March 10, 2008                                      

This past weekend the Crossland High School PTSA and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. presented our second annual “Teen Summit”. The subject was domestic violence, a subject of immense importance for all of us. The attendees included many students and parents from Crossland and other schools, as well as many community leaders including Sheriff Michael Jackson, States Attorney Glenn Ivey, Prince George’s County First Lady Leslie Johnson, and Council Members Tony Knotts and Marilynn Blanding.

This event was a great success and a tremendous public service for our community.

Our community expects our students to be safe from harm when they attend our school. Parents expect their children to be safe at school as well. Our staff members have every right to feel safe when they come to work every day.

It is incredibly difficult to create and maintain a non-violent culture in an institution that is in the middle of a society awash in guns, gangs, and gratuitous violence.

A “fight” is not just harmless entertainment for others to watch, but actually a dance with death that too many of our young people are much too eager to participate in.

I want to thank the Crossland High School PTSA for facilitating this important conversation. I hope that all of us will think about the reasons and consequences for this senseless behavior, and do everything that we can to stop it.

Charles Thomas

Principal, Crossland High School