Anti-gang program a hit with kids - Letter to the Editor in the Palm Beach Post today...

We work in Lake Worth at a Title I school, South Grade Elementary. Our students face many social and academic challenges. Gangs target our fourth- and fifth-grade students for recruitment. When we reached out to Capt. Rolando Silva, of the Lake Worth precinct of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, last year to combat this problem. Capt. Silva, Deputy Devin Zuchowski and Sgt. Oscar Cardenas partnered with us to create the program, Breaking the Cycle of Gang Recruitment, from the ground up. They also run a bullying prevention program with our fourth-graders. You can’t fake it with kids. Our students love these officers not just because they show up but because they know they care.

MIKE RILEY, LORIS RODRIGUEZ-BARR AND REBECCA HINSON, LAKE WORTH

Editor’s note: Mike Riley is principal at South Grade Elementary School. Loris Rodriquez-Barr is assistant principal, and Rebecca Hinson is an art teacher at the school.