CommunityWatch Talks: Increasing School Safety Legislation in WA

Five days a week in Washington, the law says that kids need to get up and go to school. Many of them have a safe trip, many of them don’t. In some areas, kids walk past gang members who are actively recruiting, selling drugs, and/or soliciting. During tough economic times, gang activity increases.

Well, we’re in tough economic times, and some of the state’s hardest hit areas are suffering from economic trouble and epidemic gang problems. For example: in Mattewa, the Wahluke School District, which has approximately 2,000 students, spends $40,000 a year to bus every single child to and from school, because it has been determined that it is too dangerous for the children to walk.

Two Bills have been introduced to provide local schools and school districts with the tools they need to effectively protect students from gang activity at the community level. Time is running out, however, and if these do not pass, another year will go by with some policies being applied inappropriately, and many children not receiving much-needed protection from predatory gang violence.  read more...