Recognizing The School To Prison Pipeline
On a Tuesday afternoon, I sat at my desk to grade some papers. Though the school day was over, there were still students participating in various after-school programs. Others were in the halls, waiting on their friends or helping teachers out after school. I peered in the hall, hoping to find a student who was eager to help and had some time to kill. I needed to file student work and update the bulletin board in my classroom, but I guess it would have to wait another day since I could not find a student.
After some procrastination, I resigned at my desk to grade. Hunched over student work and my computer, I had been sitting for so long that the motion sensor fluorescent lights had gone off, and my back began to ache. I leaned back to stretch and heard some commotion outside of my door. I thought nothing of it. It was most likely kids being kids, and I would not let it distract me. I was determined to finish grading those papers that afternoon, so I got back to it. But, when I saw a police officer walk past my classroom door, it piqued my interest. It was not the school resource officer. I knew him. The two men who walked past my classroom in full uniform, walkie, tactical belt with guns were individuals I had never seen in the building before. So, without breaking my gaze, I got up, grabbed my school ID and Keys off my desk, and followed them.
They stopped at the door of the 6th-grade math class, where an after-school program was taking place, and stepped between a white woman and one of my 6th-grade students. The woman explained that she was running the after-school program and wanted the officer to escort the young man (the 6th grader) off the premises because he was not a student at the school. He could not provide her with an ID proving that he was a student at the school. I want to take a moment to point out that in the four years I had been working in the building at that point, I had yet to see a middle schooler with a student ID. And I am pretty sure that our middle school did not provide children with student IDs.
When the student saw the police officers and the way the woman insisted that the police officers take him away, he began to cry immediately. He was, after all, only 11 years old. Clutching his basketball, he began to protest, “ you gonna make them arrest me?! I told you I go to school here. Why won’t you listen to me?“ At that point, the police officers turned to the young man and began to request proof that he was a student in the school. What proof? What could an 11-year-old possibly provide to prove that he was a student that belongs in the building? Homework assignment? School shirt with the logo? It sounded absurd to me. So I stepped in.
“excuse me, officers, what is going on here?
“ ma’am, this does not concern you,” one of them replied curtly.
“ Actually,” I replied, holding up my staff ID, “this does concern me because I am a teacher in this building, and this young man is one of my students. Why are you trying to escort him off the premises?”
“ oh,” The woman cut in, folding her arms over her chest. “ I didn’t know he was a student here, and it’s just that I’ve never seen him before.”
“Actually, lady, I’ve never seen you before. Who are you?” I was visibly annoyed and upset. I kept thinking, what if this was my son? What made him not look like a student? His height? His skin color? The lack of a backpack? He looked the same as his peers who were in that room for the after-school program. What put a target on his back in this woman’s eyes?
The woman explained that she had been covering for a sick colleague. And it was her first time in this building, our school building, for the after-school program. Yet, somehow, being both new to the building and the students, she felt empowered enough to call the police officer and a young man she claims did not belong in the building. Later on, she explained that she wanted him to come in and work on his assignments, but he insisted on staying outside in the hall with his friends bouncing the basketball. So she wanted him to leave.
I replay this experience in my mind often. Especially now that I have my son, a little black boy who will become a young black man, I wonder if teachers will see it fit to call the police on him in school if he chooses not to listen or not to abide by their requests? I wonder what would’ve happened if I decided not to stay after school that day to grade? Would that young man have been arrested? I can tell you what the skeptic in me thinks, but that’s not the point.
The point is, the fact that an educator felt that the correct response to a student not listening to them is to call the police is wrong. This is a prime example of driving a child from the path of school and into the criminal justice system. Had he been arrested and Possibly charged for resisting to leave or resisting arrest, what would the future have looked like for the young man? What would his relationship with school deteriorate to?
Punishments like suspensions, expulsion and even arrests affect black students at a rate three times greater than their white peers. I can’t help but think that if the student were a white boy bouncing his basketball in the hallway and wanting to hang out with his friends instead of participating in the after-school program, the outcome would have been much different. Perhaps they would’ve contacted his parents or even barred him from participating in the after-school program in the future, but they would not have accused him of not being a student and then called the police to remove him from the premises.
But since police officers now outnumber guidance counselors, social workers, or therapists available in schools, students (specifically black students) are being arrested more for minor behavioral issues or offenses. Over the years, studies have shown that when students experience traumatic events like being arrested or even out of school suspensions, they are more likely to be held back and then eventually drop out of school entirely.
So it’s imperative, now more than ever, that schools take a long hard look at their discipline policies. The zero-tolerance policies are not helping anyone. Statistically, these policies do not curb the undesired behavior or help students learn from their mistakes. They are punitive by nature and often difficult to come back from. Instead, create space to learn from behavioral issues. If you are punishing a student for a reason, they should understand why and have a conversation with you about the issue and its consequences. There should exist space for students to learn social-emotional and conflict resolution skills needed to de-escalate a given problem. Schools should create ways to ensure fairness and equity for all students and ensure it trickles down to every classroom and teacher.
Every time a student steps into our classroom, they and their parents trust us to care for them and educate them in ways that will help them succeed. Shouldn’t we work harder to make that a reality for all students?