Ramsey County Attorney John Choi on Thursday launched a community task force to address recent instances of violence in local schools.
The Community Task Force on Safe Schools will be led by Jeremiah Ellis, director of partnerships at education advocacy organization Generation Next, and Suzanne Kelly, a senior adviser with Minnesota Philanthropy Partners. Its nearly 40 members include parents, students, teachers, school resource officers and youth workers.
“My co-chair, Suzanne, and I are excited to help guide this conversation and generate solutions, capitalizing on the diverse life experience, expertise, and ideas of task force members,” Ellis said in the announcement about the formation of the task force. “Over the coming months, it is my expectation that we will find tangible, actionable recommendations to inform our community and its leaders as they make decisions going forward.”
Choi called for the formation of the task force in December 2015 amid concerns about a rash of assaults on St. Paul teachers by students.
“I felt it was important to make sure we were thoughtful and strategic in our approach to creating a community task force so it would be representative of our community and include an array of perspectives,” Choi said of the newly formed panel. “I am confident we have struck that balance by taking the time to structure a process that will be meaningful and useful to our community. I met with the group last night and was impressed by the thoughtful conversation, sense of urgency and demand for action that people brought to the table.”
The group will hold a “series of structured conversations” over the next six months and will make recommendations to the community and its leaders in early 2017, Choi’s announcement said.
“Schools have to be violence-free places of learning and we need to do everything we can the ensure this premise is upheld,” Choi said. “I look forward to championing their ideas and solutions.”
Up to $15,000 of the cost of convening the committee will be paid by grant funding and criminal forfeiture dollars.
Toya Stewart Downey, a spokeswoman for St. Paul Public Schools, said the school district was not involved in the formation of the task force but has undertaken its own campaign to improve school safety called “Safe Schools. Safe You.”
Sarah Horner contributed to this report.
