Lockdown at Blair?
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Anonymous
You guys are insane. "Let's get rid of SRO's because they are arresting kids too much." And then when that's proven wrong, "Then get rid of them because they can't get the job done." WTF. Why don't you guys do a little more research and talk to the principals and staff and ask them what SROs are doing in addition to maintaining a safe environment at the school. Ours were at practically every event and were viewed as role models for students, especially those that didn't have a father figure in their life. Ours was a trusted person in the community, knew what was really going on- if a fight was brewing, etc. and was able to prevent terrible things to happen. Ours was at the food distribution sites helping deliver food during the pandemic. No, they are not psychologists but the role they served was valuable. Ask a Psychologist if they want to do the job of an SRO. Good luck with that one. |
Anonymous
Research studies show that when SROs are present, more arrests are made. It may be that school staff are initiating the arrests, it may also be that they seek arrest because the SRO is there. The SRO program is basically an invitation to administrators to criminalize nonviolent student behavior (the increases in arrests are in minor offenses like disorderly conduct) instead of dealing with it themselves. And maybe that's because they don't have the resources/appropriate polices to discipline students, but that is no excuse for arresting them instead. |
Anonymous
No one disagrees that there aren't more meaningless arrests, but when they're really needed they usually run away. |
Anonymous
I wish people understood SRO is part of a jobs program for the otherwise unemployable. |
Anonymous
What do you propose is the alternative? An SRO is able to arrest. That is their job so of course there will be more arrests. By the time the kids are in high school, a good talking to isn't enough. These issues weren't addressed by the school and parents early on so now the behavior in high school is out of control. If parents aren't involved and schools just pass it off, of course, these kids act as they do. Everyone is looking at the schools to be everything to everyone and its not possible. They should start by having a parent have to shadow their misbehaving kids at school every day. So, if you allow your kids to behave that way, you also have a consequence. |
Anonymous
Great, since its a desirable job, why don't you step up and do it. Its easy to criticize others about the job they do when its a job you aren't willing to do. |
Anonymous
The research doesn't support what's happening at MCPS. At MCPS, the number of "physical arrests" which are for violent, serious crimes was 27 out of a total 269 arrests. The remaining arrests do not go on a student's record and simply results in a citation for counseling. And remember only 3% of the 269 were initiated by SROs. To abolish this program without a proper implementation plan is a huge sign of irresponsibility on the part of the County. We should've listened to more voices and reviewed and analyzed the data. We should be looking at other local counties such as Howard County to see what they're doing there. |
Anonymous
A select few have run away. Don't balme a few bad seeds for all the problems. The SRO's aren't the issue. The kids behavior is the issue. And, since schools aren't able to fix this on their own, we need to hold parents more accountable. |
Anonymous
Geez. Elitist much?? You are truly something else to call someone who is a role model for kids (hopefully yours too since your showing your true colors here) unemployable. |
Anonymous
And to add to the above, 16 out of the 26 SROs in the county were black including the one at our school who was amazing and to this day keeps in touch with students. |
Anonymous
You see that as proof that the SRO program is working, I see it as a sign that students are having criminal justice involvement for things that should be handled by the schools. The schools aren't doing their job, guess what, students of color and advocates for them are fighting back and saying they don't want to be harassed by police anymore. I get it, you are White and do not care. That doesn't change their reality. |
Anonymous
In MCPS, the majority at many schools are POC so you need to look at actual statistics of each school as if you have 75% POC, then, by % there should be a higher number. |
Anonymous
The data clearly show the arrests are disproportionate to the population. The data show the disparate arrests are not due to differences in behavior. I get it, you don't care, you are White. Well guess what, that is why our school system sucks, because when you show such callous disregard for one portion of the population, then everyone suffers. We can't have a fair and just society when we openly choose to oppress one group of people. |
Anonymous
I CARE that kids are safe. I also understand that trying to fix things in HS is too little too late. And, maybe you should get that too and our focus should be on younger kids who are fixable. I also care that many parents expect the schools to be everything and they cannot be. You need to look at the individual schools and the racial make up. A huge difference in a school like Blair and Wheaton to Wooten or Churchill. Just throwing out raw numbers means nothing. And, 27 arrests or even under 300 given the total high school population in the county is not very much. Why do we need to wait to have something serious happen before we as parents take this seriously? |
Anonymous
First of all, I'm not white so let's get that out of the way. Next, why do you want schools whose purpose is to educate to be involved in criminal justice? That's not their job. The schools are here to teach our kids math, English, science, etc. OUr staff is already burned out and our principals are facing major staff shortages. The data shows that SROs are not arresting kids as previously stated by the Anti-SROs. Where is the data that they are harassing them? I volunteer at my kid's high school and do you know how much the principal, assistant principals, and staff are stressed and burned out for having to call out students for their terrible behavior? Does that constitute harassment? Because this happens A LOT and unfortunately warranted because a lot of MS and HS students misbehave and some of them are downright terrible. Also, I would argue that the removal of SROs has actually resulted in more calls to the police. MCPS administrators have had to call the cops for assaults more times in these past 2 months than the entire 2019-2020 school year. |