Conference unites teachers, students in fight against sexual violence

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A lot has happened since last year's Violence-Free Teen Conference.

In October, the LAUSD Board passed a unanimous resolution instituting violence prevention education - something Peace Over Violence, the organization hosting the conference, has worked on for years.

But Emily Austin, who wrote most of the resolution, said the victory felt a little tainted - because just ten days prior, a Southeast High School senior was stabbed fatally by her ex-boyfriend. At school.

"The schools have to be a place where students and parents can talk about warning signs of domestic violence or sexual violence and can seek help and protection," Austin said. "We can't let more victims of teen dating violence die on campus, where we could step in and prevent it."

Austin is Peace Over Violence's Policy Director. The organization already teaches runs sexual violence prevention programs in public schools.

But the resolution provides two million dollars for LAUSD to hire a violence prevention coordinator and a liaison for every school. They'll help students recognize dating violence and prevent it.

Lili Herrera, Director of Prevention Services, believes these classes need to start early.

"One of my first clients, she was 11 years old," Herrera said. "And it was a little bit tough for me to wrap my head around an 11-year-old being in a relationship, and I quickly realized that this is as real as it gets. That gave me a very quick wake-up call."

And dating is just one of many violence issues, Herrera said. She hopes to plant seeds in middle-school students so they'll be able to do what Silver Lake high school students did:

"At Marshall high school a couple years ago, there was a lot of tension between the Armenian and the Latino students. And the STOP team" - that is, the Students Together Organizing Peace team, one of five in LAUSD high schools - "They actually held kind of a day of dialogue type thing for them where they actually sat down and talked about the similarities and the differences, and there were so much more similarities than differences in their cultures. They quickly realized how silly it was."

James Campos, 21, was a member of that team. He started fighting violence at Marshall as a ninth-grade extra-credit assignment, then joined STOP during his sophomore year. Now, he's a Youth Educator with Peace Over Violence, focusing on groups of young men.

"We don't talk about just violence but also character and leadership-building, so that not only can they learn how to treat a girl and treat women, but how to treat themselves better," he said.

And the new LAUSD plan won't only educate students: It includes mandatory training for teachers and parents too. The conference, which continues Friday, hopes to teach students and adults to approach one another and discuss violence, sexuality and relationships openly.

"In any case where people have been both open-minded to sit and talk to each other, they'll bridge those gaps, Austin said. "And that's the trusted adult relationship you need to say, 'I'm gonna tell you something that makes me vulnerable, I'm gonna share it with you, can you help me, or can you help me help myself?'"