Sad School News
Jan. 4th, 2011 09:56 amThere were two murders in my city last week. Both murder victims had children who attend school with my kids; one of the children is in Casper's class. I should note that while the city had a high poverty rate and a lot of public housing, it has a relatively low crime rate and not much in the way of gang or drug activity - and neither of these killings seem to be connected to those sorts of issues.
A single mother aged 25, with a 3rd grader, was stabbed to death at her job at a convenience store, alone and late at night. The store was not robbed. The daughter will probably be moving in with her grandmother; she lived alone with her mother in public housing.
A single father aged 30, with 3 children (but not residing with them; he lived with his mother) was shot to death while sitting in his driveway listening to the car radio, in a stable working-class neighborhood. He worked for the city. His daughter DaNaya is in Casper's class and he also had a daughter in PreK, but in the other classroom so I do not know her.
The school administration and the PTO are aware of this and doing what they can to be supportive of the families; the counselor will be coming to talk to the affected classes before the children come back to school. It seems like a heavy burden for an elementary school class to bear. And those poor little girls.
A single mother aged 25, with a 3rd grader, was stabbed to death at her job at a convenience store, alone and late at night. The store was not robbed. The daughter will probably be moving in with her grandmother; she lived alone with her mother in public housing.
A single father aged 30, with 3 children (but not residing with them; he lived with his mother) was shot to death while sitting in his driveway listening to the car radio, in a stable working-class neighborhood. He worked for the city. His daughter DaNaya is in Casper's class and he also had a daughter in PreK, but in the other classroom so I do not know her.
The school administration and the PTO are aware of this and doing what they can to be supportive of the families; the counselor will be coming to talk to the affected classes before the children come back to school. It seems like a heavy burden for an elementary school class to bear. And those poor little girls.