amna: After the murder of George
Floyd, school districts across
the country reconsidered the
presence of police in public
schools.
But as these districts deal with
the constant threat of school
shootings three years later,
many are opting to reverse
course, bringing police and
school resource officers back on
campus.
Stephanie sy has the details.
Stephanie: That's right, amna.
To give a few examples --
Montgomery county, Maryland
schools reversed their decision
to ban police following a
shooting at a local high school.
Denver public schools suspended
their 2020 policy, opting to
return school resource officers
to certain campuses.
This was after two school
administrators were shot earlier
this year.
And in Alexandria, Virginia,
school resource officers have
also been brought back after
multiple incidents with weapons
in schools.
I'm joined now by france
crepeau-hobson, a professor at
the university of Colorado
Denver who focuses on school
violence prevention.
Thank you for being with us.
The police killing of George
Floyd brought to light all kinds
of police abuse.
Remind us how school resource
officers became part of the
conversation about racialized
police brutality.
Franci: There's quite a bit of
research out there that shows
the presence of school resource
officers and other types of law
enforcement in the school
setting is associated with
disparate discipline rates for
kids of color.
So in schools that have school
resource officers and other
types of law enforcement, we
tend to see kids of color being
suspended and expelled at
disproportionate rates.
That's where that comes from.
Stephanie: An analysis found
black students and students with
disabilities were were Ford --
referred to law enforcement at
nearly twice the share of the
overall student possible --
population.
Hasn't there also been
discussion about having law
enforcement on campus and how it
contributes to the school to
prison pipeline?
Franci: That's been quite a --
part of a conversation quite
some time.
Stephanie: We wanted to include
the perspective from someone
representing the officers.
Here's what the executive
director of the national
association of school resource
officers said about arrests of
students.
>> If you ask just about any of
our many thousands of members
about arrests him a they would
say they really do try to
minimize that.
They view arrests, if they have
to make an arrest, it is a
failure.
We have so many more resources
available to us in a school
environment that we don't on the
street.
So rarely should you have to
make an arrest in the school,
especially lower-level
misdemeanor arrests.
Though can easily be things that
are handled through school
discipline.
Stephanie: Do you agree that it
is the rare sro who decides to
arrest a child or do you think
law enforcement is too often
taking the place of school
administrators that might more
appropriately respond to student
misconduct?
Franci: I think the answer is it
depends.
If you have a properly trained
sro who is a true school
resource officer -- and there is
a memorandum of agreement
between the officer and the
school around what that person's
role is, and their role should
never ever be part of
disciplinary procedures and
practices.
Those folks are not owing to
arrest kids at the same rates.
However, there are schools where
they have police officers,
security personnel who are not
properly trained and there's not
a clear agreement around what is
your role in our school.
That's where those types of
things tend to go awry where
they are involved in school
disciplinary procedures and you
have administrators who over
rely on those types of personnel
to intervene when they really
shouldn't be.
Stephanie: A lot of the reason
we are having this conversation
is because of mass shootings and
the number of shootings on
American school campuses.
Too many parents have gotten the
text alert on the phone saying
the school is in lockdown, there
is an active shooter.
It is relatively rare but has
become part of our collective
fear.
Has taking school resource
officers out of the mix put
students at greater risk of
violence?
Franci: That's a really good
question and I don't know that
we have the answer.
Prevention is a really difficult
thing to study and because, as
you mentioned, school shootings
are still relatively rare, even
though it doesn't feel like it,
it makes it really difficult to
determine what contributed to
something happening somewhere
versus somewhere else.
School violence, particularly
student perpetrated lethal
violence, is a really complex
problem and there is not a
single solution.
In some communities, having
school resource officers might
accents.
But if we want to really focus
in on how do we prevent school
perpetrated violence, we have to
go beyond things of like school
resource officers and other
physical safety measures and
start to focus on psychological
safety as well.
Stephanie: Professor, and you so
much for joining the newshour
with your insights.
Franci: Thanks for having me.
♪♪