Stopping youth violence: Montgomery Public Schools launches conflict resolution program

A 16-year-old boy was found shot to death in Montgomery last week. Less than a month earlier, a 14-year-old boy was arrested and charged for the shooting death of a 17-year-old, and back in December, the Montgomery Police Department responded to at least one shooting involving minors.

Each case is a heart-wrenching example of a problem that's plagued Montgomery for years: youth violence.

On Monday, Montgomery Public Schools acknowledged the impact of the issue on its students and announced a new conflict resolution program it's launching, effective immediately.

"Naturally, with many things that happen in our community, as well as other communities around the nation, there are ways we can handle our situations much better, and our kids are going to be learning what those things might be," MPS Superintendent Melvin Brown said.

Incorporating communication skills workshops, peer support groups and efforts to increase parent engagement, the initiative aims to provide students with the tools to peacefully resolve interpersonal disputes without escalation.

Brown said the program's structure is being built specifically for MPS, not modelled after another school district. The pilot program will begin at Percy Julian with the goal of expanding across MPS high schools at a later date.

"We often hear in the community that something has to be done about gun violence," State Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, said. "A million laws alone can't stop it, but there are programs that we can put in place to be proactive, to try to reach people, young people in particular, before it results in something violent."

Ensler was responsible for securing $200,000 in the state budget last year to fund the program in the same school where he used to teach. Almost 12 years ago, Ensler worked as a social studies teacher at Lee High School — which was officially renamed Percy Julian in 2022. He said it was quite the full-circle moment to bring this funding back to MPS.

"The idea is that we can show that it's effective in some schools, show that it's reaching young people," Ensler said. "Then, the hope is that year after year I'll continue to advocate at the statehouse to bring it into other schools."

Another partner that will be involved in the initiative is GPS Educational Services, a Birmingham company that specializes in education strategy and implementation. GPS works with districts across the state to implement various programs, including after-school reading and math tutoring, parental involvement and professional development.

GPS representative Talbis Howell said his company is excited to be on the ground in Montgomery doing work around conflict resolution, and Percy Julian Principal Ibrahim Lee said he is glad to have GPS involved with the support of leaders like Brown and Ensler.

"We've just bought into the vision of providing access for them to actually be there, to help them resolve conflict, to not get to this level as it relates to gun violence," Lee said. "We look at our data. We know the demographics of our city. But we also know that we have to do our part, and I'm glad and I'm proud that we're stepping up."

Hadley Hitson covers children's health, education and welfare for the Montgomery Advertiser. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to the Advertiser.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: MPS launches conflict resolution initiative to stop youth violence