The shooting outside an Atlanta high school football game Friday night is the symptom of a larger problem, Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Meria Carstarphen says: A failure to give students hope.
Two people were injured Friday after police say two groups of young men confronted each other outside the Grady - Carver football game. An 18-year old student was was shot in the back and a 52-year-old woman was injured when stray bullets hit her in the ankle and grazed her head.
Carstarphen says Atlanta can change the circumstances that lead to Friday's shooting—and a similar shooting last year during the Mays-Carver football game—but it will take concerted action by people and institutions throughout the city.
In the short term, she says that will include changes like a more visible police presence at events and a “fan civility” policy. But longer term, Carstarphen is calling for community conversations to seek specific solutions — and for the resources to teach students and families skills to build better lives and avoid violence.
She spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the issues behind Friday’s shooting.
“A lot of it is tied to children and their families over time not receiving a high quality education. That’s part of it,” she said. “But the other part as it relates to the Friday incident is that there hasn’t been a lot of standard setting and expectations setting around how we work, learn and play together in a way that says this is really about children. This is about the adults in our school community modeling for our children how we’re supposed to act, behave, talk and engage with each other.”
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