State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Gladys Carion, the state commissioner of Children and Family Services, toured two schools for troubled teens Friday that have been surrounded by controversy in recent years.

?The senator and I are concerned not only about the children, but making sure that the community feels secure and that appropriate oversight is being provided,? said Carion.

The lawmakers toured Pleasantville's Cottage School and the Hawthorne's Cedar Knolls School, facilities that have experienced a series of violent attacks by students.

Fifteen-year-old Cottage School student Louis Flores was charged as an adult with rape earlier this month for an alleged attack on a female student. In March, a 12-year-old allegedly sodomized another student at that same facility. Cottage School was also the scene of a 2002 incident in which eight female students allegedly burned a school counselor with bleach.

Earlier this year at the Cedar Knolls School, three teen boys were accused of gang raping a 13-year-old girl.

Officials say improving the safety conditions at the schools is a work in progress.

?There is a need I think for everyone to be around the table to talk about the issues,? said Stewart-Cousins.

Related Information Police probe possible sex attack at Pleasantville school Three teen boys charged in gang rape at Hawthorne school