Criminalizing the classroom. Over-punishment in NYC schools.

[madfloridian]

This is going on in many areas, but there are a couple of articles at this link that point out the way things are going in NYC.

Both articles are at the same link, with a pdf format link to the second one. You can scroll down for the text.

Problems with over-policing our schools

This part is by Marian Wright Edelman

Imagine being four years old and put into handcuffs because you and your friend wouldn’t take a nap in your pre-K class. Or being five years old, handcuffed, and taken away from your school by ambulance to a hospital psychiatric ward after throwing a tantrum in the kindergarten room. These scenarios might sound far-fetched, but both are true stories that captured the local media’s attention after they happened to children at their New York City public schools. The over-policing of public schools - not just in New York, but around the country - is one more threat to our nation’s children at risk of entering the pipeline to prison.

In New York, the expanded police presence started becoming especially obvious about ten years ago when the New York Police Department (NYPD) took control over school safety from the Board of Education. By the start of the 2005-06 school year, the NYPD employed 4,625 School Safety Agents in New York City schools - more personnel than there are officers in the police forces of Washington, DC, Detroit, Boston or Las Vegas, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) report, "Criminalizing the Classroom: The Over-Policing of New York City Schools." In addition to increasing the numbers of these school safety agents, who are unarmed but can make arrests, the city also launched the Impact Schools Initiative, in which armed police officers have been deployed in the city’s "most dangerous" schools. Modeled after the NYPD’s Operation Impact program for fighting street crime, the initiative is designed to flood those schools with armed officers and surveillance cameras. Over the last five years, a total of 28 schools have been designated as "impact schools."

A June 2005 report by the Drum Major Institute found that impact schools were among the most overcrowded and underfunded in the city and serve a student body that is disproportionately poor, Black and over-age for their grade. Another report by Fordham University found that targeting a school as an impact school led to a significant decline in attendance there. This is exactly the opposite of what schools serving poor, at-risk youths should want to happen. But since the NYPD-takeover of school security, many students and teachers have said that their schools feel more like prisons than places of learning.

One English teacher described the scene this way in the NYCLU report: "On this random Wednesday morning, scanners were set up in the cafeteria of the public high school in the South Bronx where I work.Students’ bags were placed on a scanner, they were forced to walk through metal detectors, and any item deemed inappropriate for school - including food, keys and spare change - were taken away. Many students were patted down, some even with their hands on a police car. An overwhelming ratio of adults to students made the cafeteria seem a lot like a police station...Can we please not treat already-struggling, inner city teenagers who have gotten themselves to school like they’ve committed a crime?"

A New York Times editorial this week identified problems with this over-policing.

Criminalizing the Classroom

November 29, 2009
Editorial
Over-Punishment in Schools
New York Times

New York City joined a national trend in 1998 when it put the police in charge of school security. The consensus is that public schools are now safe. But juvenile justice advocates across the country are rightly worried about policies under which children are sometimes arrested and criminalized for behavior that once was dealt with by principals or guidance counselors working with a student’s parents.

Children who are singled out for arrest and suspension are at greater risk of dropping out and becoming permanently entangled with the criminal justice system. It is especially troubling that these children tend to be disproportionately black and Hispanic, and often have emotional problems or learning disabilities

Not just New York. Florida has had its own problems. Two Florida cities arrested, respectively, a 5 year old girl and a 6 year old girl. They were handcuffed, and one was put in the back of a cruiser.



How two Florida cities dealt with young children

An attorney says he plans legal action against St. Petersburg (Fla.) police officers who handcuffed an unruly 5-year-old girl after she acted up in her kindergarten class.

A video camera, which was rolling March 14 as part of a teacher's classroom self-improvement exercise, captured images of the girl tearing papers off a bulletin board, climbing on a table and punching an assistant principal before police were called to Fairmount Park Elementary School.

Then it shows the child appearing to calm down before three officers approach, pin her arms behind her back and put on handcuffs as she screamed, "No!"

After placing the child in the back of a police cruiser, police released her to her mother when prosecutors informed them they wouldn't bring charges against a 5-year-old.

A good teacher could have calmed her down. Teachers often do that for children.

One little girl in Avon Park, Florida, was handcuffed, arrested, and booked into the Highlands County Jail. A five-year-old girl in jail.

