When you do not arrest people for shoplifting or stealing, when you allow radicals to riot and no arrests, why no expect youth and other violence to go up?
“San Francisco is experiencing a troubling increase in youth violence, with attacks on a city bus, public spaces and classrooms that involved children ages 12 through 17.
Maria Su, executive director of the Department of Children, Youth and their Families, said “Our youth are still recovering from the devastating effect of the pandemic, and we know that it will take the entire city family, which includes leveraging the expertise of our community-based organizations, to help them build up their social-emotional resilience.”
That is a bunch of BS. Youth violence is because of the refusal of the Justice System to stop and penalize crime. This has nothing to do with COVID—the canard of the century.
After years of historic lows, an uptick in youth violence in SF
By Allyson Aleksey, SF| Examiner, 3/28/23
San Francisco is experiencing a troubling increase in youth violence, with attacks on a city bus, public spaces and classrooms that involved children ages 12 through 17.
Maria Su, executive director of the Department of Children, Youth and their Families, said “Our youth are still recovering from the devastating effect of the pandemic, and we know that it will take the entire city family, which includes leveraging the expertise of our community-based organizations, to help them build up their social-emotional resilience.”
The San Francisco Unified School District is working with city officials to quell an increase in student violence in public spaces, including a juvenile who stabbed and inflicted life-threatening injuries on another young person on a Muni bus last week, and two separate incidents at Stonestown Mall on March 15 and March 17 where young people attacked others in brawls that were caught on camera and circulated on social media.
If an incident does not occur in school or related to school activities “there is currently no agreement to make a notification to their school,” San Francisco Police Officer Robert Rueca told The Examiner.
But the Police Department will work with the school district “to prevent and intervene in any form of school and community violence,” San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said in a statement.
With spring break in session, there are no plans to increase the number of officers in or around San Francisco’s public schools this week, but Bay Area police departments increased their presence around school campuses in the aftermath of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting last year. On Monday, a school shooting at a private school in Nashville left six dead, including three children.
In San Francisco, a student stabbed and injured another child at Francisco Middle School on March 17.
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And, while occurrences of weapons on campus are rare according to San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, on March 15, the school district reported that a student at Denman Middle School brought a gun to campus “but the weapon was never discharged and no one was injured.”
But the violence has educators, parents and students on edge.
Educators at San Francisco middle schools have said that they are “left in the dark” when it comes to de-escalating student violence in the classroom. Marina Middle School, Everett Middle School, Aptos Middle School and Francisco Middle School have been reported to be overwhelmed by student behavior problems.
Parents and teachers are also asking the district for a clear response to the community if weapons are found on campus.
In 2014, SFUSD limited police presence on school campuses and the Board of Education adopted a resolution to end suspensions unless in cases of extreme violence.
In a joint statement to The Examiner, Board of Education President Kevine Boggess and Vice President Lisa Weissman-Ward said “As board leadership and as parents ourselves, we understand the very real impact of worrying about our children’s safety in schools. Each and every child deserves access to an excellent education, which necessarily means access to an educational space that is safe, both physically and emotionally.”
“Our educators and staff also deserve teaching spaces that are safe and violence-free. We are grateful for the multifaceted partnerships with the city because we understand that when we are working on any issues related to children, we must approach the work collaboratively and through a holistic lens,” they said.
