ost enough students to gunfire last year to fill a classroom. How can we stop the violence?
Since taking over the district, Cassellius has repeatedly decried the devastating effects of gun violence on students and teachers. She has urged everyone from the mayor on down to take action. Her students are not dying at school, but in acts of community violence, and most shootings occurred outside school hours.
Efforts to address the violence do exist, spanning from prevention to enforcement. Each summer, hundreds of young people participate in summer camps, city-organized job placements and other prevention programs.
The goals often overlap: Give kids and teens a safe space after school. Connect them with mentors. Teach conflict resolution. Show them pathways into jobs and education.
Still, young people in Milwaukee continue to get shot and killed.
And as a new school year begins, everyone agrees: That should be unacceptable.
