Abel Cedeno, a bisexual eighteen-year-old high school student, sits at Rikers Island charged with manslaughter. Cedeno claims he killed another student in self-defense, and Wednesday appeared in court to plead not guilty. He insists his school did nothing to address years of homophobic bullying. And that on September 27, two teachers in his history class did nothing as classmate Matthew McCree confronted Cedeno—who, claiming to fear that Matthew was armed, snapped and stabbed him with a serrated knife.
While the families of the perpetrator and victim dispute some details, they agree that, in the words of Matthew’s brother, “Nobody had the kids under control” at Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation in the Bronx.
Five years ago, a nightmare like this would’ve caused a call to action from education reformers for higher disciplinary standards and perhaps more charter schools. Today, the outcry has been conspicuous by its absence...
Click here to read the rest of the article at the New York Daily News, where it originally appeared.
Max Eden is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
The views expressed herein represent the opinions of the authors and not necessarily the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
