Right before Thanksgiving break last year, 17-year-old Ananias Jolley was stabbed in a third-floor classroom at Renaissance Academy High School in Baltimore by fellow classmate, Donte Crawford. Crawford was charged with murder and is currently awaiting trial.
Jolley’s death wasn’t the only loss the students at Renaissance experienced last school year. Another classmate, 16-year-old Darius Barney, was killed in an accidental shooting, and 17-year-old Daniel Jackson was also shot and killed in a different incident. The deaths of their classmates has made it hard to feel safe, and the students are still struggling to process these tragedies.
To help with recovery, the U.S. Department of Education has agreed to send $350,000 to the school as a part of the Project School Emergency Response to Violence grant. The grant will allow the school to hire more mentors and support staff. Not only does the grant provide additional support but it allows the school to continue its work, including mentoring its majority black male student population in one of the city’s most violent neighborhoods. The mentorship program is called “Seeds of Promise,” and currently has four mentors for 80 youth, but two more mentors will be added with the grant.
“Such tragic, senseless acts of violence disrupt the schools where our students learn and the communities where they live,” Education Secretary John B. King Jr. said.
The principal of Renaissance, Nikkia Rowe, is grateful for the grant and what it will do for the students. “As we all know, healing is a process, and the additional funding will assist us in the healing,” she said.
This isn’t the first time a grant of this nature has been awarded to Baltimore City schools. After the unrest that followed the death of Freddie Gray, $293,000 was split between 5 schools who were the most affected by the unrest. Renaissance is the second school this year in Baltimore to get the Project School Emergency Response to Violence grant.