AVON PARK, Fla. -- Police arrested a 6-year-old Florida girl and even handcuffed her when she acted out in class. Police officers said Desre'e Watson, a kindergarten student at Avon Elementary School in Highlands County, had a violent run-in with a teacher on Thursday.

"I was scared," the little girl said.

Police claim the little girl got angry and began kicking and scratching. She even hit a teacher attempting to intervene in the disturbance.

However, the girl's mother doesn't believe the story.

...."The kindergartner was booked in the Highland County jail and was charged with a felony and two misdemeanors.

New York and Florida are criminalizing students over issues that are often quite minor. I am sure other states are doing it also.

Bob Herbert traveled to Avon Park, Florida, and interviewed the police chief there.

From the New York Times, a column worth remembering.

When 6-year-old Desre’e Watson threw a tantrum in her kindergarten class a couple of weeks ago she could not have known that the full force of the law would be brought down on her and that she would be carted off by the police as a felon.

But that’s what happened in this small, backward city in central Florida. According to the authorities, there were no other options.

“The student became violent,” said Frank Mercurio, the no-nonsense chief of the Avon Park police. “She was yelling, screaming — just being uncontrollable. Defiant.”

“But she was 6,” I said.

Herbert continued the interview.

Ultimately the child was no match for Avon Park’s finest. The cops pulled her from under the table and handcuffed her. The officers were not fooling around. In the eyes of the cops the 6-year-old was a criminal, and in Avon Park she would be treated like any other felon.

There was a problem, though. The handcuffs were not manufactured with kindergarten kids in mind. The chief explained: “You can’t handcuff them on their wrists because their wrists are too small, so you have to handcuff them up by their biceps.”

..."As I sat listening to Chief Mercurio in a spotless, air-conditioned conference room at the Avon Park police headquarters, I had the feeling that I had somehow stumbled into the middle of a skit on “Saturday Night Live.” The chief seemed like the most reasonable of men, but what was coming out of his mouth was madness.

Yes, Bob Herbert it is madness. Thank you for following up. I think you are the only reporter who bothered.

[New Dawn]

1. K&R - This is the real face of the USA's "free and open society"

[Go2Peace]

30. Yes, authoritarism is prevelant even in "liberal" circles in America.

We have changed more than we think. We are a fearful, fundamentalist culture. Even our "liberal" instututions are riddle with authoritarian thinking. it is also represented well on DU.

It is sad, because it will take a lot of education to move people away from this destructive pattern of thought.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. that IS scary!

what has this country become?

[Posteritatis]

5. Terrified of even the possibility of lawsuits and trapped in paranoid overreaction as a result. (nt)

[madfloridian]

22. Looks that way..

Overreaction.

[imdjh]

3. "A good teacher could have calmed her down."

The thing I found amazing about that video was that the teachers wouldn't contain her, they wouldn't touch her. As I understand it, they are forbidden to. What had the world come to when an authority figure cannot restrain a child that is losing it? I have watched this first hand at the locked school. A security guard and a principal, both totally useless, herding a bullheaded and angry male child, instead of taking him in hand, and giving taking him inside for some behavioral training.

[dotymed]

55. Parents are afraid to discipline their children too.

If a parent grabs their child (teenager) and forces them to look at them while they are being talked to about their unacceptable behavior, they can be branded as abusive parents. In todays world of divorced parents, one parent can find leverage by having their child "report" this behavior to the guidance counselor. Young teenagers often tend to exaggerate parental discipline in their recollection of events( it is a normal teenage thought, "how dare he"). Parents end up being accused of abuse, even if there are no marks or injuries. Being a loving parent, who doesn't want to watch their child to make bad choices about lifestyles (which at 13 they have no concept of the consequences) can get you hauled in front of a judge and probably even have your child placed in an environment that is worse for them, than the consequences of the original behavior they were being lectured about. It is illegal in most states, to force your unruly child to listen to his/her parent. The child would be better off allowed to destroy their life....that is scary. Yet these "law enforcement" officers can manhandle and incarcerate the same child, (at 5 years old). The child who may not be acting that way if parents were allowed to discipline them (not necessarily corporal punishment),is punished by "legal agents" who do not have the child's best longterm interests at heart, just enforcing the "law." What a country.

