Responding to Charlottesville City Schools recent rejection of a support offer from the Uvalde Foundation For Kids national nonprofit; the foundation's National Director responded in a statement released Thanksgiving morning from the foundation's Texas headquarters.
Most recently, the Texas based nonprofit had extended support to the Charlottesville High School community & district, following increased student safety concerns from students, parents and school community members. The school & district has faced an alarming increase in student related violent events, including bomb threats and on campus fights; resulting in several days of classes cancelled recently, dozens of teachers not returning to schools & an overall concern.
The foundation announced this week that it had begun immediate recruitment for community volunteers to join its off campus STOP NOW Volunteer School Patrols, planned for the Charlottesville High School, VA community. In a release update, the foundation additionally offered to provide funds to the school to reinstate SRO's which had been removed from campus.
Both offers were rejected by Charlottesville City Schools. CSS noted in an email that they were reviewing "local support options." The district has held onto their stance against having SRO (School Resource Officers) in city schools: including Charlottesville HS despite the foundation's funding offer.
CBS19: CHS TEMPORARILY REJECTS UVALDE FOUNDATION OFFER
FOUNDATION OFFERS PATROLS & SRO FUNDING TO CHARLOTTESVILLE HIGH SCHOOL
From The Founder's Desk:
"The Uvalde, Texas school shooting at Robb Elementary School; which took so very many precious lives; in such a senseless, tragic & heartless way one May 2022 Spring morning; is an event which will haunt the families of Uvalde, Texas, the school community of Uvalde & countless others impacted in cities, both small and large across the country - many, very much as yours - for many days to come. It was and is, thankfully an event far removed by both miles and circumstance from what your school community faces these days.
Charlottesville City Schools & in particular Charlottesville High School has not had to face a Uvalde... We pray you never have to. However, before a gun was ever picked up and used against the precious students and dedicated teachers at Robb Elementary School - There was an underlying, smoldering culture of violence engrained both within the young man who ended those lives and ultimately faced his own death & in the community he grew up in.
This same culture threatens your students there in Charlottesville. It is this culture which glorifies violence in Hollywood & yet mourns when it visits our doorsteps. It is a culture which is teaching kids to fight - not talk... It is a culture where parents have become our kids first bullies & where our students first learn to respect or disrespect. And sadly as the instances of this culture manifests externally and internally in fights, shootings, school threats & lives disrupted in classrooms such as yours recently; far too many school administrators and community leaders seem more interested in policy and politics than addressing the issue head on; at all necessary levels.
Much of the healing that has come to Uvalde and others impacted by violence in their school communities across this nation; has come not on an institutional level or because of a policy change, but rather, because of communities such as yours collectively coming together and taking a stand to get your kids and students back to just being - well, kids and students again..
This involves not just discussion forums but solution forums. It will require your administrators to take a stand against school violence including bullying. It will require administrators to ensure students are in class during scheduled times not roaming school hallways freely. It will require teachers being heard and cared for and not being asked to do more than they have heart and ability for. It will involve teaching students different ways BEYOND VIOLENCE to resolve conflict or express themselves. And it will involve, like it or not, a serious revisit to the issue of SROs within the schools..
While the foundation empathizes with the desire for "normalcy," in the face of daunting times such as these - Changing such a culture within your schools requires NOT a return to a sense of normalcy as been defined in recent events at Charlottesville HS for example. WHY NOT? Because what has become "normal," is a culture of fear and violence within the school community. It is time to create a NEW NORMAL!
The above is what we do hope as a foundation the Charlottesville School Community will grasp & ultimately come to change as you seek to restore peace and harmony back into your classrooms and school communities. The Uvalde Foundation For Kids believes that the Charlottesville community can do just that.
Our foundation stands with you; regardless & that is timeless...."
The Uvalde Foundation For Kids
888 685 8464
