Students met with local officials in a Black History Month event to discuss violence in Rochester and conflict resolution.
They are enrolled at the NorthSTAR Educational Program, which is for students with behavioral, emotional or cognitive disabilities, and who have had to deal with conflict in other settings.
They're enrolled there in addition to their home school.
Student-parent ombudsman for the city School District, Yolanda Asamoah-Wade, says it's important to have a dialogue about violence and conflict resolution.
"Because it is those conflicts that can tend to derail student success. Those conflicts in the school building impact and impede learning and their ability to stay seated," she said.
Asamoah-Wade says this type of dialogue is especially important during Black History month because most of the district's population is African-American and they are facing these types of conflict issues both inside school and out.
Panelists included School Board President Van White and Monroe County Legislator and mayoral candidate James Sheppard.
Other topics handled by members of the panel discussion included the connection between social media and violence, and how to walk away from conflict in non-violence instead of responding in violence.
Organizers told the NorthSTAR students that from this point forward, it is the decisions and the choices they make that will determine their future.
Here’s Asamoah-Wade talking about student rights in the district: