However the panel discussion offered very few answers to how to deal with the violence in DPS and besides banning cell phones and texting devices in all Detroit Public Schools. This idea was offered by Worthy and she this is one way to prevent “shots from being fired and children dying in school.” This response is in reaction to two school shootings this school year on DPS grounds with one student at Central High School being shot in school by a non-student who was let in by a student at Central after texting that student to let him in to a side door at Central. Violence has erupted after students text outsiders about a conflict during the school day and then outsiders are waiting after school to cause conflict, Worthy said at the school safety roundtable discussion with school, community and public safety leaders.
The audience of about 200 parents, community members and students at Cass Tech High School broke out in applause to the idea. DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb agrees, though the ban has not yet been implemented. Worthy's suggestion -- along with strictly enforcing a dress code and ID policies -- was among many floated at the public safety forum. Also having more Detroit Police patrols and Detroit Public School Safety officers around schools is among some of the ideas that were put out there by Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans and DPS Public Safety Chief Roderick Grimes. Now the violence in DPS was escalated this summer because five summer school students were among seven teenagers shot June 30 as they waited at a west-side bus stop this summer. Another student was shot June 18 near Denby High School. Two students were shot and killed near schools late last year i.e. Henry Ford High School and Central.
The public safety forum also revealed that crime at Detroit Public Schools is underreported because some school administrators are fearful of having their schools appear more violent than others. Teachers said many of their students live in fear of walking to school. "I know as chief educator of the state that you cannot learn in fear," Flanagan said, speaking, too, of his personal experience of growing up in Brooklyn, New York. However the forum offered no new innovative ideas outside of the banning of cell phones but even that idea could cause more harm than good because some students need their cell phone for after school purposes such as when they are on their way to work or other extracurricular activities in order to let their parents know they made it safely from point a to point b. Plus there are not many outside phone booths in Detroit or any city for that matter so if a child is in trouble or needs to make an emergency call where can they go. Secondly the state of Michigan passed a law saying that schools must designate an area for students to use to make calls home when they need to, however many counselor centers or school offices in DPS are not willing to allow students to make such calls to their parents as they need to. Still the banning of cell phones and other texting devices seems nice but it won’t deter violence unless teachers, students, parents, administrators, and law enforcement work together to curb violence.
This is what this public safety forum should have been geared toward instead of testimonials as to how violence DPS is for students and teachers as well as parents and administrators. None of the solutions offered were new to the public but this could be the beginning of an all out blitz on how to win this war on our youth in Detroit Public Schools. Imagine if all Detroit Public Schools enforced their dress code policy and all DPS students carried ID’s in order to enter school buildings. This is could a major step in the right direction. However imagine that the teachers in DPS went back to doing hall duty and monitoring doorways and halls where in school truancy is prevalent and violence in DPS can occur or outsiders can enter. For years the Detroit Federation of Teachers have argued that they are not paid to monitor halls or come outside the classroom during hall passing but the truth of the matter is, how else do we expect to clean hallways and make sure students are going to class on time. How else are we going to curb the attitudes of the youth in DPS if teachers and administrators aren’t willing to walk the halls, monitor them and clear them in order to make sure students are in class during learning time rather than just roaming the halls.
The war on our youth won’t be solved with simply banning cell phones and text devices but it can be won with us having public safety officers doing their job by monitoring halls and walking the halls of the school buildings they are assigned too. For far too long DPS public safety has hovered around the camera booths in many schools which has not deterred any of the violence or crime in schools whatsoever and many of these public safety officers who look at the cameras aren’t looking at the halls or outside school grounds with the cameras but are rather monitoring their own cars to make sure they are not stolen, broken into or vandalized. Think about, hundreds of thousands of Detroit School teachers have been stolen, broken into or vandalized on school parking lots during school hours for the last 6 or more years and the cameras that were instilled in schools were meant to deter this from action as well as students from skipping in school. However it has not that and that is why public safety in DPS is among many of the departments in DPS that is being considered for privatization which I am not against if the results are better than what we have now.
Students and parents taking responsibility in the violence in DPS are imperative. Students must be willing to report suspicious behavior to school officials and school officials must take these claims seriously no matter what. Also another problem in deterring school violence in DPS is that parents need to volunteer in the schools more. Many parents who don’t work during the day need to give time to the schools that their child attends in order to help schools deter violence and the attitudes but even with parental volunteers, school officials must make sure the parents who volunteer are not being bias in how they deal with the students. Time and time again, I have seen preferential treatment given to certain students by parents who volunteer in the school or parents who work at the school that their child attends. This preferential treatment only leads to more violence and to the underreporting of many school harassment cases in Detroit Public Schools.
The war on our youth won’t be won unless we can find a way to train parents to be non-bias when volunteering in these schools or at least getting them to just monitor their own child’s behavior particularly if their child is considered the behavior problem in DPS. Still even with parental help and students taking their own school safety serious, it will not deter those in our public education who need alternative learning or extreme measures to be educated. However alternative learning schools already have been built in Detroit Public Schools and their effects in the past to curb youth violence or youth violent behavior has not been proven because instead of altering the behavior of troubled youth, alternative schools only babysit and allowed their behavior to continue to foster out control instead of dealing with it properly. That is why in order to deal with the youth violence plaguing Detroit Public Schools, it will take more than just talk and recycled old ineffective plans. Detroit Public Schools needs it proactive approach at not only curbing youth violence but altering youth behavior in order to change the culture of learning in Detroit Public Schools forever.
The war on our youth is not lost yet but we have lost many battles due to inconsistent from all parties involved in DPS. There are is enough blame to go around on all sides but now is not the time for blame but it is rather the time to implement strategies that will change the mindsets of Detroiters and its youth forever while improving the state of education in the city of Detroit right here, right now. So let’s not talk about but let’s be about because the solutions to youth violence in Detroit Public Schools begins with less talk and more action from students, parents, teachers, administrators, law enforcement, public officials, the community and other stake holders who want to improve the education in DPS while changing the mindsets and culture of the students to know that violence is not the answer. This is the time to do so it’s nothing to it but to do it.
SAVE OUR YOUTH!
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