Students, educators talk campus safety at annual summit. Here’s what they had to say.

University of New Mexico freshman Aralyn Goldsmith remembers being a few hundred yards away from the dorm where 14-year-old Michael LaMotte was fatally shot. Goldsmith was attending new student orientation and staying overnight on campus.

“I was sleeping and I woke up, and my dad had called me, asked me if I was OK. And I was like, ‘Yes, I’m OK. What’s going on?’” she said. “It was scary, for sure, and I was lucky to be supported by the new student orientation team.”

The topic of support to prevent violence on campus was central as Goldsmith and fellow panelists shared their experiences in front of a half-full ballroom of law enforcement officials and policymakers on Wednesday to close the third New Mexico Safe School Summit.

The three-day conference, held at the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid North hotel, featured speakers such as gubernatorial candidate and Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, state Public Education Secretary Mariana Padilla, Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story and Lt. Gov. Howie Morales.

Session topics ranged from “Gangs 101” and “The Dangerous Facts About Teenage Vaping” to “Grooming 101” and “Designing a Comprehensive School Reunification Plan.”

The conference comes at a time when juvenile crime is a hot-button issue statewide and during a school year in which several firearms have been discovered on Albuquerque Public Schools campuses.

“More can always be done,” Morales said. “That’s why these are important discussions that need to take place, bringing in networks of professionals from all fields; law enforcement, education, health care — and that is what this summit is intended to do.”

Wednesday’s closing panel focused on hearing directly from students and educators about their experience with school safety, and the discussion largely revolved around preventing violence in schools.

In addition to Goldsmith, three high school students from two Silver City schools and three educators — two from Silver City and one from an APS charter school — took part in the panel.

At one point, student panelist Kaelyn Doherty shared a story about when her mother, an elementary teacher, was dealing with a lockdown for an armed person on campus and feared for her life — and her students.

She said that even though staff had walkie-talkies, no one communicated to them, including her mother, that the lockdown had ended.

“Communicating to your teachers can save them so much trauma, and it can save the kids trauma too because she told the kids they were going to die,” Doherty said. “If anybody takes anything away from this, it should just be (to) communicate and tell your kids that you love them.”

Jenn Prye, executive director and principal of Gilbert L. Sena Charter High School — a campus that saw two firearms make their way onto the school grounds during the 2023-24 school year — also spoke about the need for educators to show students they care in order to build trust.

“I’m extremely excited and honored to be here today to share from the trenches how important relationships … and a culture of trust around our systems and schools is incredibly important to the success and safety and culture of belonging,” she said.

Among the ways she said her staff deals with potentially dangerous situations on campus is a “see something, say something” mentality, and her goal is to get teachers comfortable confronting students when necessary.

“We need to be able to speak up and trust each other and trust the system,” she said.