DC Public Schools failing at gun violence prevention: OIG report
DC Public Schools failing at gun violence prevention: OIG report
DC Public Schools responding to a recent report flagging multiple failures in gun violence prevention. FOX 5?s Katie Barlow has the story.
WASHINGTON - D.C. Public Schools is responding to a recent report flagging multiple failures in gun violence prevention.
There are significant gaps and inconsistencies in the District's approach to gun violence prevention, according to an Office of the Inspector General report released last week.
What we know:
The key finding in this report was that DCPS and the Department of General Services fell way behind in making critical safety and security-related repairs.
That includes broken doors and locks, shattered windows from gunshots, windows that remain painted to mask gunshots and holes in fences around schools perimeters.
The report also identified faulty PA systems that would prevent communication in an emergency situation and 82% of security camera-related repairs remained open beyond DGS's 45-day deadline.
The OIG's office says these failures create fundamental vulnerabilities that compromise student and staff safety.
What they're saying:
A spokesperson for DCPS provided a statement to FOX 5 saying, "The District agrees with each of the recommendations outlined in the DC Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) report and is taking steps to implement them with urgency."
The report also flags insufficient school resource officers. OIG says the SRO program has not recovered from the political back and forth when the council tried to eliminate SROs from D.C. schools entirely in 2021 and then reversed course two years later—35 officers cover 61 middle and high schools—public and charter.
That leaves double-digit schools without a regular or recurring SRO presence.
Dig deeper:
The OIG also highlighted inconsistent safety and security-related activities.
For example, cell phone policies are inconsistent. Some schools allow them in the classroom while others collect them at the door, which makes emergency communications more difficult and inhibits a school's ability to de-escalate social media-fueled conflicts between students.
Just last year, FOX 5 reported on the criminal justice coordinating council's report tying gang member's taunts on social media to gun violence in the district.
Beginning Jan. 30, DCPS says it will implement an annual review to identify the top three incident trends from the previous school year.