**
DCG posted: " Daily Mail: Thousands of Chicago children whose
schools were shuttered last spring walked to new ones on the first day of
school today under the watchful eye of police officers. They were also
joined by newly hired safety guards - there to provide " Respond to this
post by replying above this line
New post on *Fellowship of the Minds*
<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/author/dcgere/> It’s come to this:
Guards have to escort Chicago kids to new schools as they cross
gang
boundaries<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/its-come-to-this-guards-have-to-escort-chicago-kids-to-new-schools-as-they-cross-gang-boundaries/>
by
DCG <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/author/dcgere/>
[image: guard]<http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/guard.jpg>
Daily
Mail<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2402320/Guards-escort-Chicago-kids-new-schools-cross-gang-boundaries.html>:
Thousands of Chicago children whose schools were shuttered last spring
walked to new ones on the first day of school today *under the watchful eye
of police officers*.
*They were also joined by newly hired safety guards* - there to provide
protection as the kids crossed unfamiliar streets, *many of them gang
boundaries*. No incidents of trouble were reported, police said.
While that didn't surprise parents and randparents, they said they were
still concerned that *the city's obvious show of first-day force won't keep
their children safe in the weeks and months to come*.
*'I think it's just show-and-tell right now,' * said Annie Stovall, who
walked her granddaughter, nine-year-old Kayla Porter, to Gresham Elementary
School, which is about five blocks farther from home than Kayla's previous
South Side school. 'Five, six weeks down the road, let's see what's going
to happen.'
Kathy Miller stood in front of Gresham Elementary with her three children,
waiting for a bus that would take them to another school. She scoffed at
the Safe Passage program, in which guards clad in neon vests line Chicago
streets, saying it won't be long *before brightly colored signs announcing
the program's routes will be riddled with bullets*. 'Those signs don't mean
nothing,' she said.
The preparation and show of force shows what's at stake for Chicago Public
Schools, the nation's third-largest school district, after it closed
almost 50 schools last spring in the hopes of improving academic
performance and saving millions of dollars. About 12,000 of the district's
400,000 students were affected by the closures.
[image: guard2]<http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/guard2.jpg>
For months, parents, teachers and community activists have warned that
forcing children to pass through some of the city's more impoverished and
dangerous neighborhoods — where some already walking in the middle of the
street to avoid being ambushed by gang members — *to get to school puts
them at undue risk*.
Statistics suggest those concerns are valid. An analysis of Chicago crime
data by WBEZ-FM found that in 2013, *there have been 133 shootings and 38
homicides in and around areas that have been newly marked as Safe Passage
routes*.
And if the attention Chicago received after a 15-year-old honor student was
killed about a mile from President Barack Obama's home in January is any
indication, there is no doubt a similar media firestorm will occur if a
child is caught in gang crossfire on the way to or from school.
*One officer standing outside Gresham Elementary summed up the pressure the
police department and City Hall are under this year*, joking that children
'better not get a splinter or we'll all be out of a job.'
With the hope of preventing problems, the financially strapped city hired
600 workers at a rate of $10 an hour to supplement a Safe Passage program
that has existed since 2009, — launched the same year a Chicago honors
student's beating death was videotaped.
Police worked with residents and CPS to map out routes near 52 of the
so-called 'welcoming schools' that are taking in students from the closed
schools. Along those routes, *the city has put up scores of 'Safe Passage'
signs*.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel also deployed city departments to repair sidewalks,
replace street lights, paint over graffiti and board up nearly 300
abandoned buildings.
On Monday, Emanuel didn't mention Safe Passage, focusing instead on changes
that have been made for this school year, starting with a full day of
kindergarten. But last week, he told about 1,000 people at a training
session that the program is 'about more than just building a route to
school. 'It is about building a route to college, career and beyond...' he
said.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Monday he was pleased with how
things were going, particularly in what he saw as evidence of community
and parent involvement. 'I'm seeing small groups of kids being walked to
school by their parents, or their older brothers or sisters,' McCarthy
told reporters.
'This goes to the heart of what we've been talking about since I've been
here, which is to me, this is an opportunity. This is true community
policing.'
But crime statistics and shootings, like the one in the Uptown neighborhood
last week along a Safe Passage route, only underline what parents say is a
fact of life: *Danger lurks.*
'They will ride to school for the rest of their life, as long as I'm in
Chicago,' Jennifer Press said, explaining her etermination to keep her
kids out of harm's way and from gangs from preying on them.
She was at Gresham Elementary to register her four-year-old daughter there
because the pre-Kindergarten class at a school closer to her home is full.
For her part, nine-year-old Kayla professed she wasn't worried about all
the gangs and the dangers of the streets that she's heard her grandmother,
Annie Stovall, and other grown-ups talk about — as long as her grandmother
and aunt who walked with her to school are nearby. 'I'm going to be OK, as
long as they're with me,' she said.
While I'm all for protecting the children, it's a shame it's come to this.
Gang activity is out of control in Chicago.
Good job "Dead Fish <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm_Emanuel>" Emanuel!
DCG
*DCG <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/author/dcgere/>* | August
27, 2013 at 3:45 am | Tags:
Chicago<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=chicago>|
Categories:
Children <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=34928689>,
crime<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=34945349>,
Education <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=15005908>, Gun
Control/2nd Amendment
<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=67540812>| URL:
http://wp.me/pKuKY-n5H
Comment<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/its-come-to-this-guards-have-to-escort-chicago-kids-to-new-schools-as-they-cross-gang-boundaries/#respond>
See all
comments<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/its-come-to-this-guards-have-to-escort-chicago-kids-to-new-schools-as-they-cross-gang-boundaries/#comments>
Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage
Subscriptions<https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=80d8873ee52adffe4e178d01c25562cf&email=goosepickles%40gmail.com>.
*Trouble clicking?* Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/its-come-to-this-guards-have-to-escort-chicago-kids-to-new-schools-as-they-cross-gang-boundaries/
Thanks for flying with WordPress.com <http://wordpress.com>
--
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"PoliticalForum" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
