'Get Off The Corner, Go To School'; Video Shows Mayor Pugh Finding Child On Street During School Hours
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh had a stern message for a young boy caught ditching school, but was also able to offer him some help.
The mayor is releasing a series of videos giving people a look into her daily activities.
One shows her scolding a squeegee kid for skipping school. The video demonstrates the mayor's compassion for Baltimore's youth and shows the actions she's willing to take.
"Why are you not in school? Why are you on the street?," Mayor Pugh can be heard asking the boy. "I'm the mayor, why are you not in school? Why are you not in school? Get off the street and go to school now!"
Recorded on January 11, the video is a peek into the mayor's day, and what she encounters.
"When I see someone standing on the streets of our city, i want to know where they're going," Pugh said.
Squeegee kids are not an uncommon sight in Baltimore. Mayor Pugh has been very vocal about helping our city's youth and working to find them opportunities.
"These are targets for trafficking, these are targets for drug dealers," she said. "What he said was, 'I'm just trying to get a little money in my pocket.'"
The mayor said she was very concerned for the boy's safety, so the following day, she went to his school to make sure he was there.
The mayor spoke to the boy's principal at Booker T. Washington Middle School, and then checked in on the student.
"I was just telling the kid to go to school, get off the corner. I did not know all the predicaments of this particular individual," she said. "And so we are providing wrap around services for him."
The mayor is looking to get this young boy involved in Squeegee Corps, a program she started last summer that engages our youth and gets them off the streets.
Last summer, about 50 kids enrolled in the Squeegee Corps program.
Here is the extended version of the mayor's video:
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