MAT-V Founder Starts Out of School Suspension - WICU12/WSEE Erie, PA News, Sports, Weather and Events

MAT-V Founder Starts Out of School Suspension

Mothers Against Teen Violence founder Sonya Arrington is starting something new. It's an out of school suspension program to be housed in the Booker T. Washington Center at 17th and Holland Street.  The idea is a team effort with the Erie School District and neighborhood center. The program will be piloted with kids grades 6 - 8, who get suspended from Wayne or Roosevelt schools.

Arrington said, "This is a good way for the kids to be in a safe structured environment and another thing is when these kids get suspended for 2-3 days, they're not doing their homework and that put them behind.  That's why lots of these kids are not graduating. So that's another thing we'll be doing is making sure they get their homework done while they're out of school."

The program is not mandatory.  Parents have to choose to send a suspended student there between the hours of 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM.  For information you can contact the Booker T. Washington Center, or MAT-V at 572-9567.