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Council in support of reinstating SRO, telling council members that SROs often have a pulse on conflicts brewing between students. There has also been some consensus among some principals that the D.C. Council, in approving the drawback in SROs, didn’t have a nuanced understanding of how SROs functioned in schools.

However, grassroots organizers, including those affiliated with the Black Swan Academy, have long touted the need for a public health approach to on-campus and intra-community violence that doesn’t involve police. They have stood on the frontlines against SROs, pointing out other means of quelling student conflict.

Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary cited feedback received from administrators, teachers and students about on-campus altercations and its dismal effects on student wellbeing and attendance. The report went on to say that, given the polarizing nature of the SRO debate, the D.C. Council circumvented public opinion when it initially approved the gradual removal of SROs in 2021.

“The council decision on this issue in 2021 was a part of a nationwide trend in which a number of other jurisdictions made similar decisions at that time,” page 115 of the report read. “But many of those jurisdictions… are also now reconsidering the phaseout of SROs in schools. Those reversals reflect the reality that all policymaking involves tradeoffs [that] merit close examination and a thorough public conversation, and the council should engage in that examination and conversation.”

During the 2021-2022 school year, there were more than 1,000 calls made for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) for D.C. public schools, according to the committee report. The report also cited the recovery of 77 knives, 15 tasers and five guns by SROs and MPD officers on school campuses within the same timespan. The D.C. Council Committee of Public Safety and the Judiciary recommended that SROs be reinstalled to immediately mitigate conflict while schools figure out how to meet students’ long-term behavioral health needs.

Weeks earlier, D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) proposed legislation that, in lieu of SROs, would install a safety director for each District school and mandate the Office of the State Superintendent of Education to facilitate the creation of guidelines used to review school safety plans.

This legislation, Parker told the Informer, came out of public frustration with the lack of school safety enhancements in Bowser’s budget proposal.

Over the last several months, school principals have testified before the D.C.

According to D.C. Policy Center, nearly 80% of District residents lived within half a mile of a homicide -more than likely in places where children live -- in 2021. A study conducted by the think tank in March found that young people in D.C. 17 years old and younger are more likely than their counterparts in other parts of the country to be exposed to violence. The numbers are nearly twice as high when household income is below the federal poverty line.

That’s why during the last week of April every year, some gun violence prevention organizations use Youth Violence Prevention Week to drive home the point that gun violence is not only a matter of safety and justice, but a public health issue that should be addressed as such.

Tia Bell, founder and executive director of True Reasons I Grabbed the Gun Evolved from Risks Project, also known as T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project, said that she’s been able to engage, gain the trust of, and educate young people who’ve been exposed to gun violence, but have yet to become perpetrators or victims of gun-related crimes.

She expressed plans to continue along this journey between April 24 and 28, during which T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project, a gun violence prevention organization focused on public health and youth development, will conduct activities at District schools and facilitate a social media campaign anticipated to reach thousands of young people.

Local activities include an assembly at SEED Public Charter School, a virtual planning session for the 2023 End Gun Violence Citywide Conference, TRIGGER BINGO on Instagram

Live, an assembly at Alice Deal Middle School in Northwest, and the collective wearing of orange for gun violence awareness.

Read the full story on washingtoninformer.com. WI

Amazon Surprises

Seven PGCPS Students with $40,000 Scholarships

By Richard Elliott WI Contributing Reporter

Four hundred high schoolers across the country are receiving a total of $16 million in paid tuition to attend the college or university of their choice, thanks to Amazon’s Future Engineer Scholarship. On April 18, seven Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) students were surprised at Eleanor Roosevelt High School with $40,000 in aid.

"Every year, I continue to be inspired by our scholarship recipients’ academic achievements and drive to use their problem-solving abilities to build solutions for their communities,” said Victor Reinoso, global director of Philanthropic Education Initiatives at Amazon.

Students across the nation applied for this opportunity and were selected based on academic achievement, demonstrated leadership, community involvement, work experience, future goals and financial need.

“With students from historically underrepresented and underserved communities representing only 18% of [computer science] bachelor’s degrees, we believe that connecting students to computer science education and opportunities helps create a more equitable and inclusive future, across all industries and sectors, for generations to come."

Today, Amazon announced the 2023 Amazon Future Engineer Scholarship recipients. This year, Amazon awarded 400 scholarships, providing a total of $16 million in paid tuition for students to attend the U.S. college or university of their choice. Seven of the scholarship recipients were surprised with a special Amazon delivery at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, MD. Through Amazon Future Engineer, our global philanthropic education initiative, each student will receive $40,000 over four years to pursue a degree in computer science or engineering and a paid internship after their freshman year to gain practical work experience with mentorship from Amazon leaders.

"Every year, I continue to be inspired by our scholarship recipients’ academic achievements and drive to use their problem-solving abilities to build solutions for their communities,” said Victor Reinoso, global director of Philanthropic Education Initiatives at Amazon. “With students from historically underrepresented and underserved communities representing only 18% of CS bachelor’s degrees, we believe that connecting students to computer science education and opportunities helps create a more equitable and inclusive future, across all industries and sectors, for generations to come."

Scholarship recipients applied for the opportunity and were selected based on academic achievement, demonstrated leadership, community involvement, work experience, future goals, and financial need. WI