Johnson Joins Mayors of Denver and San Antonio for National Education Tour

Mayor Kevin Johnson is on a National Educational Tour, along with mayors from Denver and San Antonio, to talk about the programs and ideas that they're sharing with each other to help students in their own cities. 

Johnson, along with Denver's Mayor Michael Hancock and the mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro, visited Sacramento High School and talked about their efforts to try to gap the distance of student achievements.

This is the second of five stops for the mayors.


  

Mayor Johnson mentioned some ideas that were shared, including a policy they have in San Antonio, to get kids started in school as soon as possible.

"They did an initiative where they had a sales tax, a 1/8 cent sales tax to essentially put those dollars to make sure young people got a chance to go to pre-K, full day, all day long," said Johnson.

Another idea talked about was a new program in Denver called "School Choice."  It's said to give high school students better odds of getting into their top three schools of choice.  Mayor Johnson didnt say specifically which programs he wanted to implement first.

8 Year Old Boy Pepper-Sprayed By Police

What does an eight-year-old boy have to do to get pepper-sprayed by police officers?

In Denver Colorado, police were called to an elementary school where a child was spitting and cussing at his teacher. The boy, Aiden, also allegedly threw a television and threatened to kill the teachers.

When cops arrived to the scene, the boy allegedly became violent and grabbed a sharp piece of wood. According to Daily Mail, he ripped the piece of wood off the wall because he "wanted to make something sharp if they came out because I was so mad at them."

Officers say the boy then tried to stab them, that is when they felt they needed to spray him. "It burned my eyes and I couldn't see," said Aiden.

After the eight-year-old was sprayed, he was arrested and put in handcuffs. The mother of the child says police were called on her son two times before and the officers overreacted.

She said the officers should have showed restraint due to his age. The police department however is standing behind the officers use of the pepper-spray. 

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