Time to re-evaluate the role of school resource officers
"Our system is the height of absurdity, since we treat the culprit both as a child, so as to have the right to punish him, and as an adult, in order to deny him consolation."
Claude Levi-Strauss, 1955
Police behavior and methods to serve and protect our communities have been a questionable topic in The Post and Courier. Unfortunately, the use of law enforcement inside public schools has been missing from this important discussion.
As a mother of four children who all attended Charleston County Schools over the last 17 years, as a guardian ad litem for child abuse and neglect, and as chairman of the Policy Committee for the Charleston County Board of Trustees, I feel that the time has come to re-evaluate the role of school resource officers.
The safety of our children should always be the first priority when making decisions that affect public policy. Best practices, lessons learned and research-based data are utilized to improve the quality of education.
But ensuring children's safety is a more complex situation.
In 2007, state Department of Juvenile Justice Director Bill Byars said schools too often depend on police to handle discipline. "There are school districts that are running into court for shooting a spitball or running down the hall rapping on doors, things that are sort of normal teenage misbehavior. There are school districts … that will call the police more often than call the parents."
The Justice Policy Institute released an executive summary "Education Under Arrest" including testimony before the Legislative Task Force to Study School Discipline by Chief District Judge Dennis Maes of the Colorado 10th Judicial District.
He said that schools -- not police -- should shoulder responsibility to enforce good behavior among students. He questioned the use of SROs by asking, "Are the (school resource officers) in fact replacing the school officials as disciplinarians? Because if that's the case, that's the wrong thing to be doing."
Disturbing school is the most common offense, especially acting obnoxious or fighting. The only reason for contacting authorities is when a student is acting violent and bodily injuries are sustained. The use of police as disciplinarians for minor non-violent offenses deliberately ignores the distinction between wrongful intent and immature conduct.
The presence of law enforcement has increased charges of minor non-violent offenses like disturbing schools, placing many in the juvenile justice system.
The South Carolina Joint Citizens and Legislative Committee on Children found that out of 20,000 cases referred to DJJ in 2010, 18,187 were for non-violent offenses such as disturbing schools. And the majority of those referred had a diagnosable mental health condition or a learning disability.
Evidence shows that their rate of re-offending drops significantly when these non-violent children are treated as youth who need guidance. To simply prosecute and incarcerate such children and ignore underlying issues places them on an assembly line that can manufacture adult criminals.
It is time to restore law and order inside our public schools. Schools are for education; prisons are for incarceration. Immature adolescent behavior is not a crime, and violence has no place in school.
To outsource student discipline to the police while employing assistant principals as disciplinarians jeopardizes student safety, creates duplication of services and is mismanagement of taxpayers' money.
The "police state" mentality in our schools contributes to the current social chaos around us. Children deserve better from society, and society deserves better from public education.
Our school administration prides itself on zero-tolerance policies, but it has neglected the murky world between crime and misbehavior, resulting in self-congratulatory pronouncements from school officials and law enforcement. The administration can ignore complaints or challenges concerning police discretion, thereby accepting no responsibility.
It would be politically convenient to ignore this problem, but my conscience won't let me. To all parents: Ask yourself who the real victims are here? I think you know the answer.
Elizabeth Moffly
Trustee
Charleston County School Board
Ronlin Farm Road
Awendaw
