Monday, November 10, 2014

5 Ways Top Pervent Violence in Schools; 3 Philadelphia TeachersAttacked in Same School Same Month; Take A Young Black Male To Worship;Black Storytellers Convene in Chicago




Making Progress; Moving Forward!
5 Ways to Prevent Violence in Schools
In Philadelphia, 3 Teachers Attached at One School in One Month
Take A Young Black Man To Worship
100 Men and Women Needed to Mentor
Black Storytellers Convene in Chicago
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5 Ways to Prevent
K-12 School Violence
Photo Source
By Matthew Lynch, Ed.D.
October 11, 2014

School violence, when it occurs, has a high impact on schools and communities where the incident takes place. Rare but deadly incidents of violence, such as the Columbine High School Massacre of 1999 or the more recent school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut, bring the harsh realities of school violence to light.
The Centers for Disease Control report that about 828,000 students each year are victims of non-fatal victimization while on school property, which is about 32 victims per 1,000 students. In schools where violence statistics are even higher, it can be difficult to focus on academics - and keep students, teachers and administrators safe.
Here are five of the most important ways to turn the tide on school violence:
1. Develop Crisis Prevention Plans. Schools should have a crisis plan in place as a means for ensuring the safety of students.
Some plans may require students to wear uniforms and implement security measures, including metal detectors and visitor sign-in. More stringent plans require law enforcement officials, such as police, to be present at the school.
2. Develop School-Wide Violence Prevention Policies. Schools, particularly principals, can ensure that teachers, staff and parents within the school have common goals and that everyone is committed to reaching those goals.
3. Educate Teachers on Violence Prevention. Methods include promotion of classrooms that teach and promote respect and kindness, and in which put downs, teasing and sarcasm are not tolerated.
4. Educate Students on Violence Prevention. Teach students peer-mediation skills so that they can handle problems before they escalate.
5. Implement Alternative Schools for Serious Offenders. Segregation of students who have a history of violence by putting them in alternative schools is one approach.
There are no easy answers when it comes to violence in schools. While this list focuses on the education system alone, community efforts must also help to combat this distressing issue.

Click Here to Read Full Story
In Philadelphia, Teacher Laid Out During Encounter With Student at Bartram High School
Assault on Bartram Teacher
Is Third in a Month
By Kelly Bayliss
October 7, 2014

school that left him motionless on the ground.

The attack started when a female student sat on a male student's lap, said 68-year-old substitute English teacher Pewu Johnson.

"He told me 'get the f*(^ out of my face,'" Johnson said. The student then threw Johnson to the ground causing him hit his head, school district officials said. Video of the attack shows the teacher motionless in the hallway of the school while students looked on.

"The boy dropped me down with so much force," said Johnson. "I was out." The victim was rushed to the hospital where he was examined and treated for a concussion. His alleged attacker was suspended from school.

"The assault that occurred yesterday is the result of an individual making a dramatically poor choice. The School District does not tolerate this type of behavior and is working with Bartram High School and Philadelphia Police to make sure that the student is discipline and also charged," said Philadelphia School District spokesperson Fernando Gallard .

This is the third attack on a teacher at the school in less than a month.

Click Here to Learn More About This Story
Take A Young Black Man To Worship
Sunday, November 23, 2014
In Your City, at Your Place of Worship

This past election cycle, many White elected officials were invited into Black churches across America. Now we are asking those same Black churches to invite young Black men to come worship with them. Please call 773.285.9600 to register your place of worship and to get a registration kit for "Take A Young Black Man To Worship!"
Click Here to See Greg Wilkerson Invite Young Black Men Into His Church and Challenge Other Churches To Do the Same!
Click Here to See and Hear - Jesus Is The Life of the Party!
The Black Star Project Needs 100 Men and Women in Chicago and Suburbs to Go into Area Schools to Motivate, Inspire and Guide Youth Towards Success.
If you have 2 hour a month, or 2 hours every six months, or 2 hours a year, we need you to help us change and save the lives of children in Chicago and suburbs.
Schools in the Chicago area and students in the Chicago are begging for mentors and roll models for their students. Will you answer their prayers?
Please call 773.285.9600 to become a mentor for students in Chicago area schools.
Black Storytellers
Convene in Chicago

Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Logan Center for the Arts
915 East 60th Street
Chicago, Illinois
Call 773.702.ARTS for more information.
"New Orleans represents almost any medium or large city in America where Black people are being systematically removed. Here's the blueprint!" - Phillip Jackson
CRESCENT CITY CASTE SYSTEM
New Orleans is a relatively small American city that sometimes seems not to be part of the United States at all. Until Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was glamorized by images of black jazz and white dissipation. After Katrina, as if a curtain had been ripped away, it was revealed as a particularly extreme example of the continuing subjugation of the descendents of enslaved Africans.
New Orleans remains two cities - with Black New Orleans continuing to decay.
By Michael Holzman
October 24, 2014

Michael Holzman
Today, New Orleans is two cities. One is white and prosperous; the other, black and poor. Caste is presented in a most literal manner in New Orleans: White neighborhoods are on higher ground than the predominately Black neighborhoods of the city.
This became a crucial difference after the hurricane, when the ill-constructed levees broke, as the authorities knew that they would, and the lowest-lying parts of the city were flooded 20 feet deep, many of their inhabitants drowned, others driven out of the city.
Post-Katrina, the black population declined by 119,000 people, more than the current white population of the city, half of whom did not live there before Katrina. For blacks in the city's poorest communities, life expectancy is 54.5 years - or nearly a generation shorter than that of their White fellow citizens.
Income disparities in New Orleans are also quite extreme. White per capita income in the city is $43,022 and quite concentrated at the top: a quarter of New Orleans White families have incomes over $150,000 a year. This picture of prosperity contrasts with the poverty of African American New Orleans. Black per capita income is $15,243; only two of black families earn more than $150,000 a year.
Just four percent of the eighth-graders served by both Orleans Parish and Recovery reached "Advanced" level on reading portion of the 2014 Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, while another 15 percent showed "Mastery". This means that the remaining 81 percent of eighth-graders were reading below grade level.
The nationally funded and privately profitable "recovery" of New Orleans has decimated the city's black community, clearing broad areas of the city of black people. Four out of every five (mostly-black) children are still unable to read at grade level nearly a decade after Katrina.
Most of those who do manage to graduate are so ill-prepared for college that just a few hundred of them - nearly all women - graduate within six years. The men who drop out end up being available for jails and prisons, in some cases, run as for-profit enterprises.
General Sherman, when asked how to treat an enemy, advised that "they should be left with nothing but eyes with which to weep." Do we wish it said that post-Katrina New Orleans is how the United States of America treats its own citizens at their most vulnerable?
Click Here to Read Full Article
Click Here to Read Dropout Nation
Dear Friend of Black Children,

There are many reasons to become a member of The Black Star Project, but today I only want to tell you about one of them.
Let me introduce you to Jason, one of our Saturday University students. Jason is 6 years old and is learning to read. He was having a little trouble, so his father enrolled him in our new Reading Academy. Here he is, in the lower right-hand corner, hard at work with a couple of his classmates and his instructor, Mr. Baron Rush.

I'm writing to you today because Jason needs your help. I know you don't know Jason very well, but let me ask you:
  • Do you believe it's important that he learns to be an excellent reader?
  • Do you think it's important for him to be able to find opportunities for employment and growth when he grows up?
  • Do you believe he needs and deserves positive role models?
  • Do you think his community should be involved in his education and help him succeed?
If you answered yes to these questions, you know that Jason is in the right program with The Black Star Project. But we can't do this work without your support.

Please become a member of The Black Star Project and make a difference in the lives of children like Jason. Give today and you can help us help even more children. Without caring people like you on our side, The Black Star Project would not exist.

You can help these young people!
  • Please become a member today for only $50 a year!
  • Support a student like Jason for only $10 a month!
  • Help a student like Jason learn to read for only $100 this holiday season!
To help our students even more, spread the word!
Forward this email to your friends and family!
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Tell your colleagues about our work!
Encourage everyone to donate!
They can help too!
Please invest in a child today! Just click the DONATE NOW button to make a difference!
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You may also donate by sending a check payable to:
The Black Star Project
3509 South King Drive, Suite 2B
Chicago, IL 60653

Please call our office at
773-285-9600 if you have any questions. The Black Star Project is a 501(c)3 organization and your contribution is tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. We appreciate you! Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
Phillip Jackson
Executive Director
The Black Star Project
P.S. A gift of $100 will help provide books and supplies for our new Reading Academy and Math Boot Camp for Black males! Our children need your support!

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