Hello all - we finally got the Birmingham School Offense Protocol signed
and the press has been amazing!!!!! Note brand new very useful data
from the school offense protocol pioneer, Clayton County (GA)....since
the protocol was signed in Clayton in 2004, graduation rates are up by
20%! For more info, feel free to contact me, Brian Huff (judge in
Birmingham at huffb@jccal.org), or Steve Teske (judge in Georgia at
Steve.Teske@co.clayton.ga.us). Also see PPts by both judges on the JDAI
HelpDesk here
titled "Narrowing the School-to-Detention Pipeline." (Just click cancel
when the site asks for a password.) and be looking for an article in
The Nation next week about Delaware and the school offense protocols.
Opinions, Editorials and Letters to the Editor from The Birmingham News
OUR VIEW: Birmingham city schools trying new policy to keep kids in
class, not in court
By Birmingham News editorial board
October 13, 2009, 5:40AM
"One more smart comment, and I'll have you arrested!"
A smart-aleck student is annoying, sure, but arresting him for a bad
attitude is, at the least, an overreaction; at worst, it's outright
irresponsible. Yet, too often in recent years, Birmingham school
students have been handcuffed and hauled off to Jefferson County Family
Court for a smart mouth or other relatively minor misbehavior.
Credit Birmingham schools interim Superintendent Barbara Allen, Family
Court presiding Judge Brian Huff and Police Chief A.C. Roper for
recognizing and understanding the serious problem and working to correct
it. They, along with the Department of Human Resources and the Jefferson
County district attorney's office, make up a group known as the
Birmingham City Schools Collaborative and have developed a new
discipline protocol to keep children safe, in school, and out of both
trouble and handcuffs. In the process, the new policy may help the city
schools increase a dismal graduation rate, currently at 52 percent,
according to Huff.
The agreement will be signed today at Jackson-Olin High School. (See
story here
3290.xml&coll=2 .)
Studies have shown arrests and graduation rates are related. A
first-time arrest during high school nearly doubles the chances a
student will drop out of school; a court appearance nearly quadruples
the chances of a student dropping out.
Yet, here's what has been happening in Birmingham schools, according to
Huff: Over the past two years, Family Court has received almost 1,000
referrals from city schools. About 98 percent of those referrals are for
misdemeanors and for fighting without weapons. A schoolyard scrap should
not end in arrests.
Nobody is arguing that serious violations -- a student with a weapon or
drugs, or an assault on a teacher or principal -- should be overlooked.
But in Birmingham schools, children have been sent to Family Court for
cursing, being loud and engaging in food fights. While Birmingham
educates 25 percent of the public school students in the area, 82
percent of the students referred to Family Court come from city schools.
As Roper said: "Too many of these kids have been criminalized." And once
they've been identified as criminals, they are more likely to continue
acting as criminals.
Another point Huff makes is that because 99 percent of the complaints
filed are against African-American children, "we have been sending the
message to black children that you are more difficult to deal with than
white children," Huff said. "It's the wrong message to send because it
isn't true."
The new Birmingham policy is based on a policy in Clayton County, Ga.,
schools, used since 2004. In Clayton County, the policy has reduced
court referrals by 60 percent and increased the graduation rate 20
percent, Huff said.
School resource officers -- police who patrol the halls of city schools
-- need to be concerned with serious matters, not with minor discipline
violations that should be dealt with by school officials. The new
protocol should keep Birmingham schools focused on their true mission:
educating kids, not arresting them.
Related coverage:
*
(10/13/09)
*
290.xml&coll=2 (10/10/09)
*
38487334235740.xml&coll=2 (3/31/09)
**********************************************************************
Danielle J. Lipow
Director, Juvenile Justice Policy Group
Southern Poverty Law Center
403 Washington Avenue
Montgomery, Alabama 36104
Tel. (334) 956-8336
Fax (334) 956-8481
**********************************************************************
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