INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis Public Schools task force looking at the district’s culture on Wednesday night met for the first time since the July 5 mass shooting involving teens at the downtown Artsgarden.

Two teens, ages 15 and 16, died in the downtown shooting, and five people — a 16-year-old, a 17-year-old, two 19-year-olds and a 21-year-old — were taken to a hospital with injuries. Since that mass shooting and another one that injured five people ages 10-19 outside a home on Sunday, youth gun violence has been top of mind among many Indianapolis residents.

School Board Commissioner Hope Star is one of the people on the IPS Mental Health and School Culture Task Force. “I’m concerned around trauma and what that does to our children and it is not just about the (school) building. I know that we’re coming into the building and we’re living in communities where our families are losing children. Children are losing their cousins. I was telling people a few years ago, we’re just a few degrees separated from any child that dies.”

Star said the violence has been hard for adults as well children.

She also said some IPS households also are dealing with homelessness or the loss of Medicaid.

“We’re all human. It’s a difficult time right now for us to figure out how to care for each other, care for the least in our community. It’s important.”

The task force was designed to create a healthy and safe environment for students inside school buildings and outside school walls. They’re creating surveys that target students, teachers, parents and guardians. The goal is to listen to what they have to say.

In partnership with business consulting firm Intrinz Inc., the meeting at IPS on Wednesday discussed the draft survey questions that could help to paint a picture of a school’s environment. The draft includes questions for students in Grades 3-12. Some of the questions could include accessibility; the quality of mental health services; peer relationships and social support; and trauma responses.

Teachers, staff, parents and guardians will be surveyed as well.

Audrey Wathen, vice president-people strategies lead at Intrinz, says the aim is to review the responses with the board and the public to create actionable items to address issues. “That’s where learning takes place. That’s where success is for the students. That’s where you can look at student’s pathway to say they were successful because we created an environment where they can learn.”

The task force meetings, which are open to the public, will start at 6 p.m. in the board room of the John Morton Finney Education Center, 120 E. Walnut St., on these dates: Aug. 27, Sept. 17, Oct. 29, Nov. 12 and Dec. 10.

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