PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The School District of Philadelphia is expanding a mentorship program that matches Black male students with school safety officers. It is also adding a pilot program for female students, matching them with female officers.
The Leaders Encouraging Achievement & Development (LEAD) program was launched in spring 2020 as a way to address a need for Black male mentors.
Ryan Smith, a school safety officer, meets with students for an hour a week.
“I just ask them how they’re doing and where they’re at, and then we kind of spin off of that,” Smith said Thursday during a news conference at district headquarters.
“I do have a script sometimes prepared, but that doesn’t always work. So you never know what you might run into, what you might encounter with a child each and every morning," he added.
“The LEAD program is going to now formalize that and take it to new heights, and give it the substance that it needs and the identification that it needs."
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Smith said he knows the value of a mentor.
He recalled how when he was a teenager and his father wasn’t around, a safety officer at Strawberry Mansion High named Reggie McBride served as a caring adult.
Smith, now a 17-year veteran of the force, choked up as he pointed out McBride at the news conference.
LEAD started a year ago at Hamilton Disston Elementary and Washington Rhodes Middle Schools. 15 officers and 40 students are currently participating in the program.
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LEAD is expanding this month to the Benjamin B. Comegys and Rudolph Blankenburg elementary schools.
Superintendent William Hite explained all school police officers have received mentor training.
“Their goal is not to arrest or detain young people,” Hite said.
“Their goal is to really save the lives of young people, by leading them, by being a positive role model and helping them succeed.”