Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Justice funds up to 150 school resource officer positions per year through the Community Oriented Policing Services office, and it now has a new rubric to help guide school-police partnerships.
- The Huffington Post reports the Safe School-based Enforcement through Collaboration, Understanding and Respect rubric calls for formalized partnerships between police departments and schools that clarify the role of the school resource officer and lay out a data-informed method of tracking effectiveness.
- It also recommends targeted training for police officers being placed in schools that covers implicit bias, child development, and how to work with kids, training that officials say can help police officers serve as positive mentors for kids and build trust in law enforcement.
Dive Insight:
A number of strategies have been championed in recent years as ways to limit the school-to-prison pipeline. Ending zero-tolerance discipline policies is one. Schools have been encouraged to keep kids in school as often as possible, instead of turning to suspensions or referrals to law enforcement for even minor infractions. Restorative justice has been presented as an alternative that helps kids develop empathy, understand the consequences of their actions, and maintain their place in school, where they need to be to stay on track for graduation.
While effective, the New York Times Magazine reported this week on how exhausting restorative justice efforts can be. They do, however, help schools avoid the variety of challenges that come with educating students who have been incarcerated. A judge in Mississippi has also cut down on the flow of kids from schools to her courtroom by limiting superintendents from allowing referrals based on dress code violations or certain non-violent behavior issues.