Anti-gang program moves to Lynn middle school

LYNN – Marshall Middle School is taking over a three-year-old program aimed at arming kids interested in gangs with valuable resources to keep them safe.Formerly headquarterd at North Shore Community College, Project Yes, which is funded through a federal grant, will now be housed at Marshall to keep its at-risk students on the right track.Principal Richard Cowdell, who prefers to label the kids street smart instead of at-risk, said his school and NSCC collaborated this summer to create a more intensive program that would happen at Marshall and be exclusively for Marshall students.”I’m really excited about catching these kids before they make the leap to the dark side,” he said. “This program could be life saving for some of these kids. We want to get ahead of the wave, beat the gangs and say nice try, but we got there first.”Cowdell said an advisory board with representatives from NSCC, Marshall, Gordon College, Girls, Inc., North Shore Mediation, Essex County Probation, Upward Bound and several interested city residents recently met and decided it would be best to target sixth graders in the program’s first session and possibly restrict it to boys only to eliminate the boy/girl issues that are inherent in middle schools.The extended day program will begin in February and run three days a week from 2:30-6:30 p.m. with the group size capped at 25. At least one staff person will be on hand at all times during activities in the school’s gym, cafeteria, computer room, classroom stage and exercise room.All students will be hand-picked by their teachers for the anti-gang program.”This is not about intervention, but prevention,” he said. “We want the kids to value the program as something they wouldn’t want to lose, and that if they join a gang, they will be cut out of the program.”Cowdell said he just started asking teachers to be on the lookout for students who are on the cusp of turning to trouble so they can be recruited for the program.Once instituted, Cowdell said a few of his goals for the program include educating kids on the dangers of gangs and to keep their resistance skills against gangs strong; providing positive role models in language and action; helping the students succeed at a high level in school; and creating a peer support group.”I would love to see the kids mobile throughout the area and make regular trips, once or twice a month, to sites that are accessible by train,” he said. “Money is not unlimited, but there certainly are some funds available in the budget to cover trips to Boston and around the North Shore to get the kids out and do some fun things.”Two paid positions for a consultant and a curriculum designer are posted through NSCC for the program.