Dayton is failing its kids
History repeats itself. Readers of this site remember what happened to me at the Spring Urban Nights when I went to document a swarm of kids near the RTA hub.
UPDATE @ 10:45 p.m.: Six tickets for disorderly conduct have been issued to juveniles stemming from the fighting.
Most of the skirmishing seemed to located in the area of the RTA hub on Third Street.
Urban Nights ended at 9:30 p.m., said Val Beerbower, public relations and communications manager with the Downtown Dayton Partnership.
FIRST REPORT: Reports of fighting downtown involving at least 100 people have prompted police to ask for extra crews to help restore order.
There are reports of fighting being reported at the RTA hub on Third Street. There have been reports of fighting at First and Patterson earlier.
At 9:58 p.m., Jefferson Street was being blocked to stop civilian traffic at Third and Fourth streets.
Dayton police are asking for additional officers from the city’s east and west sides as well as from the University of Dayton.
via Dayton police responding to fighting downtown | Dayton, OH News | www.whio.com.
I didn’t go last night, because I was pretty sure it would happen again- and I had a ton of work to finish. I wouldn’t have waded into another one of these swarms again.
In front page news, Dayton Public School scored near the bottom of all Districts in the State. Jefferson Township and Trotwood Madison were right there with them.
Dayton Public Schools again had the lowest performance index in the area, with its 75.2 mark ranking. Dayton had the second worst ranking among Ohio public districts, only ahead of Warrensville Heights in northeast Ohio. On another measure, DPS did meet two of the 24 state testing standards, putting it ahead of Cleveland, Youngstown and Canton schools, and tying Dayton with Columbus, Toledo and Akron…
Dayton (2), Trotwood-Madison (3) and Middletown (3) schools ranked lowest in standards met…
Dayton, Trotwood and Tri-County North were the only local schools to receive three F’s in value-added….
Trotwood (74.8), Northridge (73.1) and Dayton (72.2) had the lowest graduation rates, although Dayton’s rate was an improvement from last year’s 69.9.
via How did your schools rank in new state report card report? | www.mydaytondailynews.com.
There is a direct correlation between these two news stories. And there is a solution- and it costs a lot less than what our city wastes in corporate welfare under the guise of “economic development.”
We’ve abandoned our youth.
I grew up in a community that was more Oakwood than Dayton. Cleveland Heights wasn’t as wealthy, or as lily white in the 70’s but it had a focus on its kids. There were “park monitors” in the summer in parks throughout the city- high schoolers who were paid and sent to parks and school playgrounds with a duffel bag of bats, balls, Frisbees, and a job description of helping kids have fun together. We spend a couple of million each summer on our YouthWorks program putting kids into businesses – but nothing to let kids lead kids. Heights also had outdoor pools, an ice rink, the sorts of things one only finds in Kettering today. School scores aside, I think Kettering gets many more things right in their spending priorities which seem focused on quality of life- which in turn positions them nicely for the private sector to do their own economic development. For those of you who aren’t aware- they have an ice rink, BMX track, an internationally recognized skate park, indoor outdoor pools with waterpark features, enough soccer fields to host the world cup (if only parents were watching) baseball, softball and basketball courts all in top condition.
Dayton, our largest city can point to a few dedicated private citizens and organizations doing the right thing:
First Dayton Little League: Located in Dayton, OH, First Dayton Little League is in Ohio District 8 under District Administrator Shannon Walker. The league has been a chartered member of Little League since 1951. Approximately 90 children are participating in First Dayton Little League, which fields 5 teams. The league president is Ron Johnson.
The program at Washington Park died a few years ago, due to a number of factors. Here are a hole 90 kids, out of probably close to 20,000 that are involved in “America’s pastime.”
When it comes to youth football- there is a small league that does it’s best to make things happen for the kids.
The Dayton Jets Youth Football and Cheerleading (DJYFC) is a youth football organization based in Dayton. We are a certified non-profit with the State of Ohio and a recognized 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. We are a member of the Butler County Youth Football League (BCYFL) in Hamilton, Ohio. Also affiliated with the American Youth Football Association (AYF), one of the largest international youth football organizations established to promote the wholesome development of youth with an emphasis on learning, playing, and enjoying the sport while instilling high moral standards.
via The Mission | Dayton Jets Youth Football and Cheerleading.
They involve more kids than the Little League organization. For a while the now renamed “Vikings” team, played on the worst field I’ve ever seen- the old Belmont High Schook practice field- before giving up and moving to Wright Brothers school field. When they asked repeatedly for DPS to help them with an electricity drop and permission to place a POD container, they got nowhere until a connected parent pushed for some help.
