeared to be critically injured.

One student, Ellis said, was taken into custody, though Oleszczuk said no arrests have been made.

Ellis said an "argument" among students occurred during dismissal around 2:10 p.m., which was broken up by security and the school's resource officer.

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Oleszczuk would not say what the cause of the fight may have been. Ellis said the investigation is ongoing, calling the incident "serious."

The superintendent noted the district has "a zero-tolerance policy regarding violence of any form or fashion in our building or on our campuses."

Many school districts around the region have reported an increase in physical conflicts this school year.

The incident comes three weeks after a Mount Vernon teen, Kayla Green, was fatally stabbed after a parade celebrating the school's boys basketball team winning a state championship.

School officials and mental health experts have pointed to the impact that COVID-19, and months of remote learning and isolating safety precautions, may have had on young people and their ability to logically navigate conflict. However, they also say there is evidence youth were already on the precipice of a mental health crisis that was simply exacerbated by the pandemic.

An Arlington student was fatally stabbed in the chest after a home football game on Sept. 17, and parents and students say the school has seen sporadic altercations inside the school for months, including a set of incidents in March that were dubbed "fight week."

There have also been numerous shooting incidents outside and nearby Poughkeepsie and Newburgh schools.

And, cities throughout the Mid Hudson region have seen a rise in gun violence, with school-aged residents often involved as perpetrators, victims or both.

While school officials have pointed to the need for increased mental health resources to assist students — and many districts have factored increased spending into their budgets — some students themselves have said they have a responsibility to curb the violence.

"What will help stop the violence is us teens getting together trying to spread the word as much as possible and just try to influence the people causing the problems to have a change of mind to do better things in better ways," Jahkell Hancock, a Mount Vernon High School student who is president of the Boys & Girls’ Dream Chasers Keystone Club, said following Green's death.

This is a developing story, please check back for updates.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Spring Valley High School fight: 3 students injured by knives: police