Not again!!!

[ALT-X]

Originally Posted by ausmerika

Raleigh High School student stabbed - 9/15/08 - Raleigh News - abc11.com


When are they going to do something about the violence in the Wake Co Schools????

What do you mean? Who is they??? There is nothing to be done. It's not the schools fault. Violence is a society wide problem that is present everywhere. Solutions to large scale problems like these can't be solved because there will always be a certain segment of the population who don't have the same values as everyone else. There will always be students who's home environments don't promote success. There will always be students who's parents don't stress to them the importance of education. You can't do anything about this, you can only react and punish (and/or attempt to rehabilitate) the offenders after an incident.

Preventative measures to try to deter incidents like this from occurring are already present. Raleigh police officers stationed at every high school in the county. Wake County sheriff deputies at every middle school. Schools all now have zero tolerance policies in place for fighting, certain clothing, etc... And most schools also have tools such as metal detectors although I don't know of any that utilize them daily (things might come to that if situations start occurring more frequently).

PARENT'S need to use their own preventative measures at home to recognize and put an end to any undesirable behavior they see. Many do this but a growing number do not and that is why youth crime is increasing.

[DreiDeutsche]

My son attends Enloe High School and they had a pretty big incident last week, which involved about 30+ Students and from what I understand they used knifes on each other!

Now - I've been listening to the kids talking about gangs or "Blood's & Cribs" or whatever else they call them.
Well, I am the first one to admit that I've been dismissing their heated discussions and sort of laughed it off... because I believed that those gangs only exist in California and are being glamorized in the Hip Hop movies! But I am also quick to admit that I've been just ignorant to the fact that the gang issue is very real and it is growing at an alarming rate!
Now in regard to ....

What do you mean? Who is they???

I think we should change out the word "they" and put "we" instead!!!
We - as in we > the people, we > the Parents, we > the community .....
Yes - I know we already have so much to deal with right now and most of us can't really take much more!
But I think it's time to stop looking for someone else to take care of certain problems, simply because it is so much easier to blame them if "they" don't life up to our expectations then at least we can blame the Cops, or the Government, or the Schools or who ever else we can think of!

But I know it is easier said then done.... and who am I to say anything, but when my son came home from school last week with that letter explaining what took place at school - I was taken back for a moment.
Reading that letter and then hearing his version sure gave me that reality check! Which lead me to my next question, what am I to do with this....

So, I did start one of those innocent "non-threatening" conversations with him.... simply because I needed to understand what it is about gangs and what are the reasons that a young individual wants to join them!
It didn't matter what I thought about it or how stupid I think they are.... it is NOT ABOUT what I think .... it is about what they think and as long as I don't understand that - I can not find a solution!

Now I know that it is "really cool" to belong... and trust me when I say that I closed our long conversation with ensuring him that if he ever chooses to join a gang and get's in trouble - that I will let him suffer all legal consequences that come with breaking the law!
I had another separate conversation with my other son that attends middle school... again because I need to understand the why....!

My next step was researching the internet to find more facts about gangs in NC and are there if at all any legislation's that either have been passed or need to be passed....
Of course there is plenty of info out there for us to read - and in case you care to inform yourself here is a report that was made to the NC General assembly:
http://www.ncgccd.org/pubs/gangs2008.pdf

So, yes there are Raleigh police officers stationed at every high school in the county and Wake County sheriff deputies at every middle school.
Yes - all Schools have a zero tolerance policies in place for fighting, certain clothing, etc...

However I think that we may need to come together very soon and simply assist and or support the things that are already in place....
Of course that is just my opinion, I am just one Parent - but I am that one Parent that realized in a simple conversation with my teenage son that I can very easy loose him to one of those idiotic gangs.... because being with me is not cool - but being with them is so much more cooler!!!

Oh and they are only teenagers and still so far away from that day when they realize that "what they did then" was so stupid.....right now it is not stupid to them at all....

[dansdrive]

WOW Enloe last week and Millbrook yesterday! The common thread is 'gang' related. As a society maybe we have to ask ourselves if noted Gang Members should be part of our Tax Payer Public School system? Should have zero tolerance for Gangs in school.

