July 17, 2022 9a
(WGTD)---All public and private schools in Racine County are being asked by Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave to participate in an anti-gun violence initiative.
Delagrave appeared before the Racine School Board and the Racine County Board this past week with Sylvia Bennett-Stone, director of a national group called Voices of Black Mothers United.
The group founded a campaign to get middle school and high school students to sign a pledge promising not to use guns to resolve conflicts. The schools are being asked to distribute the pledges in homerooms and to show an anti-gun violence video to their students.
"This is a vehicle for conversation," Bennett-Stone said. "It's starting the conversation with our youth and it's getting them engaged and committed for their own safety," she said.
With all that K-12 schools are being asked to do already, Delagrave said he realizes his request is no small thing and that he doesn't mean to infringe on the district's authority. "We're not in the educational business," Delagrave said. But we are in the gun violence prevention business and we want to try to use every tool...to do all we can...to prevent gun violence with our youth," he said.
The Racine School Board is expected to vote at its next meeting on whether to get involved.
Meanwhile, Delagrave is asking his county board to authorize the transfer of some county funds to create a full-time position to support violence prevention initiatives in partnership with Voices of Black Mothers United.
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