Community steps up amid reports of Prince George’s County students being robbed while walking home
SPRINGDALE, Md. (DC News Now) — Reports of students being allegedly attacked as they are walking home from school in Prince George’s County is raising safety concerns for many.
Now the community is stepping up to do something about it.
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“This is my own neighborhood I live here,” Sydnee Assan, a senior at Charles Herbert Flowers High School, said. “It makes me feel uncomfortable that I have my peers who are being targeted for wearing what they feel is what they’re comfortable in.”
Assan is concerned about the number of reports about her peers being attacked for their clothes as their walking home after school.
“They’re getting kids for jackets and shoes and that’s kind of sad those are the things that we need to be able to go home,” she said.
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The Ardmore Springdale Civic Association, Flowers High School principal and County Council Chair Jolene Ivey are asking the community for help. Over the next several days they will be knocking on doors, informing neighbors of what’s happening and asking them to be outside in the neighborhood between 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. when students are walking home from school.
“We asked our community to come outside with their dogs, stand on the porch, water their flowers, just be made available during the time that students are walking home so they can feel safe on their way home from school,” said Terry Hamlin, Secretary for the Ardmore Springdale Civic Association
Ivey says these attacks are happening all across the county, even to elementary school students.
“They’re having coats and shoes taken from them. Young kids are even having their Chromebooks taken and we just want them to stop,” Ivey said.
They’re hoping with neighbors being outside and remaining vigilant, students like Assan feel safe walking home again.
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