Ferguson School District Superintendent to Speak at 4th Annual Bucks County Teen Peace, Social Justice Summit Jan. 15

LANGHORNE – Dr. Joseph Davis, superintendent of the Ferguson-Florissant, Mo. School District, will participate in the 4th Annual Teen Peace and Social Justice Summit, which is more relevant than ever before.

The summit will take place Sunday Jan. 15, 2017 from 4 pm to 7 pm at Central Bucks South High School at 1100 Folly Road in Warrington, Pa.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, hate crimes across the nation have increased 35 percent since November, with much of it landing in our schools (K-12). Current events make the upcoming

Barbara Simmons, executive director of The Peace Center in Bucks County, said that Davis “will tell stories of how they are dealing in his school district with the kinds of trauma and issues that face the community since the shooting of Michael Brown, which sparked a new activism across the country, including the formation of Black Lives Matter.”

In February 2015, Davis was appointed superintendent of Ferguson-Florissant School District, which encompasses Ferguson-Florissant, Mo., the site of the August 2014 fatal shooting of Brown. Brown was an 18-year-old African American who was shot by a white officer after a struggle.

The incident sparked months of protests over claims that the shooting was racially motivated because Ferguson’s nearly all white police force patrol the city, whose majority of the population is African American. It is one of the first mass protests which was followed by other police shooting controversies that received widespread national attention.

The free teen summit in Bucks County is inspired by the goals, aspirations and commemoration of the late civil rights activist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The summit is open to all students in Bucks County from grades 7 through 12 to provide a forum for how they as individuals as well as a part of society, can better understand the effects of intolerance. Students will have an opportunity to discuss discrimination and how to become part of the solution in their school and community.

The program will feature three young people who have experienced bigotry and racism in their schools, followed by participants breaking out into smaller groups for discussion.

Peace Center Executive Director Simmons said, “Our students need to talk about how hate and intolerance affects them. We need to nurture their ability to be part of the solution and the teen summit is a great way to empower them, guide them and support their efforts.”

Central Bucks School Board Director Jerel Wohl added, “The teen summit has proven to be a very important program for our community, bringing people together from faith-based organizations, social service agencies and schools to discuss critical issues of discrimination facing many of our youth every day.”

Kristie King, a longtime Bucks County resident, is the immediate past president of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. -- Bucks County Chapter.

The organization, one of the many partners of the summit, is an African American family organization, established in 1938, and made up of mothers with children ages 2-19, dedicated to nurturing future African-American leaders by strengthening children through leadership development, volunteer service, philanthropic giving and civic duty.

She has one son who is a senior at Central Bucks East High School and one who graduated last year.

King said the time is now to speak freely about “the ills that plague our society and the space to do so safely and without judgement is needed – especially for our youth.”

She continued, “The summit will provide a venue for open, honest and candid discussion and engagement around issues such as racism, prejudice and bigotry. The goal is to provide teens throughout Bucks County with a heightened sensitivity to these critical issues, an increased awareness of how words and actions can demean and diminish the spirit of others, and to equip them with tools to situations and become advocates and agents for change.

“Organizations across Bucks County are working collaboratively toward the common goal of empowering and uplifting our youth to become better citizens,” King said. “We will continue to move this work forward now and beyond Martin Luther King Day.”

The teen summit, which originally focused on Central Bucks middle and high school students, was expanded in its third year to include Bristol Township and had more than 400 attendees last January.

The program has added a new partner this year -- the Bucks County Intermediate Unit joining the Central Bucks School District, CB Cares Educational Foundation, Second Baptist Church of Doylestown, The Peace Center, Bucks County Commissioners, Jack and Jill Bucks County Chapter, Temple Judea of Bucks County, the Pearl S, Buck Foundation, the Bucks County Jewish Coalition and Bristol Township School District.

To register for the program, go to www.thepeacecenter.org

Should there be inclement weather the day of the event, please go to the event page on The Peace Center website. For more information or any questions, please contact Jerel Wohl of the Central Bucks School District at 215-918-2744 or The Peace Center's Barbara Simmons at 215-750-7220.