[WinkyDink]

61. DO NOT TOUCH A STUDENT! Teachers and staff have this drilled into us; it's called "lawsuits".

Not to mention too many teachers have themselves been injured in trying to deal with out-of-control students.

[Supply Side Jesus]

4. Passing the buck

The Schools do not want the liability of punishing Children, so they make Law Enforcement carry their water. Cops would rather be out actually solving crimes, not handling Mr. Goodcookie's out of control kids. And of course, administration caves into the politics of it all.

[eilen]

7. Seems to me the parents gave up on disciplining their own children as well.

Schools should educate, parents should teach their kids how to behave in public, (sit at at desk, follow rules, behave respectfully to adults, be respectful to teachers). Yes, we all have horror stories to draw from but they are not the norm. I know that in my entire school career, no child was ever "out of control" and my teachers never had to physically restrain anyone. If you were sent to the principal's office, it was a huge shame and you knew when you got home your parents would not be happy (particularly if they were called to pick you up).

Five years old is kindergarten age. Was this half day kindergarten or full day?

From what I understand there are designated schools for kids who are discipline problems-- called "alternative schools" in our district. Could these schools mentioned in the article be these types of schools? They do have more security and a phalanx of social service and psychiatric professionals.

[madfloridian]

21. Very good point. Teachers educate, parents instill good behavior early on.

Then teachers can more effectively educate.

[CreekDog]

34. and yet the police are willing to do this

just because you aren't willing to do it doesn't make it okay for a policeman to do it.

[Supply Side Jesus]

51. They are?

I've talked to enough School Resource Officers who would vehemently disagree.

Don't forget the DA's who pick up the cases and judges who hear them. There is ALOT of links in this ridiculous chain you are conveniently forgetting.

[CreekDog]

52. I'm saying if a police officer refused to handle a child a certain way, what could their bosses do?

fire them all?

those officers would be heroes. :D

[defendandprotect]

6. k i c k

[bobburgster]

8. Sad Day...

for our country.

[madrchsod]

9. the new chicago school leadership is rethinking it`s police methods

they are evaluating what works and what does`t work.it`s a step in the right direction to actually find out what is effective and what is counter productive.

[madfloridian]

18. Glad to hear it.

More school districts need to do that at once.

[madrchsod]

10. my high school has a cop who patrols the hallways during school hours

here in the hometown of st ronald we have an out of control student body that consits of 98% white hoods and well the rest ...yes there`s a huge problem here in ronnieland---it`s the dumb-ass paranoid parents.

yes kids.... get used to the neo-american police state.

[lostnfound]

11. A classic blind men-elephant story.

You know the one about the blind men who 'see' the elephant as a tree trunk, or as a snake, or whatever, depending on which part of the elephant (leg or trunk) that the man is feeling? This is a good example. Some would see it as a testimony that teachers need to be empowered in the classroom. Others would see it as a sign of the creeping police state. I'm not even going to say how the rightwingers would see it, because it really isn't pretty. Most people who have no children (and some who do) will blame it all on bad parenting.

I am not sure how I see it -- other than as a complete absence of common sense -- but I'd lean toward the police state accusation and perhaps also a sign of 'factory schools'. It is really depressing to think that other kids witness these events as well. I would be angry as hell if my 6 year old saw a classmate hauled off in handcuffs.

I am a little shocked that the New York Times / Bob Hebert would write "this small, backward city in central Florida". That kind of talk isn't allowed at DU.. ;)

Thank you for your numerous and important posts about schools.

[foo_bar]

13. "factory schools" hits the nail on the head

I attended JFK high school in the Bronx, circa 5000 students if you counted truants, and the building bore a striking resemblance to a factory and/or correctional facility:


Metal detectors were instituted in '89 or '90, following the "drug-related" murder of a student by a school entrance (not sure how metal detectors would have helped in that situation), so no one really complained about the heightened security measures. But ultimately the problem was an unmanageable teacher to student ratio, or the life of crushing poverty, hard to say which.

[madfloridian]

16. Heh heh. Herbert sized up the city pretty well.

I fear there are a lot like that.

Heck, I live in a large backward city, and I once had two 7 year olds handcuffed in class and arrested for breaking into the teachers' lounge the night before with their big brothers.

