DMPS Responds to Shooting at Starts Right Here

Monday, January 23, 2023 – 3:00 PM

Following a report of a shooting this afternoon at the Starts Right Here program, interim Superintendent Matt Smith issued the following statement:

“We are saddened to learn of another act of gun violence, especially one that impacts an organization that works closely with some of our students. We are still waiting to learn more details, but our thoughts are with any victims of this incident and their families and friends. Starts Right Here is a valuable partner to DMPS, doing important work to help us re-engage students, and we stand by to support them during this critical time.”

BACKGROUND
Starts Right Here is a community partner of Des Moines Public Schools providing two services: helping to re-engage students in the district’s Options Academy credit recovery program and supporting students academically and social emotionally who are no longer in a school building. They serve 40-50 DMPS students at any given time, with DMPS providing educational programming (NOTE: no DMPS staff were on site at the time of the shooting). This partnership began in 2021.