From the Dayton Jets site (they ge
Teens who do not participate in after school programs are nearly three times more likely to skip classes or use marijuana or other drugs; they are also more likely to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and engage in sexual activity. (YMCA of the USA, March 2001)
Children in after school programs were half as likely to drop out of high school, and two and one half times more likely to pursue higher education, than students not participating. (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids 2000)
Young people need the influence of caring adults and positive role models in their lives. Good after school programs can accomplish that by helping youngsters develop the knowledge, skills and healthy habits to achieve their greatest potential. (US Secretary of Education Rod Paige, 2003)
via Did You Know? | Dayton Jets Youth Football and Cheerleading.
Soccer, the cheapest sport out there, in terms of equipment, is staging a surge, mostly due to the immigrant community- both the Turks and Mexicans get it- and want programs for their kids.
DASA’s Commitment to our Community
Our Value Statement:
Teaching important lifetime skills in soccer, teamwork, and promoting a healthy, active lifestyle, kids having fun!Our Mission:
To continuously provide a high-quality, affordable, recreational soccer experience for Dayton youth and their families.Dayton SAY is the official youth soccer program for the City of Dayton Recreation and Youth Services. We are committed to serve the children of Dayton with the same intent, “Building community togetherness, stability and growth using recreation and youth services to enhance the quality of life for Dayton youth and families”.
via Dayton Area Soccer Association – (Dayton, OH) – powered by LeagueLineup.com.
And, lastly, basketball, where we are finally doing something about the decrepit state of our outdoor courts, there are three resources:
- The Dayton Metro league– with AAU affiliation.
- The Dayton Nets– which is a youth league from 3rd to 11th grade and has programs in some DPS buildings.
- The Kroc Center– a basketball focused ministry of the Salvation Army.
For all my visits to basketball courts in the city- I’ve only encountered one “supervised” session, where a 41-year-old barber from Trotwood was working with neighborhood kids, his kid and his dead sister’s 5 kids that he’d taken in, at the old Grace A Greene courts, where there are 6 backboards, 5 rims and a lot of weeds in the cracks.
Going to the city rec’s page- they offer:
The City of Dayton’s Youth Sports Leagues are great for learning sportsmanship, teamwork, and developing athletic talent. In the fall and winter we offer a variety of basketball leagues. In the spring and summer we offer T?ball, coach pitch and kid pitch baseball, girls’ softball, and boxing. We also provide various classes to get youth active and moving all year long.
via Dayton Ohio Athletics | City of Dayton Ohio Recreation | Athletics.
and of course- a video of our very unathletic mayor making a speech at “Youth Baseball Day.” If you watch the video, you find out that in order to make the field playable at Princeton Recreation Center- it took help of the Cincinnati Reds and three other donors. Our city, while it has no problem handing off a million plus dollars to tear down buildings for a developer without money or a plan, can’t maintain its own baseball fields.
I’m sure there are other programs- one of my favorites is the what used to be called the “Invincible Regulating Striders” and now just the Dayton Striders. A champion drill team that keeps kids busy and gives them goals.
The two diamonds at the end of my street are unrecognizable as diamonds anymore. A neighbor had to spend hours working on weeding the cracks in the tennis court, and then tightened a net to be able to play tennis with his kids.
Our schools have cut gym. Busing makes after school sports a very difficult process for parents. Each neighborhood has kids attending a dozen plus different schools. Scouting is an expensive proposition for low-income youth. Our two Boy’s and Girl’s clubs shrunk to one (where the outdoor courts in the parking lot have 4 backboards and 3 rims).
We filled in our outdoor pools. We sold off our recreation centers or tore them down. We’ve failed our kids.
And then we wonder why our schools are failing and we’ve got kids wilding in the streets?
Scoff at my hanging green basketball nets, (over 500 so far)- but it guilted city hall into investing a reported million dollars in court replacements and upgrades. Now, we need to figure out how to get kids working with role model adults on those basketball courts if we want to keep them out of the criminal courts.
It’s not just a question of can we do better? It’s we must do better. We’re failing our kids.
UPDATE
first comment on Facebook by Jay Madewell- music programs too. DPS has no more music programs (except Stivers). Time to bring back music into the schools.
If there are any youth sports programs that I missed- or programs for kids in Dayton- please leave them in comments- thank you.
My wife and I were out there last night and it was tragic. We were in the Oregon District and the police activity that we saw was all located by the RTA hub. One thing that was interesting though is there was a small swarm of teenagers (about 10-12) that was walking into the Oregon and I heard one of them say “let’s get out of here I’m more scared of the shop owners here than I am the police, the Oregon District is lame anyway.” After the little groups Alpha-male made this comments the made their way back toward Downtown.