I was so shocked I did not know what to say to the big hulking policemen arresting the tiny boys.

Not defending what they did, but there has gotta be a better way.

[Go2Peace]

36. This is not confined to "a city", this is our system failing and we will see it elsewhere

We think that "manhandling" is the only thing that will get to our youth, and indeed sometimes we have to take strong measure. But what we really need to ask ourselves is what is the fundamental philosophy that is bringing our society to such measures and why are we becomming more and more accepting of them as "answers"?

[Go2Peace]

33. It is a sign of how how sick we have become as a society

Unfortunately the answers are not simple, it took a long time for our dysfunction to bring us to this point and it will take lots of education and real, deep, change in our philosophies to get back to sanity.

Does anyone not see signs of dysfunction in all our instututions? Private or public?

[Odin2005]

12. Schools really have become prisons.

And people wonder why I think our school system is broken beyond redemption? Public schools have become little police state obedience camps.

[arcadian]

14. It's the parents fault.

Rather than actually teaching discipline they have foisted their entitlement issues onto their kids. Most kids in school want to do little or no work, yet expect the world to be handed to them.

[madfloridian]

26. Partly that is true.

When I got them in 2nd grade the parents had already had them for 7 years....yet I was supposed to be the ultimate disciplinarian.

In my earlier years of teaching there was the philosophy that the teacher was right until proven wrong. Through the years it became the opposite. Teachers were always considered at fault. It got to be unbearable.

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. In the case of an out of control kid, I agree

The parents are responsible for sending disciplined kids to school. If the kids are out of control the parent needs to get them help. Schools are powerless. And as a teacher I can tell you that one out of control kid can easily ruin the education of a classroom full of kids who are not out of control.

[Javaman]

15. Welcome to the police state...

Just think how these kids perspectives have now changed for the long term in regards to people in authority?

We are making our own problems.

Yes, there are issues with very poor parenting, but handcuffing a 5 year old? WTF?

That's like going to the emergency room for a stubbed toe.

We are giving society the slow screw job.

Little incidents here and there. Police in charge of a schools security, using sonic weapons on protesters, locking up people at the republican convention for rightfully exercising their rights, taping our phone lines, the removal of habeas corpus, etc.

Where does it end? It doesn't.

We now take these issues as just a part of our daily life now. Those who remember what life was like before this all went down, are simply amazed as to why nothing is done to reverse it. Other nations, look at us agape.

Now we have a whole new generation of people being born; that only know war, racial profiling, limited or no freedoms and that the government is nothing more than a retarded version of kabuki theater of how it's supposed to work.

Welcome to the new normal. No longer is it the victors that write history, it's the power players that bow down to big industry that rewrite the daily news, contradicting the prior days events, then say, "yesterday was wrong, today is correct", only to change again tomorrow.

We didn't step through a looking glass; right wing thugs and weak left wing voices, physically picked us all up by the pant-loop and chucked us through that glass.

We are here. We look back longingly at our reflection. Our reflection peers back at us in horror.

The is the society. This is what we have become.

To quote Achilles, "humans are wretched creatures".

[madfloridian]

25. "Those who remember what life was like before this all went down, are simply amazed"

Yes, it is amazing what is accepted now as normal.

[conscious evolution]

53. horrified is more like it

I know I am.
I remember when I was in middle school the local scholl board wanted to put fences around the schools.
Instant boycott.Parents pulled kids out the day the first fence posts went up.
The reason-Parents all thought the fences reminded them of the concentration camps.
And this was in a small conservative southern town.

[madfloridian]

17. And don't forget the 13 year old tasered in a school hallway

Officer uses taser on 13 year old girl in hallway of Florida middle school

She had been suspended and was already leaving the school. It does not say she attacked, just that she resisted going to the office.

LAKELAND | A 13-year-old Southwest Middle School student was stunned with a Taser and arrested on a charge of battery on a law enforcement officer Tuesday in a confrontation with the school's resource officer.

The incident occurred in a hallway of the Lakeland school about 9:30 a.m. after Unique Nicole Young was suspended. Officer Lori Edwards was asked to take Young to the school office, but the girl physically resisted. To gain control of Young, Edwards shot the girl with her Taser, according to police.

"(Young) is not a normal sized 13 year old child," Edwards wrote in a report. "She is 5'4 weighing 185 pounds and very strong."

