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Thursday, March 8, 2007
Cracking Down On Gangs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
News of the new DeKalb County Police Chief cracking down on gang activity caught my eye last night, especially the part about fining parents for kids who break curfew.
Obviously, the chief is more concerned about gang violence and lawlessness in the larger community, but the story made me think about the problem of gangs in schools.
Two years ago, more than 1,000 kids at Mundy’s Mill High School in Clayton County stayed home on a Monday after hearing rumors that “gangbangers” were going to shoot up the Jonesboro campus. Although police never uncovered such a plot, which surfaced after the weekend shooting death of a Mundy’s Mill senior, the fear of more violence was so real even the PTA president kept her son home.
So what I want to know is: If police can’t stamp out gangs in the community, can principals, teachers and parents do so at school?
