Thursday, April 15^th

DEA: Gang Infiltrated Youth Outreach Work

A new federal indictment alleges the notorious Black Guerrilla Family regrouped after last year's sweeping indictments, anointing a new street leader who used his employment as a youth outreach worker as a cover. The wiretap investigation cites confidential informants who claim the program and others like it are affiliated with the BGF and exist to set gang members up with jobs to conceal their criminal activities.

Shortly after the records became public, Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake announced that she was suspending funding for Safe Streets violent intervention programs across the city. Just last month, Rawlings-Blake had committed $1 million to the East Baltimore Safe Streets program, which is not a part of the indictment but is referenced in an affidavit. Safe Streets has been credited with driving down shootings. Read More

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When Writing Predicts Violence

I began my public school English teaching career shortly after Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris shot and killed 15 people, including themselves, and wounded 34 others at Columbine High School. Their actions left a nation of school administrators wondering how they could prevent the same thing from happening in their schools. Shortly after the shootings, I ran across a New York Times article discussing the Columbine shooters and, in particular, their writing for English class. Klebold had written a story describing a shooting, but after his English teacher raised concerns, he convinced his mother and the school counselor that it was "just a story." For a classroom assignment to write an essay from the point of view of an inanimate object, Harris wrote from the viewpoint of a shotgun shell. In addition, two years before the shooting, the students had created a video wherein they wore black trench coats, carried guns through the school hallways, and appeared to cause explosions as they left the building (Brooke, 1999). Read More (PDF File)

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Peer Jury Taken Seriously

There are no hands in pockets. "I don't know" is not an acceptable answer.

When high school students in Community Unit School District 300 appear before the district's peer jury, they take it seriously.

And creative programs such as peer jury, as well as some strong messages from the top, are bringing down violence at the district's schools, according to its safety officials. Read More

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Parents Help Close Education Achievement Gap

Teaneck High School in northern New Jersey looks exactly like the nickname locals have given it- "a castle on the hill." A Tudor-style building it calls to mind a medieval fortress, the school is nestled in a cozy middle-class neighborhood just a 15-minute drive from New York City. With approximately 1,350 students, the school combines America's rich diversity with academic advantages normally reserved for the elite private schools of Manhattan: The library is equipped with wireless laptop carts that can be rolled into classrooms to service every student. Free SAT preparation is offered, and video-on-demand allows teachers immediate access to digital media.

About 28 different languages are spoken in the halls of this school, where Black, White, Latino and Asian students from all walks of life mingle easily in the cafeteria. On warm days they gather on the front lawn or the concrete steps of the school's stadium. The African-American students, who make up 54 percent of the student body, can claim as many advantages as any other group: Some are the children of cardiologists, college professors, lawyers and corporate executives. One might think that the national education gap between Black and White students does not apply in this largely middle-class setting. Not so,- says the school's principal, Angela R. Davis, who is African-American.

Read Entire Article, in Essence Magazine. (PDF File)

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