re: #20 Kragar

The situation is a result of school administrators, frustrated by their inability to discipline unruly students effectively, giving up and relying on law enforcement to provide the discipline. Instead of encouraging better behavior, the practice just creates resentment and fear among the students, even among kids who are never discipline problems. It transforms schools into juvenile detention centers.

If schools are going to use cops as disciplinarians, there needs to be strict guidelines about what level of force/physical contact is allowed. Also, these cops need to be trained to see the kids as kids, not as potential criminals, and treat them accordingly. All that girl did is refuse to leave the classroom, and refuse to obey the officer. She probably figured she was doing nothing wrong, but her teacher obviously thought otherwise and called in reinforcements to eject her from the classroom. Without knowing what transpired before the cop entered the room, I can’t judge whether the teacher was justified in ejecting the student from the room. As a teacher, though, I can say that only students who are completely disrupting class activities or threatening other students or the teacher should be removed, and that only as a last resort. Some kids act up just so they CAN be booted out of class. Kicking them out is a reward, not a punishment.

The officer, meanwhile, was just plain enraged and let his anger boil over into a physical attack on a teenaged girl. Her family would be well within their rights to file charges against the officer, and file civil actions against him and the school.

In a perfect world, the administration of the school would ask itself how situations like this one could be prevented, and arrange some training for teachers, staff and LEOs on campus. I’m not holding my breath on that happening without some outside pressure being applied.