Public School Safety

A new report issued by the New York Civil Liberties Union indicates that the NYPD is making an average of around four arrests each day in New York City public schools. In addition, the police wrote around seven summons daily for students with less serious infractions. The report has been met with widespread concern, particularly in light of the fact that the large majority of students arrested were students of color. Is the NYPD exercising too much power in the public schools of the city, or are the police merely doing the job they were hired to do? The answer to that question appears to depend on who is asked.

Hundreds of Arrests on Record

The NYCLU recently released its report after conducting an analysis of police activity in the city’s public schools. The agency took advantage of a new city law to compile their report, which requires documentation and disclosure of school safety information, according to a report at SI Live. The report found that during the 2011-2012 school year, the police made a total of 882 arrests of students while the students were at school, with an additional 1,666 summonses issued.

Around 95 percent of the students arrested were black or Hispanic, despite the fact that students of color only make up around 71 percent of the total student population in the city. Of the minority students arrested, 63 percent were black students. Around 48 percent of the summonses issued were to students

School shootings are tragic occurrences that have become far too common in our culture today by many standards. In light of some of the most recent events involving school shootings in Philadelphia, New Mexico, and Colorado, as well as the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, some state legislators are considering a new approach to the problem: licenses that allow educators to carry concealed weapons onto campus. The first known school district to institute such a policy was the Harrold Independent School District in Harrold, Texas, but numerous other districts have followed suit in recent years, with other districts considering the possibility rather seriously. We'll take a closer look at the issue of guns in school and some of the districts that are thinking about taking matters into their own hands.

Current Laws

Laws vary from state to state regarding the criteria for purchasing and carrying a gun. Some states do not require a permit to purchase a handgun or long gun, nor do some states require gun owners to register their firearms. And while some states require a permit to carry a concealed weapon, others require no such permit for concealed or open carry weapons. A number of states including Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey, and Connecticut have passed restrictive assault weapons laws in light of the use of such weapons in many of the most recent school

A troubling report by the Government Accountability Office shows that individuals with a history of sexual misconduct are working in some neighborhood schools. In fact, some have been able to land new teaching or staff jobs after behaving inappropriately towards children in other school districts. The report by GAO cites a number of breaks in the system that allow these individuals back into schools, due to incomplete background checks or other administrative loopholes.

The GAO Report

The recently released GAO report examined 15 case studies in public schools that employed questionable individuals, according to a report at the Christian Science Monitor. Of these 15 cases, 11 of the teachers or staff members had previously victimized children with inappropriate sexual conduct. In six cases, the individuals went on to abuse children again at their new posts.

This video from Action News lays out the issue facing schools.

The report was in part a response to another report released by the Department of Education in 2004, which estimated that millions of students in the public school system are victims of sexual misconduct by school employees between kindergarten and 12^th grade. The GAO compared a national database of sexual offenders with employment records in 19 states from 2008 to 2009. The agency also reviewed public records and interviewed officials involved in dozen of sexual misconduct cases from 2000 to 2010.

What

One of the challenges facing many public schools today is how to keep crime out of schools so that learning can more effectively take place. To address this need, many school districts across the country have created their own police departments, with law enforcement officials that do everything from teaching anti-drug classes to making arrests when necessary. These officers work with students and faculty every day, developing a rapport with students and heading many potential problems off at the pass.

This video explains why police add to school safety.

However, severe budget cuts at many schools have forced some districts to take a closer look at these police departments, even cutting staff in some areas. These decisions have not gone over well with school administrators, who believe officers are essential for maintaining a safe environment where students can come to learn every day.

On the other hand, districts with budgets intact have found ways to use law enforcement officials even more effectively, adding to their list of responsibilities to expand safety to school grounds and beyond.

Let’s visit some of these police departments across the country to find out how they add value to the educational system.

Duvall County Public Schools Add Officers, Save Money

In Jacksonville, Florida, the sheriff's department is in the process of transferring many of the school officer resource duties to the Duvall Public

When parents send their children to school in the morning, most assume their kids will not be exposed to drugs, alcohol or gang activity on campus. They believe schools are a relatively safe environment, dedicated to the task of teaching children the basic academic disciplines and preparing them for productive, prosperous adulthood. Unfortunately, new findings suggest that alcohol and drug use, as well as gang activity, may be more prevalent in public schools than parents realize.

Concerning Numbers from Recent Survey

A recent report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) showed potentially disturbing findings. According to the study, as many as one in four middle and high school students have reported the presence of both drugs and gangs on their campuses. An analysis in the Los Angeles Times deduced that approximately 5.7 million students across the country are also more likely to drink, smoke and use drugs than students at private and parochial schools, where drugs and gangs are virtually non-existent.

Former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Joseph Califano Jr., is responsible for the study. Califano told WebMD that the prevalence of drugs and gang activity is a cancer in public schools. Califano adds, "It is just outrageous. It is nothing less than state-sanctioned child abuse to require parents to send their kids to schools where drugs and gangs are present."

Califano told the Los Angeles Times that the