Schools in city start nonviolence initiative

Pittsburgh Public Schools kicked off its “Month of Non-Violence” last week with a series of events encouraging students to stay safe over the summer.

Several current and former students have been killed this school year, mostly recently Juwan Jordan, a senior at the Student Achievement Center and a member of the basketball team at Westinghouse 6-12 who was shot to death Wednesday in Sheraden.

A coalition formed in September after a PPS student fatally shot another teenager at a Wood Street T station, an incident that followed a number of Downtown shootings and fights that summer — including one on the Fourth of July. Those discussing solutions to such violence include the school district, Pittsburgh police bureau and Port Authority. And now students are joining in the effort.

“Last summer was really difficult for district students,” said Anyah Jackson, a junior at Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12. “It affects us. It affects our upbringing.”

This month, school principals will ride the bus and talk with students at several Downtown bus stops. Superintendent Anthony Hamlet will be at the Wood Street stop Friday afternoon.

Last Friday evening, students at Pittsburgh CAPA 612 held a career fair and open mic night for teens across the district. City officials were to be available to help students apply for a work permit with the Learn and Earn Summer program run by workforce development group Partner4Work. Students could also sign up for a summer reading list and learn about volunteer opportunities. Officials will help students with work permits during lunch periods this month.

“We wanted it to be a space that’s empowering to students … where they can speak about what’s happening without feeling judged,” said CAPA senior Olivia Ames, who helped to organize the event with Anyah and other CAPA students.

Each week of the month of nonviolence focuses on a theme. Last week touched on statistics, in which principals were to share data from the city’s public safety office during school assemblies. Sixteen people between 11 and 20 years old died in violent incidents last year in Allegheny County, the district said in a news release. That number is nine so far this year.

This week’s theme is student misconduct. A forum to discuss forthcoming changes to the student conduct code will be held Thursday. Also this week, district athletic officials will discuss safety before the start of each game. Later this month, the district will ask all students to read and sign a “safe summer pledge.”

Violence “makes a huge impact on the school community,” said Allderdice High School’s principal, Melissa Friez. “We didn’t want us to have a similiar summer.”