NEWPORT NEWS — U.S. Secretary of Education John King enjoyed a busy morning visiting Hampton Roads on Thursday.
King, named to the post after Arne Duncan resigned last year from the position, visited Heritage High School and An Achievable Dream Middle/High School in Newport News, as well as Norfolk State University’s Child Development Lab.
King hosted two roundtables along with Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-Newport News; one discussed the newly passed Every Student Succeeds Act and the other youth violence prevention.
Newport News officials highlighted the schools’ summer SPARK program, as well as the city’s STEP program, which helps employ 16- to 24-year-olds during the summer. The school division has stated that crime in the South District went down as a result of the implementation of SPARK, which will expand to 6,000 students this summer.
“The key really is thinking about education as a way to prevent violence from happening,” King said. “Students who are in quality educational programs, students who have quality extended-day programs, students who are involved in summer opportunities, are students who are generally going to be safe and are going to be prevented from getting involved from the things that are going to get them into trouble.”
Newport News Superintendent Ashby Kilgore agreed that that’s the division’s goal. Assistant City Manager Alan Archer said STEP similarly helps change the direction of students’ summers.
“In many cases we’ve discovered that this is (participants’) first opportunity to have meaningful employment, they gain a resume builder on what is often a first-time resume that they are preparing, and they bond with the employer and job coaches that we have supporting them over the course of the 10-week program,” Archer said.
Kilgore also said that the division has a good working relationship with the police officers working as school resource officers. She said there’s a memorandum of understanding between the parties that students are only arrested upon the schools’ request.
“That has a potential to be a game changer for young people, because we can help young people and their family, but if they get carted out of school, we can’t help you,” Kilgore said.
King nodded and said it’s “encouraging to hear” how those partnerships are positively working.
Hammond can be reached by phone at 757-247-4951.
