“Not everybody’s a gangbanger or hanging on the corner. They just need to know someone cares. Those little conversations you have with people make a difference. It’s not just about cuffing those boys up.” RPD CHIEF JAMES SHEPPARD
NEIGHBORHOODS | BY CHRISTINE CARRIE FIEN
Broken bonds People living in the City of Rochester’s troubled neighborhoods can’t wait for committees and studies and prayers to pay off. Yes, they are interested in longer-term discussions like neighborhood schools versus school choice, but they also want to know how to help themselves, their neighbors, and their children right now. Police Chief James Sheppard and City Council President Lovely Warren, who is running for mayor, held events within one day and less than two miles of each other last week in southwest Rochester. Sheppard had one of his recurring “Shop Talk” events at Junior’s Barber Shop & Unisex Salon on West Main Street, while Warren discussed education, crime, drugs, parenting, and other issues at a campaign stop at the Iglesia Educational Center on Thurston Road. Warren talked about her education plan, which includes expanding city children’s access to high-quality early education and recruiting high-performing charter operators to open schools in Rochester. Warren said she doesn’t want to get rid of the city school district, but given its poor record of success, she said city parents deserve choices. Sheppard, naturally, took questions on public safety issues, including youth fights, dog fighting, drug sales, and use of force by police.
But the common thread at both events was regret for what attendees said was a loss of community cohesion. Young people, especially young males, lack positive adult role James Sheppard. models in their lives, FILE PHOTO they said. “Not everybody’s a gangbanger or hanging on the corner,” Sheppard said. “They just need to know someone cares. Those little conversations you have with people make a difference. It’s not just about cuffing those boys up.” Karen Iglesia, founder of the Iglesia Educational Centers, said the young men she sees sometimes refer to the “3 c’s” as the only ways out of the ‘hood: the classroom, the cell block, or the cemetery. “I need you. You’re my history,” a woman said to a young man at the Sheppard event. “Why are we killing each other? Our families are so destroyed. We see each other killing each other in droves. We don’t have to know you to hurt.”
TRANSPORTATION | BY TIM LOUIS MACALUSO
More busing?
Cost of War AFGHANISTAN TOTALS —
2,227 US servicemen and servicewomen and 1,088 Coalition servicemen and servicewomen have been killed in Afghanistan from the beginning of the war and occupation to May 24. Statistics for Afghan civilian casualties are not available. American casualties from May 14 to May 16: -- Sgt. Eugene M. Aguon, 23, Mangilao, Guam -- Spc. Dwayne W. Flores, 22, Sinajana, Guam iraqbodycount. org, icasualties.org, Department of Defense
SOURCES:
Officials at the Rochester school district have asked the State Education Department for permission to change the district’s transportation policy guidelines. Superintendent Bolgen Vargas says he wants to provide elementary students who live a half-mile or more from their school with bus transportation. The current policy limits transportation to students who live a mile-anda-half or more from their school, because that’s what the state will reimburse. The district would cover the cost of the additional busing. | Vargas says providing more busing is critical. Attendance, which is already a huge problem in city schools, becomes even worse during the winter months, he says. And most parents in working-poor households are not able to easily fill in when their children miss the bus, he says. | Providing more elementary students with transportation would also encourage many families to choose their neighborhood school, Vargas says. Some parents don’t pick their neighborhood school because they don’t want their children walking through sketchy neighborhoods. | More busing will also be needed to accommodate longer school days, Vargas says. | District officials say they are confident the state will allow them to adjust the policy, and they expect to hear a response to their request by mid June.
rochestercitynewspaper.com
CITY 5