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Tuesday, December 20, 2005
December 20, 2005 – The Detroit Public Schools is forming an alliance with the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and several other religious, civic and business groups to fight violence in and around the schools.
The alliance is built on the knowledge that violence in the schools is not a DPS problem; it is a community problem.
William F. Coleman III, CEO of the District, presented some of the school system’s strategies for fighting violence at a Tuesday night community forum at Corinthian Baptist Church in Hamtramck. The forum was sponsored by the Council of Baptist Pastors, the largest and most influential clergy group in the metro Detroit area.
The strategies include a call-to-action for thousands of parents to sign up for Parent Academy, a program that uses parents who have passed a criminal background check as volunteer security auxiliaries. The program has already been piloted in three schools. The goal is to expand it to all schools.
The District is encouraging each school to build partnerships with churches and businesses and steering students toward group. It is also steering students toward groups it has developed partnerships with such as the Girls Scouts, the Detroit Public Library, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and the Boys and Girls Club of Metropolitan Detroit.
Leaders of the Council and District officials believe that the violence that occurs in the schools is an extension of what goes on in the neighborhoods. They are proposing strategies that attack violence in and out of schools, including evenings and weekends. The strategy would involve the entire community, including parents, educators, and members of the clergy.
“Our children are the biggest casualties,” Coleman said in an address at the forum.He pointed out that many of the problems that occur at the schools are merely an extension of problems in the home or in the neighborhoods. Sometime violence in the neighborhoods spills over into the schools, catching DPS students in the middle, he said.
“That makes all of us victims,” Coleman said. “We have a moral and ethical responsibility to provide a better life for our children by working collectively to stamp out this scourge of violence. No one entity in this town can solve this problem alone – not the police, not the churches, not the recreation centers and certainly not the schools.”
About the Detroit Public Schools
The Detroit Public Schools, founded in 1842, is one of the nation’s largest public school systems. Detroit Public Schools is a school of choice and is open to children who live outside the city. The District offers a variety of highly competitive academic and career technical programs.