Young was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer, reports said. Lakeland police officials said it appears Edwards followed department policy in handling the incident.

[dotymed]

57. Yes, the "BART cop"

who put the drunks head through the glass, charged him with assault, resisting... hell, the drunk didn't have time to resist, he went without a fight...police state.

[Soylent Brice]

19. K&R

[madfloridian]

20. Chief who jailed the 6 yr old is now training police officers. Amazing, isn't it?

Frank Mercurio teaching law enforcement

AVON PARK - Former Avon Park Police Chief Frank Mercurio is back as an adjunct professor, teaching law enforcement to police cadets at the Public Service Academy at South Florida Community College. Aside from his other duties he's been teaching at the college since 1997, he said. Mercurio was in Iraq but said Thursday that he was not at liberty to discuss what he was doing there. He said he resigned from Avon Park at the end of 2007 and left the United States at the beginning of 2008. He remained in Iraq about 14 months.

"I've been back about three or four months," he said. "I was very honored and proud to have served with the finest military in the world and we should always remember the men and women that are serving in our armed forces that provide the freedoms we sometimes take for granted."

Mercurio said he has resumed his normal functions, attending mass and teaching at the college, and not being in the public eye. He prefers to maintain his privacy.

A cop's cop.

"We're certainly glad to have him," said Williams. "Even in the past year he's taken the initiative to go to Iraq and use his experience over there to teach criminal investigations and to come back here and teach at the college.

"Frank's always been a source of inspiration to me as a chief. If he tells you he'll do something, you can count on a phone call just as soon as he gets back to the office. He's a kind of a cop's cop. I'm glad he chose to maintain his certificate with Lake Placid. The longer he's there the better off we are."

Herbert was right when he spoke of the madness coming out of his mouth. He considered himself a hero for jailing a 6 year old girl.

[madfloridian]

23. Charter schools are getting police coverage now also.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7120588&mesg_id=7120588

[Mithreal]

24. Kick

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. Mixed feelings here Mad

I am in an urban district where the kids are NOT disciplined. At one school a girl called her family and 4 adults came into the school and beat up another girl. Nothing happened. At another school there have been 3 suspicious fires. No one is investigating.

As much as I despise zero tolerance I would like to see it in action and if it works I would have a hard time not supporting it.

As for that Florida kindergartener, I remember that well. I watched the video over and over. She was out of control and I can't remember anyone suggesting a way to calm her down without using hand cuffs. I also remember that the school called her mother and mother said call the police. In all the hoopla over that story it blew my mind that the parent was not criticized. She had an unruly out of control and dangerous child and told the school to call the police.

I have spent some time with 5 and 6 year olds out of control. I can't criticize how the school handled this little girl. Or the cops. But I'd have no problem putting my hands around her mother's neck. (figuratively:))

[madfloridian]

29. In over 30 years of teaching I never had to call the police.

I taught the last few years in one of the worst schools in our county. Yet I and the other teachers managed until the county brought the police into the picture.

I fear I must really differ with you if you think putting 5 and 6 year olds in jail is the right thing to do.

I am sad you feel that way.

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. IIRC, the dispute involved calling the police and their handcuffing her

As I said her mother told the school to call the police and the police were the ones who handcuffed her. My problem was with placing blame on the school. I don't remember anything about the little girl going to jail.

My point is that the school had few options. The video proved that this child was out of control and a danger to her classmates. Teachers are told not to restrain kids and I don't think this child could have been restrained by a kindergarten teacher with no training in restraining out of control kids.

There was also a follow up interview a reporter did in the home with the mother and the little girl was in the background and was jumping up and down and screaming while the camera was rolling. That convinced me that she definitely needed help the school is not in a position to provide.

[madfloridian]

35. Did you read these events by Edelman? How do you feel about them?

"Imagine being four years old and put into handcuffs because you and your friend wouldn’t take a nap in your pre-K class. Or being five years old, handcuffed, and taken away from your school by ambulance to a hospital psychiatric ward after throwing a tantrum in the kindergarten room."

[proud2BlibKansan]

39. My response:

Imagine being 5 years old and having to sit next to a classmate who throws tantrums that include throwing books and scissors. Imagine being 7 and in 2nd grade and you are threatened, called names and punched by your classmates every day. Imagine being afraid to ride the bus to school.