I thought that young man’s statement was interesting. Certainly the Oregon is not lame as thousands of people not just from the city but from the suburbs like me were there too. Maybe it was lame to them because they knew they couldn’t get away with their thuggish behavior there?
I think the biggest thing these kids need are fathers. My wife and I have seriously thought and prayed about adoption, and I think other capable adult families should consider as well.
Because of your story last Spring, I chose to keep all of my Urban Nights activity EAST of St. Clair St. I wasn’t going to go anywhere near the Hub. The Library had Burundi drummers in the park, and the usual good times in Oregon. I heard a live band on Second St. and have no idea if anything was happening at Courthouse Square. I think Nick has a good point. The thugs don’t like Oregon because they know they can’t get away with it.
Everybody repeats the same cliches: “Kids are the future” and “Education is our top priority”. My favorite is “A child is a gift from God”.
It sounds good, but when it comes to City of Dayton expending money, resources, and political capital on children, it just doesn’t happen. The cliches never stop, but the kids get the shaft.
Education is expensive, time consuming, and lots of work for everybody involved. City of Dayton tax dollars and resources are being wasted on tomfoolery of every description. Educating kids is among the lowest priorities of City of Dayton, despite their claims to the contrary.
If Centerville or Oakwood had test scores as bad as Dayton Public Schools, we would witness a public uprising of monumental proportions. Every legal, financial, and political weapon available would be brought to bear, and the problem would be addressed forthwith. There is no similar response to the p|ss-poor education being offered by Dayton Public Schools.
Instead, we get cliches.
and where are these kids parents? oh right, i forgot, they are totally fucking absent!
whose fault is that? how is Dayton Public Schools going to fix broken families and entire generations of young men who grew up without fathers?
what does this tell you about the Democratic party (who is firmly in charge of Dayton) that we have this current status quo?
And then on the other side we have the Republicans running the State house, and those assholes couldn’t give two shits about the kids in Dayton, or anyone that makes less than 50k a year for that matter.
Yes. We are failing our kids. Society doesn’t care. Our politicians don’t care. That is apparent. If society actually cared, reforms would happen. But since we know reforms don’t happen in any effective or timely manner, we can conclude that both parties don’t really care about the citizenry, they are mainly only concerned with enriching themselves at the expense of everyone else.
If you want to fix this problem you are going to need to change the priorities of our entire society.
People are more interested in the shiny new Apple watch, or video of Ray Rice beating his wife, than they are with thinking about, and addressing our nation’s problems. Just look at facebook. No one talks about or cares about politics or the actual business of the nation, they just want to share selfies and hashtags about pointless bullshit.
We are sliding into 3rd world banana republic status, slowly but surely. The stratification of society continues to worsen and I see no sign of it letting up.
Thank God we’ve had such a great public education system all these years to guide us to where we are today.
I just don’t know how we’d survive without Republicans and Democrats!
IT’S DAVID ESRATI’S BIRTHDAY TODAY!
MAKE SURE TO WISH HIM A HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Many Happy Returns of the Day!
Great article on how to end poverty in the NY Times-
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-the-way-to-beat-poverty.html?_r=0
That would be a good start-
We need to start holding parents accountable when they let their kids go wild in the streets.
