$500K In Safety Enhancements Coming To Roxborough High After Shooting

ROXBOROUGH, PHILADELPHIA — Roxborough High School is getting a funding boost to increase safety about two weeks after a deadly shooting outside the school.

State Reps. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Phila., and Pamela A. DeLissio, D-Montgomery/Phila., along with State Sen. Vince Hughes, D-Montgomery/Phila., announced $500,000 in funding for Roxborough High School Tuesday for security enhancements.

The announcement comes on the two-week anniversary of the shooting that killed 14-year-old Nicolas Elizalde and hurt several other teens when a joint football scrimmage let out at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27.

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"This for me is not a moment of celebration. Nicholas is gone and four other students will never be the same. This is the least we can do to help make students and families at Roxborough feel a tiny bit safer in light of this tragedy," Kenyatta said. "We must do everything possible to make sure that another parent or guardian doesn’t have to grieve the loss of their child. We allocated $300 million in the last budget for additional supports to communities to address the gun crime crisis, but I’m committed to doing more."

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The legislators were joined by School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony B. Watlington, Sr., Councilman Curtis Jones, and Roxborough High School Principal Kristin Smalley for the announcement.

“We have always viewed our schools as safe havens for our students and our Office of School Safety, alongside school administration and staff, work tirelessly to keep our students safe,” Watlington said. “On behalf of the district and entire school community at the Academies at Roxborough, thank you to our state leaders, including Representative Kenyatta, Representative DeLissio, and Senator Hughes, for working to secure the funding that will enhance our security efforts.”

The funding came from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

“Nothing will bring back Nicholas. Nothing will take away the pain his family is feeling. Nothing will fully right this wrong,” Hughes said. “We hope arrests are made soon to bring some justice to this tragic situation and in the meantime, my colleagues and I knew we had to invest in Roxborough High School to make sure it has what it needs to increase security moving forward. This $500,000 grant is one way we are stepping up to address this scourge of gun violence plaguing our city, but we must all do our part to stop this madness. We must put down the guns. We must win this fight against the violence and we cannot give up.”

“Too many of our schools are in need of equitable funding,” DeLissio said. “This funding being presented to Roxborough High School is needed and we cannot lose sight of the need for equitable funding to be appropriated through the fair funding formula and any time funding is being distributed for basic public education.”