City leaders committing heavier presence for students coming to and from school amid violence

PHILADELPHIA - Violence in and around our schools has parents and students demanding more be done by Philadelphia leaders. On Monday afternoon, officials came together to announce "safe school zones" in high risk areas across the city.

While there have been school safety officers inside— a lot of this violence is happening right outside the schools. So a big part of the plan is to increase police presence around schools.

The pain of losing a student is all too real and too often felt by Veronica Joyner.

"I am tired, I am devastated," Joyner said.  "I was born here and I deserve to be safe.  When I have my children afraid to come to school, it’s a problem."

A group of students shared their stories to show how the rash of violence in and around schools is affecting them.

"We need to have more people in place and organizations and programs to ensure that we are able to walk the streets safe, walk to school safe, walk to wherever safe," said Jadon Heath, a student at Mathematics Civics & Sciences Charter School.

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Melany Nelson with Northwest Victims Services says our kids need us there around the clock

"I challenge everybody here when I’m working on the weekends and the evenings and those children need to be safe and they come fourth and say he did this or she did this on a Saturday I need to be able to see we gotta relocate this family," said Nelson.

Cayla Waddington, a student at the Mathematics Civics & Sciences Charter School, said young people need more safe spaces.

"We see how things are in the world," said Waddington. "Without a space to talk about the issues which plague our communities and society teens and children harbor their feelings of fear and hopelessness.  The fallout comes when grades drop and students begin acting out."

Monday marked the start of school safety zones. Thirty eight schools spread across 25 safety zones will notice an increase in officers. Safe Quarters, which is a volunteer program, aims to provide extra protection for students on the way into school.

"What we’re now seeing is more brazen behavior in and around schools without educators and our children," said Superintendent Dr. William Hite, Jr. "So much so that our young people begin to get worried, traumatized about whether or not it’s safe to travel to and from school."

District Attorney Larry Krasner says that when students went back to in-person learning there was a reduction in gun violence. He says they are prosecuting gun and drug dealing charges on or near school property very seriously.

"We are all working together to hold shooters accountable," Krasner said.  "Particularly for those shootings that occur near schools.  Whether or not they involve people from those schools doesn’t matter.  If there is shooting going on outside of a school.  If a school is going on lockdown they are disrupting those schools in ways that are extremely harmful to all of society."

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