Anonymous wrote:And by the way, please stop the victim blaming. The whole "oh nothing will change because the people who live there" whatever whatever. Nothing ever changes anywhere when we have nobody that stands up to take a stand. The idea that Mayor Bowser is going to lift a finger is laughable. THAT's the story. Not blaming the victims.

Exactly!

And by the way, please stop the victim blaming. The whole "oh nothing will change because the people who live there" whatever whatever. Nothing ever changes anywhere when we have nobody that stands up to take a stand. The idea that Mayor Bowser is going to lift a finger is laughable. THAT's the story. Not blaming the victims.

A response could be about more than police presence. it takes leadership and new ideas. Those are traits Mayor Browser has shown no capacity for. She has used her role as Mayor to do nothing of significance for the people who need it most.

Anonymous wrote:Some residents of ward 8 want more police, some don’t. Shootings happen where police cruisers sit so I’m not sure how much help it would be.

I’m so sad for the school community. How awful.

The ones that don’t it’s because that’s all you know. Imagine living with so much violence and trauma your whole life, you don’t know anything else and calmness feels uncomfortable. Also the fear of the community getting better than gentrification happens and everyone is giving a voucher to go.So some refuse help and don’t want it- but it’s about those kids. The cycle needs to end.

Anonymous wrote:The DC shot spotter program can be used to find shots fired near schools. I tried but couldn’t figure out how to get that data. I’ve seen a few articles from previous years using the data. It’d be interesting to see current data.

Keep making incidents public. Share them with Popville noting how close to the school they are. He will usually share it—there just aren’t as many people reporting from EOTR neighborhoods so all you see are the Ward 1 shootings.

One honest question that I really don’t believe there’s a good answer to, but would police presence around the school be a positive or negative? Seems like it would be a deterrent to some, antagonistic to others, and give the impression to kids that schools aren’t safe. An oversimplification of very complex issues, but would love to hear more opinions on this.

This has become a norm. What’s the point of speaking up, when know the Mayor won’t acknowledge or help. They have learned to stay silent because nothing is ever done..There are other cities that have decreased gun violence without forcing people out of their homes. In increase of police presence would probably be positive if it was community policing

But hey, Go-go is the official music of DC and she stood up to those mean gentrifiers and moved Banneker, so all is good, right?

Some residents of ward 8 want more police, some don’t. Shootings happen where police cruisers sit so I’m not sure how much help it would be.

I’m so sad for the school community. How awful.

If they don't make a report it keeps DC crime numbers downs

The DC shot spotter program can be used to find shots fired near schools. I tried but couldn’t figure out how to get that data. I’ve seen a few articles from previous years using the data. It’d be interesting to see current data.

Keep making incidents public. Share them with Popville noting how close to the school they are. He will usually share it—there just aren’t as many people reporting from EOTR neighborhoods so all you see are the Ward 1 shootings.

One honest question that I really don’t believe there’s a good answer to, but would police presence around the school be a positive or negative? Seems like it would be a deterrent to some, antagonistic to others, and give the impression to kids that schools aren’t safe. An oversimplification of very complex issues, but would love to hear more opinions on this.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Former DC teacher here, I worked in Ward 8, near Alabama Ave & Stanton Rd SE. I left mid October after I witnessed for the third time a speeding car chase happen, gunshots heard while I was on the playground with my kindergarten students and we had to lay on the ground all while MPD sirens went off. This happened between 10 a.m. and noon.

Trying to get 22 kindergarten kids to lay on the ground immediately is difficult as they often have questions. I left because I didn’t want to be held liable for the death of an innocent child, nor did I want to be shot myself but more importantly I didn’t feel like children that young should be trained as if they lived in a war zone from the Middle East.

No, I don’t blame legal gun owners as I have family members that are ex-military, FBI and CIA. I blame the criminals who feel entitled to guns and often are not properly trained to use guns responsibly. [/quote]
Thank you for teaching in DCPS. I too left a tough school after a few years. Those of us who know the ‘real’ dcps are forever impacted by how we see the cities most vulnerable kids treated. & when you see the mayor fall all over the ‘good’ schools you realize it’s all a joke [/quote]

I taught in a "good" school, yet still toxic with that set up to fail scenario for teachers. I left as I was tired of feeling constant liability risk as well. Nothing compared to above. Bless you for doing what you could. These children (and faculty) deserve so much more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ms. Cloud is a joke a clueless. To blame folks for this madness is absurd when its ALL the parents fault.