Both of these scenarios are real as well. No I don't support incarcerating or handcuffing children but some discipline is necessary to guarantee the children who do follow the rules get an education in a safe learning environment.

[madfloridian]

40. Where do I criticize discipline? Of course we have to have it.

I usually got the really bad kids because I could handle them better than most. But we are sending a terrible message here to young kids.

[proud2BlibKansan]

43. We are dealing with extremes here and need to find the middle

Kids deserve safe schools but handcuffing the unruly kids who make others feel unsafe is not the answer. There has to be a middle ground here.

Personally I think parenting classes are part of the answer.

[TheMadMonk]

59. I'll jump in here, because my mother is also able to 'handle' troublemakers.

People like you and she are only marginally less rare than rockinghorse shit.

So rare that the most remarkable of the remarkable get movies made about them.

Staffing schools solely with such would be a most wonderful thing, but not even Colleridge at his most pharmacutically enhanced could have conjured up such a pipe dream.

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[wolfgangmo]

47. a 5 or 6 year old freaking out is not normal.

If we can agree on that then how about agreeing on having a therapeutic response to a 6 year old freaking out rather than calling the cops.

Don't get me wrong, I used to be an officer so I kind of like some cops, but that is the WORST person to call. This is what happens when you get rid of councilors, social services, and therapist from the schools and replace them with cops, metal detectors and tasers.

I'm not saying that the cops should never be called but only for an emergency situation. The problem with many cop department these days, IMHO, is that they have militarized their recruiting and many of the new (former military) recruits don't understand that the force continuum is not where they force every situation or start shooting. While this might be an OK application of the force continuum in the military, it is often the worst approach on the streets (or in the classroom in this case). Many times this means that taking the time to use talk to difuse a situation is not used and inappropriate force is used too soon.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

[proud2BlibKansan]

50. Yes I can agree with your entire post

Thank you for your input about cops. I believe it does help this discussion.

As for the therapeutic response, yes that is a good idea but not very practical. First of all, not many kids freak out. There are literally hundreds of thousands of kindergarten teachers here in this country who will report that never once have they had an out of control child like the one we are discussing. So why prepare teachers for something that will probably never happen? You need to consider the resources and time involved and remember the severe budget cuts. So it's not a practical suggestion.

A more realistic response would be training the teacher to immediately take all of the kids out of the room or the area where the freaking out child is doing the freaking out. I have personal experience with this and it really does work. You are removing the audience and ensuring their safety. Then it is almost always effective for one adult to talk to the child and calm him/her down. I don't think they did that in the situation in Florida (but I'm honestly not sure). What I remember is they took the child out of the room instead of taking the class out.

I teach special ed and have had two kids have episodes that involved throwing books and attacking classmates and adults. And we didn't have to call the cops. We did what I described and took every other child out of the room and had one adult talk the child down. We also reviewed this plan with the parent. Also, both of these children had underlying serious emotional issues that either directly or indirectly caused their tantrums and addressing those issues was the only sure way to stop the tantrums.

But as serious as these tantrums are, a teacher's #1 concern is going to be the rest of the class. We don't zero in on one kid because we have to be attentive to ALL. That's why you find teachers supporting policies that ensure the safety of the rest of the class when one child is dangerous. Unfortunately, zero tolerance does do that.

[madfloridian]

32. "the walls and halls also will be sprouting an assortment of new security cameras "

That is a new school called Central Academy in DE. The built in cameras, piped into police cruisers and stations, will be paid for partially with a grant from the DOJ.

This should be a very safe school. Interesting read and portrait of the future of education.

Milford police will be keeping an eye on students

When the new eighth- and ninth-grade Central Academy opens for students next fall, the walls and halls also will be sprouting an assortment of new security cameras -- as will seven other Milford schools, thanks to a nearly $500,000 federal grant announced Monday.

The entire network will be hooked up to monitors at the schools and the Milford police station, providing officers with a direct view of the situation if they're summoned to the schools, with video piped directly into their cruisers, district leaders said.

"When they pull up, they're going to know what they're facing, because of the technology that's going to be in place here," said school board President Gary Wolfe.

