Today, 21,000 District kids went to work as part the mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). They fanned out across the city, filling up recreation centers, pools, parks, the Wilson Building, and various private sector jobs. And like last year, the program has started with a few troubling incidents.

This morning, program supervisors seized knives from kids as they walked through metal detectors at RFK. One official with the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization wrote in an e-mail: “This and other behavior is evidence that maybe the city should re-think its decision to eliminate pre-program ORIENTATION for these youth.”

Last year’s orientation didn’t end so well.

Also at the RFK site, there were reports of SYEP kids stealing property: “I-phones have come up missing,” reports one e-mail.

*file photo by Darrow Montgomery.