Police said both employees suffered minor injuries during a dispute Monday morning at the William Howard Taft Educational Campus.
NEW YORK — Police were searching for a 17-year-old student accused of slashing two teacher aides during a dispute Monday morning at a Bronx public school campus, authorities said.
The confrontation occurred shortly after 10 a.m. at the William Howard Taft Educational Campus on East 172nd Street. Police said a 53-year-old aide was cut on his left arm with an object authorities believed may have been a scalpel. A second aide, a 30-year-old man, suffered a minor cut to his hand while trying to intervene.
Both employees were taken to BronxCare Health for treatment. Their injuries were described as minor and not life-threatening. Authorities did not release their names, and initial reports did not identify which school or program employed them.
The student left the scene before officers could take him into custody, police said. He was last reported carrying a blue backpack and wearing a black shirt and a blue sweater. Police did not immediately release his name, a possible motive or details about what led to the dispute.
The incident remained under investigation. Initial news reports did not identify criminal charges or indicate that an arrest had been made. Because the person being sought is a minor, authorities may limit the identifying information they release during the investigation.
The second aide’s intervention limited the confrontation but also placed him in danger. Police accounts said he was injured as he attempted to stop the attack on his colleague. Authorities did not provide additional information about whether other employees, students or school safety personnel were present.
Reports differed on whether the confrontation happened inside the building or immediately outside the campus. They also differed on the older employee’s age, with most accounts listing him as 53 and another report listing him as 43. Police had not publicly clarified those differences by Tuesday.
The East 172nd Street building is a shared educational campus rather than a single operating high school. City school records list several programs at the address, including the Bronx High School of Business, the Bronx High School for Medical Science, New Directions Secondary School and the Bronx School for Continuous Learners.
The shared-campus arrangement means students and staff from multiple schools may use the same building. Authorities had not said which program the student attended or whether the two aides worked directly with him. One published account said the employees worked with students who have special needs, but education officials had not publicly confirmed their assignments.
Officials also had not announced whether the campus changed its security procedures or operations after the incident. No public statement from the city Department of Education was included in the initial reports, and it was not immediately clear whether families received a campuswide notification.
The investigation was continuing Tuesday as police worked to locate the student and establish what happened before the confrontation. The employees were expected to recover from their injuries, according to the initial accounts.
Author note: Last updated July 28, 2026.