First Person: Heal the schools, heal the city

In 2020, if Covid-19 wasn’t the lead story on our local news, it was shootings. I was baffled. Why was there so much violence in our community when the majority of people were stuck in the house? What changes in our community contributed to the increase in homicides?  When the violence continued into 2021, I started to look for answers. This project didn’t begin as something to highlight juvenile shootings. Once I started tracking the homicide data, I saw an increase in the percentage of juvenile shootings year after year. For example, in 2014, the 82 children shot represented 6% of total shooting victims for that year. In 2020, the 197 children shot represented 9% of all shooting victims in the city of Philadelphia. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of fatal juvenile shootings more than doubled. There was something wrong. I wondered, (as I always do) if anyone was paying attention? 

I looked at factors in our community that could potentially be a reason for the increase. I looked at yearly reports compiled by Pew Charitable Trust, School District of Philadelphia data, as well as data from the Philadelphia Controller’s Office and other city agencies. I developed graphs, charts, and migraine headaches from staring at the computer for too long. It was a lot of work. But, I began to notice a shocking trend. Beginning in 2013, there was a direct relationship between School District of Philadelphia student attendance and juvenile shootings in the city. Meaning years that have an increase in student attendance have an increase in juvenile shootings. When there is a decrease in SDP student attendance, there is a decrease in juvenile shootings in Philadelphia. I noticed that this relationship did not form until 2013. Before that year, there was no correlation between student attendance and juvenile shootings. I was floored. This couldn’t be correct!

Dana Carter, photo courtesy of her.

Sometimes, when I am focused on completing a project, it takes over my life. I thought I made an error because I was computer drunk that day. I decided to close my computer, go to sleep, and start fresh the next day. When I returned to my computer to compile and analyze the data again, the numbers were the same. I was correct. Girls’ High taught me well!  Many people thought I made a mistake when I told them about my findings. They thought I had it reversed. They thought juvenile shootings increased when there was a decrease in student attendance. Now that I had this data in front of me, I needed to get down to the root causes. What happened in 2013?

I searched my memory. It just so happened that I was not in America in 2013. I decided to step away from the School District of Philadelphia and teach in the United Arab Emirates. As a sidebar, I didn’t realize how stressful working for the School District of Philadelphia was until I went to teach in a remote part of a country that was less than 50 years old (UAE formed in 1971). I returned to the district in 2016. I had no first-hand knowledge of what was going on during those years.  I decided to do some research and talk to my network. I learned that in 2013 Dr. William Hite, the superintendent at the time, initially proposed closing 37 schools. Ultimately, the School Reform Commission voted to close 24 schools. People fought the closures. Advocates begged the SRC, warning them of the harm that would come from closing these schools that were filled with mostly Black children. But, the system isn’t set up to educate Black children. Many advocates were arrested on the day they closed those schools. Many Black children have died since they closed those schools. In the Black community, we understand the importance of “The Village.” Neighborhood schools are a big part of “The Village.”

Most, if not all the schools closed by the SRC were neighborhood or technical schools. Students who would have gone to Germantown in September 2013, now had to decide between Martin Luther King, Jr. High School or another school that wasn’t in their neighborhood. Students who would have gone to University City had to decide between going to West Philadelphia High School or another school outside of that neighborhood. If you’re from West Philadelphia or Uptown and you are over 40, then you don’t need to read any further. You clearly understand the historical beef between different sections of West Philadelphia. You understand that Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods within neighborhoods with clearly defined lines. In some neighborhoods, crossing those lines was a lethal mistake.  You know people whose lives ended because they walked through the wrong neighborhood. You understand why those school closures led to Black death. The reason why those 24 schools were closed was because there was nobody like you making that decision.

We are now faced with knowing that when more children are traveling to school more children are getting into conflicts that lead to shootings. That is a direct result of the school closures. In 2013, the superintendent wasn’t from Philadelphia, nor were his closest advisors. Closing neighborhood schools forced students who would normally walk a few blocks to school to now have to catch a bus or subway train or trolley to a completely different neighborhood.  Due to historic conflicts between some Philadelphia neighborhoods, many people, especially young people, do not travel outside of their neighborhoods. The district closed the schools and offered no support to the impacted communities. Instead, people were left to figure things out for themselves. The people, in this case, were children who didn’t have the skills to figure it out. Closing those neighborhood schools was like lighting a match during a gas leak. The closures resulted in the suffering of people in the city who were already the most oppressed. The Village in the impacted communities was gone.

Once I compiled the data, I began sharing the information with as many people as possible. I reached out to local news agencies, elected officials, city leaders, and School District of Philadelphia personnel. I spoke with the Senior Director of Commonwealth Relations for the University of Pennsylvania. He asked if he could share my data with UPenn researchers. A journalism professor at Temple University invited me to be a guest speaker during one of his classes. I was moved by the amount of people who were interested in my research.  I want as many people as possible to examine the data and prove me wrong. The painful reality of being correct means that some of the children who were killed since 2013 might still be here if their neighborhood school wasn’t closed.

We can’t reopen those schools. We can’t bring back those children who lost their lives. But we can use data, research, and our love for children to put resources and support in the communities most impacted by the school closures of 2013. In 2015, juvenile shooting victims represented 6% of all shooting victims. In 2020, it was 9%. And even now that overall shootings are down dramatically for two years in a row, children currently represent more than 12% of all shooting victims in Philly. Is anybody paying attention?

Dana Carter spent 16 years as an educator in the Philadelphia School District. She was a core member of the Melanated Educators Collective and Racial Justice Organizing Committee. She now is the Family and Community Engagement Director for Read 2 Succeed and the Director of Learning Support for two Archdiocese of Philadelphia schools. Dana lives in Philadelphia.