A Waynesboro mother is organizing a community effort to address violence in the city school system.
Protect Our Kids will get a jumpstart with a community meeting set for Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Main Street United Methodist Church.
Heather Moentmann reached out to Augusta Free Press in early February to relate that her son, a student at Kate Collins Middle School, had been the victim of three in-school attacks in the current school year.
Upon investigation, we learned from the Waynesboro Police Department that there had been 11 alleged assaults in the school system through Feb. 1 this school year.
There had been none last year, for obvious reasons, and three in 2019-2020 through Feb. 1, 2020.
We reached out to school system officials to learn about the response to the uptick. Frustratingly, one official contacted tried to talk around the issue, even questioning the numbers that clearly showed an increase in reports to the PD.
Staff writer Rebecca Barnabi wrote an excellent piece highlighting the mental health challenges being faced by students after two years of disruption from COVID.
Now Gordon is working to get parents to put their heads together to see what more can be done.
The community meeting is open to the public.
Story by Chris Graham
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Rebecca Barnabi