This school is plague by this type of activity. See story from 2017.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/dc-elementary-school-in-middle-of-turf-war/490004547

I mean really what can the Mayor do for this kids? I see a lot of events going on in Ward 8, but the audiences are not who they are trying to reach.

She isn’t blaming them for the madness, she called them out for not doing anything. 3 shots in the front window within two weeks and no support was sent to that school. No extra police, no social workers... nothing. That is unacceptable. WHAT CAN THE MAYOR DO? Firstly, How about send services to this school as she would a NW school. The kids and staff witnessed the last shooting. The bullet flew right above a teachers head. Secondly, How about, not cutting their budget by over a million dollars with no explanation.

You can’t expect people and an environment to change when you continue to treat them like they don’t exist. The more it’s ignored, the bigger the problem will become (which it has). Her negligence is putting many lives in danger. A mayor is a leader of a city, not a leader of rich people. If she wasn’t fit for the job, and can’t think of any programs that would help, then she shouldn’t be in that position. As long as she continue to neglect people, DC will never thrive under her leadership.

What you describe it help for the school itself, not the perpetrators.

Shame.

Anonymous wrote:Ms. Cloud is a joke a clueless. To blame folks for this madness is absurd when its ALL the parents fault.

This school is plague by this type of activity. See story from 2017.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/dc-elementary-school-in-middle-of-turf-war/490004547

I mean really what can the Mayor do for this kids? I see a lot of events going on in Ward 8, but the audiences are not who they are trying to reach.

She isn’t blaming them for the madness, she called them out for not doing anything. 3 shots in the front window within two weeks and no support was sent to that school. No extra police, no social workers... nothing. That is unacceptable. WHAT CAN THE MAYOR DO? Firstly, How about send services to this school as she would a NW school. The kids and staff witnessed the last shooting. The bullet flew right above a teachers head. Secondly, How about, not cutting their budget by over a million dollars with no explanation.

You can’t expect people and an environment to change when you continue to treat them like they don’t exist. The more it’s ignored, the bigger the problem will become (which it has). Her negligence is putting many lives in danger. A mayor is a leader of a city, not a leader of rich people. If she wasn’t fit for the job, and can’t think of any programs that would help, then she shouldn’t be in that position. As long as she continue to neglect people, DC will never thrive under her leadership.

Not all blame should go on the mayor and council.

The mayor and council have been afraid to pass laws about guns because they’re afraid the five Republicans on the Supreme Court will not just roll back the law, but use the opportunity to roll back other existing DC gun laws. They’ve gone on record about this after the Heller vs DC decision.

This is a nationwide political problem. And legal gun owners are typically not the problem - the NRA and Republican leaders are the problem.

[quote=Anonymous]Former DC teacher here, I worked in Ward 8, near Alabama Ave & Stanton Rd SE. I left mid October after I witnessed for the third time a speeding car chase happen, gunshots heard while I was on the playground with my kindergarten students and we had to lay on the ground all while MPD sirens went off. This happened between 10 a.m. and noon.

Trying to get 22 kindergarten kids to lay on the ground immediately is difficult as they often have questions. I left because I didn’t want to be held liable for the death of an innocent child, nor did I want to be shot myself but more importantly I didn’t feel like children that young should be trained as if they lived in a war zone from the Middle East.

No, I don’t blame legal gun owners as I have family members that are ex-military, FBI and CIA. I blame the criminals who feel entitled to guns and often are not properly trained to use guns responsibly. [/quote]
Thank you for teaching in DCPS. I too left a tough school after a few years. Those of us who know the ‘real’ dcps are forever impacted by how we see the cities most vulnerable kids treated. & when you see the mayor fall all over the ‘good’ schools you realize it’s all a joke