So- now the Chief of Police is to be investigated for pepper spraying a kid last Friday night. This will be done by the City Manager- since the chief can’t investigate himself. http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/crime-law/dayton-police-chief-under-investigation-for-use-of/nhNLs/ However- they are severely under-reporting the number of youth involved in the swarm I taped last Urban Fights- “This is the second set of disturbances during the celebration this year. Urban Nights is a semi-annual event held in May and September at locations throughout downtown, such as the Oregon District and Wright-Dunbar Business Village. It showcases urban living, dining, shopping, arts and entertainment options. On May 9, a juvenile was arrested near Main and Second streets after allegedly displaying a handgun during a fight. Police worked to control a crowd of up to 50 people who joined in the mayhem.” And- from behind the paywall- Amelia Robinson is calling the Mayor out- with a feather touch- http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/news/events/rowdy-reckless-teens-tarnish-urban-nights-event-to/nhNMr/?icmp=daytondaily_internallink_textlink_apr2013_daytondailystubtomydaytondaily_launch#1cdbeede.3600219.735492 Of course- we could rename it “Urban Fights” and put the kids in a ring and take bets. It’s going to require a rebrand and relaunch of this event for next year- because it’s already being called “Urban Frights” or “Urban Fights” and that’s not good. “Let’s not pretend here. Youth were running wild in downtown Dayton Friday night.” and- Where was the supervision? It is not just the kids who deserve a talking to when it comes to what happened during Urban Nights. “Take responsibility for your children,” Chabali urged. “Where are the parents in this?” Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, the co-chair of the Downtown Dayton Partnership — the organization that plans Urban Nights — said merchants in Wright Dunbar and the Oregon District generally see Urban Nights as a positive and reported having a successful night Friday. But she said the future of the event and what happens when Urban Nights closes at 9 p.m — when much of the trouble happens — will be discussed and evaluated with members of the business community to find a better way forward. Whaley said technology and connectivity likely played a role in how the teens knew to flock to certain… Read more »
…yessir, dear David, what we have here is nothing but a validation of the Iron Law of Subsidy. Simply put, the more money Uncle Sugar pays for an activity, more of the activity will be generated. So just as the corn ethanol subsidy created more corn, the irresponsible baby-mama subsidy gave us more unqualified, negligent, disinterested and dysfunctional parents. Dayton, of course, isn’t the only city being besieged by teenage barbarians at public events. A quickie google search finds the problem everywhere from the Wisconsin State Fair to a free admission day at the Indy Zoo. So fault for this taxpayer funded Visigoth creation program can be placed right on the doorstep of government, and yet some advocate more tax money and (more importantly) more government? Oh pleeeeeeease…
David, your research and strong interest in youth and youth programs is most welcome. Obviously the basketball rim campaign may not be very exciting as a campaign persona but appreciated by many no doubt.
The fact is I and many others I knew didn’t too much care about sports and youth programs when we were youths and it’s sure no end all direction to most youth. In fact I would think now more than ever fewer young people give a damn about sports and for sure don’t want to hear some “urban pastor or local politician.” Yet these programs are welcome for some but it’s not “real” for most.
Don’t get me wrong I appreciate every effort but the simple fact is their “parent, parents, caregiver, brother, sister, PO, or whatever, don’t much give a damn where they are and what they are doing. I object to this being “Dayton’s fault.”
A boost of honesty here. These kids raising hell are those who’s “parent, parents, caregiver, brother, sister, PO, or whatever” is not giving a damn. This is a cultural issue and as a citizen of Dayton refuse to accept any blame. My kids sure as hell didn’t act this way!
Basketball courts and youth for Christ rallies are not the answer. Being a responsible, loving parent is the only answer but those additional service can not hurt.
DAYTON IS FAILING ITS KIDS.
I feel this is a true statement. But honestly, at this point Dayton’s failings outweigh the successes by a good margin. Even worse, the failings seem to be concentrated in the areas that matter most to the health and vitality of the city.
The answer? Beats me. I do not have the solution, and I don’t know anybody that does.
The good news is that this can’t go on forever. The lives of cities are cyclical, and things will eventually swing in a more positive direction. But when? The current downward cycle has persisted for decades. There are a few signs of renewal, but the persistent, crippling problems continue to fester.
Dayton is failing it’s kids. But it is failing in a LOT of other areas, too. When and how does the cycle of failure stop?
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF HOW DYSFUNCTIONAL THE CITY OF DAYTON HAS BECOME. THIS SCAM INVOLVED AT LEAST 9 PEOPLE, OVER A HUNDRED CHECKS AND HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. YET IT WENT ON FOR 4 YEARS BEFORE ANYBODY DID ANYTHING TO PUT A STOP TO THE THEFT.
THIS MAKES ME WONDER HOW MANY OTHER SCAMS CITY OF DAYTON NEVER DISCOVERS.
“DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Nine people are under indictment for stealing money from the City of Dayton.
Among them is former city employee Christen Turner who worked for the city from 1999 until her firing in December 2013.
Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck says Turner worked as an executive assistant in the Department of Law and had authority to sign off on claims paid out to citizens from the Morals Fund. Turner was allowed to sign claims for $2,500 or less.
Heck says she created false claims in the names of her friends then signed off on pay outs to her friends.
Heck says she signed 146 fake claims worth $365,000 between 2009 and 2013.
“Most public employees do their job because of a desire serve the public and are good, trustworthy and dedicated public servants. However, defendant Turner is the exception. She violated the public’s trust and stole money not only from the City of Dayton, but every resident of Dayton,” said Prosecutor Mat Heck.
The nine people accused faces charges ranging from theft in office to grand theft and theft. Turner is charged with a total of 145 counts including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity among others.
25 other accomplices were also identified. They are all being screened as potential participants in a diversion program”