A report released today by the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Public Research Institute of Texas A&M University, found that police not teachers were routinely put in charge of disciplining students.
Calling the findings disturbing, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson and state Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire said they intend to investigate solutions to the problem.
“The report tells us that more than 1 in 7 Texas middle and high school students have been involved with the juvenile justice system,” said Jefferson, who said he intends to convene a panel to study the findings.
“We should ask whether teachers and principals, rather than police officers and judges, are best suited to discipline kids who commit minor infractions.”
“I’ve also got to question why school police departments are handling a lot of these things like crimes, and why we’re not letting school officials take care of discipline,” Whitmire said. “If we want our kids to do better in school and reduce their involvement in the juvenile justice system, we in the Legislature need to continue looking into how teachers can be better supported and how the school discipline system can be improved.”
“We see so many kids getting removed from the classroom for disciplinary reasons, often repeatedly, demonstrating that we’re not getting the desired changes in behavior,” Thompson said.
The report, the first of its kind for Texas students, examined in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions and placement of students in specialty programs called the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program and the Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program.
As to Senator Whitmire’s Question: Why Are School Police Departments Handling Petty Crimes, Not Teachers?
The Answer: is because legislative and agency policies have restricted teacher involvement and ability to maintain a structured environment to such an extent that the only option left to teachers is to call the police.
Schools are so afraid of advocates, lobbyists and bad press that teachers are opting out of maintaining a structured learning environment and are simply calling for law enforcement. This is bad for the teacher, the school and the student.