Sandy Hook Promise program spreading throughout Valley

YOUNGSTOWN

Parents of children who were killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting created a nonprofit organization with an impact that has touched the Mahoning Valley.

Sandy Hook Promise implements free programs in middle and high schools that teach students, administrators and teachers how to identify warning signs of potential violent actions by students and create a more inclusive school community.

The idea is to recognize when a student is socially isolated or is having mental or emotional trouble that could escalate to them harming him- or herself, or others.

State Rep. Glenn Holmes of McDonald, D-63rd, met with Sandy Hook Promise representatives recently to discuss continuing to spread the programs through the Valley.

The programs were introduced in the Boardman, Campbell, Austintown, Canfield, Lowellville and Western Reserve school districts. Sandy Hook Promise visited some of the Youngstown City Schools a few times last year through Nonviolence Week and Sojourn to the Past.

Preventing school violence is an uphill battle that will require a multi-faceted approach, and Nicole Hockley, a cofounder of the group whose son died at Sandy Hook, said implementing measures such as armed guards aren’t enough.

Read more about the group in Fridau's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.