Lee, here ...

We'd been rubbing our heads together about how we might bring you a conversation on the recent shootings at SuccessTech Academy in Cleveland, Ohio. Mind you, our planned conversation Friday was two days after the actual shooting. We knew you'd already been briefed on the what, the when and the who of it all -- you knew there was a shooting ... at a school ... on Wednesday ... by, according to authorities, 14-year-old Asa Coon.

What strikes us as interesting is the fact that this all happened in an urban setting ... across the street from an FBI building in downtown Cleveland, nonetheless. I spoke to a friend from that area; his parents still live there. The school is known to be a "model" school -- a "small, non-traditional" learning environment -- within the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. There is an application process. A student only enrolls after he or she has been "accepted." Even more interesting, the academy is partially-funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Of last year's graduating class of seniors, 100 percent of them went on to attend college.

Unfortunately, before knowing more about the shooter, some may have assumed that the disturbance was another case of urban discourse. SuccessTech is a predominantly black high school. Several of the students live in Cleveland's inner-city.

Still, there were others surprised to learn such a tragedy would occur outside the suburbs, in an urban area. There was the thinking that students from urban settings are sometimes already exposed to neighborhood violence outside the classroom, on city streets ... and that a city school (often "decorated" with metal detectors and security guards) offers an "island" within a community, where students can feel protected from the gun violence that sometimes awaits them outside school doors.

Not so in Cleveland, apparently.

If you haven't already, take a listen to Kenneth Trump, president National School Safety and Security Services. You might be interested to hear what he has to say.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those wounded in the shootings, including the family of Asa Coon.

Next week ...

Another world leader sits for a chat with Michel. Monday, you'll hear from Sierra Leone's new President, Ernest Bai Koroma, in one of his first interviews with media in the U.S. since being elected last month. Koroma has a difficult road ahead of him. On the agenda: ridding his government of corruption. Tune in Monday to hear how he plans (and he does have a plan) to tackle it all ...

4:51 - October 13, 2007

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