Schools are for learning and Team building, I do not consider any 'Gang' as being part of a Team concept.

Another sad day for Wake County Public School system.

[ausmerika]

Ok...got the hornets nest stirred up for some good dialogue, which is what's needed. First though let me explain myself. I agree with you all who said it's a COMMUNITY issue. Yes, every school has an SRO, even at the middle schools, but that's not enough. So what is? If the kids who are joining the gangs are coming from homes with little or no parental units involved, than how is getting parents involved going to work/help? We talk to our kids, make them aware, etc yet they go to school with fears. So what do we do?
I think it takes much more. First, I think as taxpayers we need to be asking our city/county officials do we have gang task force in place, and what are they doing? (disclosure here: I work off and on with the PD). I can tell you that not all counties/cities have an actual task force in place (maybe one person, if they are lucky). So how is the law enforcement supposed to crack down on the growing "gang population" here? (And believe me it is growing...by the way, fyi for the poster who mentioned Bloods...it's Crips, not Cribs, but those are just 2 of the many more that have come in, including some of the break away gangs).
Back to the topic. One of the things I'd like to see more is how the schools handle these issues. For example, I can tell you (cite, if I were allowed, specifics) of kids who have gotten into serious trouble (fights with and without weapoons) who were given minimal suspensions due to IEP or 504. Yes, kids with LD who have IEPs or 504s can get a 3 day suspension, for example compared to a kid who doesn't have an IEP. This is part of the problem. Having said that, I would like to cite an example of a proactive case by administration: there was word (verifiable) of a planned attack against Hispanic students at a school by another group of students (I believe the plan though was to be after school or off school property). The threats were made, plans were made and parents found out: they contacted the school administration which dealt with it head on, preventing what could have been an outright riot not unlike what we saw in Raleigh. (This was in Orange Co, by the way).
When I said "what are they going to do about it" I really did mean administration and law enforcement. We need more Gang Task Force officers and we need administration to step up to the plate more. We have seen what good administration can do in some of the worst crime ridden cities of our country (gee--they even made movies out of it!), and I've seen it locally.
Don't be fooled to think gangs only happen in NYC or LA. They are here. As law enforcement officers will tell you, "there is no such thing as a wannabe."
Programs like GREAT and DARE are good, and nowadays needed, but they are not enough. One thing I know CRHS did was require all students to get involved in some extra-curricular activity. It wasn't to make them join a club and be miserable, but to find an interest and get involved in a group. There are so many clubs, organizations, etc that there is something for everyone. One thing gangs do is fill a void in these kids who do go down that road. Perhaps if we can fill that void first....
Ok, that's my 2cents worth (and that's about all!).

[saturnfan]

Originally Posted by ALT-X

What do you mean? Who is they??? There is nothing to be done. It's not the schools fault. Violence is a society wide problem that is present everywhere. Solutions to large scale problems like these can't be solved because there will always be a certain segment of the population who don't have the same values as everyone else. There will always be students who's home environments don't promote success. There will always be students who's parents don't stress to them the importance of education. You can't do anything about this, you can only react and punish (and/or attempt to rehabilitate) the offenders after an incident.

Preventative measures to try to deter incidents like this from occurring are already present. Raleigh police officers stationed at every high school in the county. Wake County sheriff deputies at every middle school. Schools all now have zero tolerance policies in place for fighting, certain clothing, etc... And most schools also have tools such as metal detectors although I don't know of any that utilize them daily (things might come to that if situations start occurring more frequently).

PARENT'S need to use their own preventative measures at home to recognize and put an end to any undesirable behavior they see. Many do this but a growing number do not and that is why youth crime is increasing.

I agree with you and remember you used to patrol Mini-City which had major issues when I lived there for 8 years.

My late Mom lived in the Alphabet City area of lower Manhattan. I once asked a veteran sergeant from the 9th Precinct why the residents would have picnics on a rat infested garbage strewn lot while a park was two blocks away.

He summed it up like this:

"You can take the animals out of the jungle but you can't take the jungle out of the animals".

So well put I remember it two decades later.

The home must establish proper values for the children or they will look to gangs for approval and belonging.