The Milford Police Department won the $486,040 federal community policing grant after vying with 470 other applicants for a share of $16 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

The new cameras and upgraded digital recording devices also will feature a spy-like addition at the new sports stadium -- an infrared illumination system for the cameras, said Milford Police Lt. Edward Huey.

I feel my age when I read things like this. I remember a time when we could be in school without feeling camera eyes were bearing down on us.

Amazing how quickly things change.

[Echo In Light]

38. _

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAOmoy4i-Js/SLIkNbknHfI/AAAAAAAAAEk/ZnbScUiLv9c/s400/They+Live.jpg

[PM Martin]

37. The police are complicit in all of this when

they agree to arrest a 5 year old.

[anonymous171]

41. What was her teacher doing? nt

[Name removed]

44. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madfloridian]

42. The 6 yr old was charged with a felony and misdemeanor

Whatever happened to common sense?

The guidance counselor at the school where I last taught before retirement depended solely on James Dobson for her interventions with children and parents.

From Dobson it is only a small step to putting them in jail, really.

You need to read ALL of Bob Herbert's interview with the Avon Park police chief who arrested her. It has a dark tone.

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/opinion/09herbert.html?_r=1&n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op-Ed%2fOp-Ed%2fColumnists%2fBob%20Herbert

"Desre’e was charged with battery on a school official, which is a felony, and two misdemeanors: disruption of a school function and resisting a law enforcement officer. After a brief stay at the county jail, she was released to the custody of her mother.

"The arrest of this child, who should have been placed in the care of competent, comforting professionals rather than being hauled off to jail, is part of an outlandish trend of criminalizing very young children that has spread to many school districts and law enforcement agencies across the country.

A highly disproportionate number of those youngsters, like Desre’e, are black. In Baltimore last month, the police arrested, handcuffed and hauled away a 7-year-old black boy for allegedly riding a dirt bike on the sidewalk. The youngster was released and the mayor, Sheila Dixon, apologized for the incident, saying the arrest was inappropriate.

Last spring a number of civil rights organizations collaborated on a study of disciplinary practices in Florida schools and concluded that many of them, “like many districts in other states, have turned away from traditional education-based disciplinary methods — such as counseling, after-school detention, or extra homework assignments — and are looking to the legal system to handle even the most minor transgressions.”

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

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[madfloridian]

49. Your use of the word "but" means you don't understand my post.

Two in this post seem to think I don't care about discipline.

I don't know how else to explain that we are turning the discipline over to police....things that should be handled "in school" with parents there.

I guess I did not write clearly enough.

I am all for discipline....

But I am seeing too much acquiescence lately on every extreme thing that happens.

SO I don't know what to say to you.

[madfloridian]

48. We are becoming accepting of such as this, it seems.

Not really liking it, but thinking it to be a necessity perhaps.

We are doing that a lot lately on all sorts of issues, accepting things we once would have thought unacceptable.

Wonder why?

[LWolf]

54. Seriously?

I've read this 3 times, and I'm still looking for a link to the Onion.

I'm speechless. I don't know what to say in the face of such an overwhelming lack of judgment.

[keroro gunsou]

56. haven't seen that *yet* in my neck of the woods

but sadly, it's only a matter of time. what's worse, before I got into graphic design, I wanted to be a teacher. Now, I don't think I could handle it. And by "it" I don't mean the kids, the administration and the parents.

Yeah, I was a cheeky snot-rag when I was a kid, but I had home training (and a good sense to know when to quit while I was ahead) As one (or more) posters have said, parents have passed the buck, the schools are passing the buck, and now law enforcement is stuck dealing with this crap instead of solving real crimes.

[defendandprotect]

58. "Beware of those with a strong urge to punsh" . . .

[madmom]

60. I remember way back, when they started using police officers for

"study hall monitors" in our school they said it was because the teachers had better things they had to do and they couldn't discipline the unruly students. We didn't like it but the majority of parents said "let's try it, see where it goes, we can always go back......" So now I guess we see where it went.:scared:

[Jkid]

62. Most high schools these days are pratically prisons.

School police taking away keys, keys that they need to get back home, spare change, even their own food they want to eat instead of the food in the cafeteria? It is a prison.

We might as well tell students who are surviving and getting good grades in these prison schools to drop out, get a GED, and go into the workforce to pay for college.