Dive Brief:

• The city council in Columbia, MO, has approved a guidance that more clearly places disciplinary responsibility in the hands of the city's public school district. 
• The agreement between the local school district, police and sheriff’s departments, and the 13th Judicial Circuit Court is meant to curb the number of students pushed into the criminal justice system for minor offenses. 
• The guideline has case-by-case scenarios for when issues should be brought to the attention of the courts and they take into account "age and maturity level of the student involved, whether or not the incident involved sexual misconduct or a weapon, and the severity of any injuries," according to Columbia Daily Tribune. 

Dive Insight:

The school-to-prison pipeline is a reality, and it starts with how schools choose to discipline youth. In the 1990s, there was an uptick in the number of districts partnering with local police departments and bringing School Resource Officers on campus. While the move was meant to keep campuses safer, it has lead to more discipline being handed down by police officers than teachers, and minor misconduct being herded into the criminal justice system.

A big issue with SROs and school relationships with police departments is that these deals are often created without school-specific goals or school-curated training. A 2005 assessment by the U.S. Department of Justice found that programs failing to set clear goals often experience persistent problems — sometimes for months or years on end.