BALTIMORE — Some new violence intervention tactics are coming to some Baltimore City Schools next year.
City leaders said the new programs are being launched in efforts to minimize the violent incidents that happen in city schools.
Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High, Carver Vocational Technical High and Digital Harbor High Schools are all on the list with piloting this new program, which the mayor’s office said is fully geared towards violence intervention in city schools.
“Imagine having support that looks like you. Imagine having support that doesn’t feel judgmental,” Shantay Jackson said, Director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE).
It’s the support city leaders are working to bring to city schools.
Jackson said MONSE partnered with city schools to establish three school based violence intervention programs helping to shift the norm of violence inside city schools.
“The high schools that the mayor selected has been based on data,” Jackson said.
Data shows within the last year across Mervo, Carver and Digital Harbor, there were 19 arrests associated with violence.
This past September, during the first week of school, 17-year-old Jeremiah Brogden was gunned down outside Mervo High School.
RELATED: Police identify student shot and killed by teen from another school during dismissal at Mervo High
“We saw a total of 372 suspensions across violent offenses, whether that was fighting, attacks on another student, or physical contact with a school staff person” Jackson said.
This data was the reason city leaders chose these three schools to pilot this new school based violence intervention program, which Jackson said will allow school based specialists to work with students, staff and families to strengthen problem solving and conflict management skills.
Furthermore, some students will serve as ambassadors to help implement the program.
“There’s no way we would’ve done this without the students being a part of this. Those student ambassadors are going to be supported by a full team of adults that are going to be doing the work of training them around community violence intervention, around making sure that they are there to provide mediation in the moment, but also providing those additional supports around emotional regulation,” Jackson said.
Each school will hire three school based violence interrupters and utilize two students from each grade level to serve as ambassadors or messengers for this pilot program.
The CEO of city schools Dr. Sonja Santelises spoke out in favor of the program stating “ Violence claimed the lives of 12 school-aged children last academic year, and city schools relies on community partnerships like MONSE and Mayor Scott's pilot program to reduce the violence through alternative solutions that address the real issues behind the harm.”
“What I would want young people to know is that we see you, that we have a deep understanding that what you’re going through today in Baltimore City is unique to you as an individual, and that we’re going to be showing up to make sure that you are heard. That you have the life skills that you need to ensure that you have bright and hopeful futures,” Jackson said.
This pilot program will start in January in those three schools and will continue for the next two years. City leaders also said they hope this can be a model to implement in other city schools that need it as well.
