By Antonio D. French
Filed Thursday, April 27, 2006 at 2:48 PM
A group of Washington University graduate social work students surveyed students from Vashon High School and the ninth grade center at Williams to establish whether or not they felt safe walking to and from school. The responses were alarming,
According to Tina Rutherford, Sarah Hyduke, Paige Kuske, and Heather Roll, writing for the St. Louis Schools Watch, 48 percent of 164 respondents said they did not feel safe walking to school. Thirty-seven percent said they did not feel safe in their school's neighborhood.
The six main reasons those students did not feel safe were: stray dogs; "crackheads" and drug dealers; gangs; fighting, shootings, or violence; kidnappers and rapists; and that it was still dark out.
"The neighborhood I have to walk through doesn't like my neighborhood, so I sometimes don't even come to school," one student said. "The walk from my school is long [and] I don't have many people to walk home with," said another.
Those who said they felt safe walking to school either said it was because they lived close to the school or they just didn't fear trouble. Other comments included: "I have a lot of protection;" "I fear no one;" "I don't have any static with anyone;" and "I got a gun called a 45."
Read more at STLSchools.org
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