What does feeling safe at your school mean to you? At Cherry Hill East, that question has been brought up now more than ever with the incidents that have taken place last week.

On February 7th, Dr. Dennis Perry addressed a number of fights that occurred that day in the cafeteria. He said the students involved had been disciplined.

While this sounds relieving at first, it raises other questions. What can be done to deter this kind of incident in the future? How can students know they are safe?

“I think East needs more safety measures in place. I’m particularly concerned with the openness of Lunch and Learn: there is almost too much freedom.” said a teacher at East.

Along with the concerns of safety and discipline at East, students also present the issue of East not presenting itself in a truthful light.

Student Class Representative Drew Spivack (‘26) expressed her concerns: “The fighting definitely makes me question my safety at East as I know that other students are hurting each other and are capable of hurting each other… it makes me question if this is a good and positive environment as it is promoted to be.”

Along with Spivack, other students have disagreed with Perry’s statements of East being a friendly and safe environment by voicing their opinions, and also creating video compilations of the fights.

The administration’s lack of transparency about the consequences given to the involved students has resulted in confusion, fear, and a lack of trust among the East student body. From Perry’s announcement, people are aware that the students involved in the fights are being disciplined. However, the need for confidentiality in disciplinary cases means most students don’t know what these punishments actually are. Students need to know that the administration takes violent behavior seriously and, importantly, that the consequences for this behavior will serve as a deterrent to future incidents.

Perry tried to comfort those scared by the situation by saying that guidance counselors are available to talk. However, the average student doesn’t want to speak to their counselor about a situation not directly involving them. Students want the altercations and danger to be stopped and at all costs prevented.

Cherry Hill East has many outstanding qualities that make students come together. These fights on Wednesday challenged that sense of community. In order for students to be reassured that East can continue to be a place where they can feel safe and prideful, they need stronger assurances that school leadership takes violent behavior seriously.