Gangs and City Schools... Whose responsibility?

The high school where I teach has had a police officer give a presentation about gangs twice – once to the faculty, and once at Back-to-School night. While informative, as it explained gang issues across the city, how to recognize telltale signs of gang involvement, and who to contact if you suspect a child is involved in a gang, it stopped short of offering possible solutions to the epidemic. And, while I was pleased to see that my administration was taking this problem seriously enough to arrange for the presentation, I was disheartened by what appeared to be the end of the dialogue on gangs at our school. No one talked about what we, as a school community, were going to do in order to discourage students from joining gangs. No one brought up ideas for engaging the students in a discussion about gangs, or how to combat their appeal by providing a safe and nurturing learning environment. No one suggested creating additional after-school activities to give our students alternatives instead of being out on the streets.

But my school isn’t the only one who is reluctant to shoulder the responsibility of keeping kids out of gangs. In fact, in the recent series of articles in The Baltimore Sun about Dr. Alonso, the City Schools CEO, had a forceful response when asked what schools were doing about the problem.

"How is it the responsibility of the school system to deal with gangs?" he snapped. "Gangs are not in the schools. Gangs are being formed on the outside."

"They're in the schools," the great-grandmother said.

"I know, and we have a responsibility," he shot back. His next few sentences were disjointed as he tried to regain his composure.

We're missing the fact that it is a community conversation," he said. "What are the parents doing?"

The audience clapped. He continued: "What are the students doing? What is everyone doing? It is so unfair to the professionals in the school to say, 'What are you doing about gangs?' Let me tell you what we're doing about gangs, now, let me tell you." He went on with a list, including gang awareness programs and more school police.

"The reason I'm responding with such passion," he said, "is because there's no way for me to predict whether one of my kids is going to get shot two blocks away from school in a gang-related incident. And, and, for anyone to suggest that this is the responsibility of the school system is a form of madness."

While I do agree that the prevalence of gangs – and young people joining them – is a community issue, and should be addressed at the community level, I do believe that we, as educational institutions, could be doing more. Why aren’t we offering more after-school programs, or weekend activities to keep kids off the streets? Why don’t we have in-school mentoring programs that tackle tough issues like gangs, drugs, and peer pressure? Why aren’t we bringing more positive role models into our schools? Why aren’t we, by our actions, saying to our children, “We care about you and want you to be safe and make good decisions?”

This Sunday’s cover story in The Baltimore Sun talked about how gang members are turning themselves around with the help of counselors and places including the Rose Street Community Center. Though I doubt that schools would invite former gang members like Tony Wilson to talk to students, I think the idea of bringing the issue to the forefront is imperative. As teachers, we see the gang symbols written on our desks and notebooks; we see the handshakes in the hall; we see the colors being worn – but are we content to accept it as a part of city life, to wash our hands of it because it is a “community” issue?

Someone once told me that by teaching in the City, you must be willing to take on the role of a teacher and a parent, because unfortunately, the reality is that too many of our students do not have stable home environments. Effective teachers of urban students will step into the role of a caring adult who is a strong role model. If the community is not willing to step up and fight for our kids, then maybe the schools need to… before it is too late.

After all, if our students do not have places where they can seek advice and discuss alternatives before they join a gang, what choice do we expect them to make? Most young people who become gang members are looking for a family, for something to belong to, and for some form of community. If they do not have this at home, and if we could provide this at school, maybe, just maybe, we would see a decrease in gang activity. It’s a long shot, yes, but at this point, I think it’s worth trying.