Citizens group questions additional officers in schools, announces community meeting to discuss the issue

A concerned group of Lowcountry residents say North Charleston officials made a “hasty, ill advised and possibly injurious” decision by deciding to place armed officers in elementary schools.

Citizens United for Public Schools, an umbrella group that includes the Charleston NAACP and the Lowcountry Justice Commission among others, held a press conference Wednesday to express their concerns.

They say North Charleston’s decision to increase police in schools is troubling for a number of reasons, and it could discourage parents who’ve had negative contact with police from visiting their children’s schools.

“An increased police presence may aggravate the situation in some schools and make our schools look and operate more like detention facilities than like places of learning,” said Dot Scott, president of the Charleston NAACP, who spoke on behalf of CUPS.

CUPS has planned a community meeting for Jan. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the Alfred Williams Community Center, 4401 Durant Ave., in North Charleston. They’re asking community members to come and provide their input on the best way for schools and law enforcement to work together for students’ benefit.

North Charleston is the only local municipality to post more school resource officers in its schools since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

Read more in tomorrow’s Post and Courier, and get the latest education news by following @Diette on Twitter or go to www.facebook.com/diettecourrege.