Mayor lays out spring break options for Baltimore youth, engagement teams

BALTIMORE -- When school's out Friday, Baltimore City schools will officially be on spring break.

To ensure those students, and everyone else in the city, is safe, city leaders will be stepping up to implement a spring break plan.

Mayor Brandon Scott announced the plan Wednesday, reiterating the need for something like this with students off from school and the weather being nicer.

"There have been tragic incidents that have resulted in young people put in harm's way," he said.

One of those incidents happened on Easter last year when two teens were shot in the Inner Harbor area when a fight broke out.

Days before that shooting, in that same area, police monitored a crowd of more than 100 teens.

To make sure none of that happens during this year's spring break, Scott said the city is deploying youth engagement teams.

"The steps we're taking are focused on ensuring everyone has a safe spring break and we will certainly be deploying every resource we have to make sure that's the case," he said.

The teams will be made up of staffers from MONSE, the city's rec and parks department, as well as other city agencies and community partners. They'll be going to areas youth are known to gather and keeping tabs on them to make sure things are OK.

The teams will also be there to deescalate situations if necessary.

"Anytime adults are involved with teens, I think it's a positive message sent to them," said resident Darryl Pope. "It shows [the adults] care about what's going on, even if it's just hanging out."

This spring break plan was influenced by last summer's youth engagement strategy, which included a number of events.

As such, this plan also includes some events youth can go to:

• Spring Break Camps running from March 25-to-28
• Mayor Scott's Egg-Stravaganza on March 30 at 11 a.m. at War Memorial Plaza
• The Spring Break: Teen Fest on March 31 at 6 p.m. at the War Memorial Building    

Baltimore resident Phyllis Fitzgerald likes the plan but she's still worried about what could happen given the city's history.

"Young people are going to be young people," Fitzgerald said. "Not all of them are bad children, some children just get turned around in the wrong direction."