Chicago schools get $50k from feds to ‘recover from multiple shootings’

The U.S. Department of Education announced last week that it is awarding $50,000 to Chicago-area schools to help “recover from multiple shootings.”

The Immediate Project School Emergency Response to Violence (SERV) grant “will provide assistance for recovery efforts following 35 shootings this past year at four high schools in the Greater Englewood community,” the press release reads.

The Chicago Tribune reports that two dozen students were fatally shot in the last school year — a 22 percent spike from the last and the highest number in four years. The city saw a 38 percent jump in fatal shootings in 2012 from 2011.

“These grants provide support to students, educators and communities impacted by these senseless shootings,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in the release. “Tragic events damage students and entire communities, and disrupt teaching and learning. These funds will support Chicago schools as they continue to recover from these acts of violence and work to make the community safer so all children can live free of fear.”

The release states that the grant money will help facilitate programs to promote coping and healing to schools affected by shootings.

“These funds will support Chicago schools as they continue to recover from these acts of violence and work to make the community safer so all children can live free of fear,” Mr. Duncan continued.

The Tribune notes that Chicago has long had one of the worst performing public school districts in the country despite twenty years of reform efforts.