How “boys for men” are aimed at preventing the next tragedy

Kicken, Texas (KXXV) shares, TX (KXXV) -The Killeen community remains shaken after the death of 14-year-old Serenity Baker, but Dalton Rudd, founder of the Young matter for men Mentor program refuses to let the conversation fade. On the latest Killen ISD board meeting, Rudd asked the district managers to take sensible measures.

Watch Rudd talking to Josh Crawford about the program:

Local Killen Group who want to support KISD students

“As a parents, as a teacher, as programs in the community – we have to use humans to go to these schools to prevent tragedies like a few weeks ago,” said Rudd.

Young matter for men is a mentoring program that focuses on providing boys with instructions, structure and emotional support in order to address problems in the core instead of reacting to them. Rudd describes his organization as a “holistic approach to solving some of the deeply rooted problems that we see in our community”.

However, Rudd believes that Kisd’s reaction has so far been insufficient.

“It didn’t just have an impact on school. It influenced the entire community,” he emphasized. He sees the current moment as an opportunity to create permanent changes instead of continuing to react without a plan. “At the moment I think we are still in this reply mode. We are still reacting and we don’t develop anything to be proactive, so it’s a lot to talk about at the moment,” said Rudd.

Despite the difficulties, Rudd believes that local groups, organizations and headmaster have to come together to concentrate on what is really important – the students.

“While everything is reinforced and everyone is ready to take measures, we have to maintain this energy, we have to benefit from it and do not stop until changes make up,” he urged.

The organization has worked with KISD in the past, but Rudd understands that the legal complexity of this situation is new challenges. His main request? Constant and constant access within schools.

“I think we need it more than ever. If my program had been in this school, I think that this incident could have been prevented,” he said.

Since Killen ISD and the broader community continue to navigate to best support the students, Rudd’s message is clear: coping with the safety of the students requires more response – it requires proactive commitment.