re: #7 Backwoods_Sleuth

I am a high school teacher. The way that student is acting is a familiar pattern. From what I saw, he is not at his best and he knows. He did not feel up to participating, and tried to handle it by sitting up in the bleachers. That is the student trying, in his teenage way, to be responsible. Later, he mentions that he “just got in this class”, which means he had a recent schedule change for some reason, which tells me he has not been in the class long enough to form any kind of relationship with the teacher.

The teacher should see and know all that. The kid needs space. Calling the SRO is totally out of order. As a teacher, I frequently need to use interpersonal skills to deal with similar moments. It’s no big deal. Give the kid space. Ask him later how he’s feeling. He’s not feeling well? Express sympathy.

The old school method of raising your voice, yelling like a drill sergeant – nowadays, you would just look like an idiot to the kids, and, as a method of exerting control over a situation, it would backfire.

Confronting a kid who is already feeling stressed? While in a police uniform? Does the SRO really expect this will calm the student down? And putting a hand on the kid’s shoulder? A big mistake. The student acted with a lot of restraint, for a high school who is upset. Physical touching, especially as a body-language form of exerting authority, is invading the student’s space and is perceived as blatant disrespect. Puts the kid in the position of having to defend himself, verbally at least, to maintain respect, especially if this is in front of other students. Emotionally, this is backing the student into a corner.

As a teacher, you learn subtle things. Example: I order a kid to put their cellphone away and focus on their work. First of all, I don’t phrase it as an order. “Why don’t you…” “Come on, is that video game helping you finish this assignment?” Etc. And when I make the “request”, I do not stare at the kid until they put the phone away. I look away, check back later, and hopefully am able to say something positive to the student who is now working.

BTW, we do have two SROs in our school. They seem to have been chosen for their personalities. They are all business when they need to (we actually did have a student bring a handgun to school last year, which they handled very well). But they don’t go around like cops on the beat shouting orders. They seem to spend most of their time chit-chatting with students. They try to build relationships, especially with exactly the sort of students most likely to “get in trouble.” I think they do a great job.

What is in this video is atrocious. A non-violent student who is having a rough moment? That’s disorderly conduct? If so, my school might have 100 kids in jail on any given day. Please tell me they fired the guy immediately. Given the info linked to, there is no way that SRO should have been hired in the first place.