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Hallway Patrol
July 8, 2009
NYCLU: First step to school safety is rejecting metal detectors
Principal William Jusino of Progress High School at the NYCLU press conference. (GothamSchools)
Many city schools rely on metal detectors, security guards, and zero-tolerance policies to keep discipline under control. They don’t have to, according to a new report about alternate strategies to keep schools safe.
The report, produced by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, highlights six city high schools that stop problems before they start, help students resolve their own disputes, and keep police out of all but the most serious incidents. The schools range in size and how students are admitted, but they all post higher-than-average graduation rates, the report says.
“There is no cookie-cutter solution” to replicating the gentler approach to discipline, said NYCLU policy director Udi Ofer at a press conference today. But he said getting rid of metal detectors, currently in place at about 130 city schools, is a good place to start. “Metal detectors do not make schools safer,” he said, adding that they create “flashpoints” for conflict between students and police officers. Such conflicts cause students to be arrested unnecessarily and undermine the authority of principals and teachers, the NYCLU has argued.
The number of police officers assigned to schools has increased in recent years, and the Department of Education also launched an initiative two years ago that surprises students with temporary metal detectors. Those strategies will not be dropped, according to a department spokeswoman, Margie Feinberg. “We wholeheartedly embrace discipline as an educational matter, but we will continue to use all tools available to us,” Feinberg said in a statement today. The city says major school crimes have fallen by nearly half since the mayor took office.
In its report, the NYCLU also argues that schools should treat fewer infractions as crimes; that fewer police officers should be assigned to schools; and that the city should make school safety data more available. “The additional recommendations cannot be successfully accomplished without first getting rid of the metal detectors,” Ofer told me.
A principal at the press conference, William Jusino of Progress High School in Brooklyn, told me that it takes hard work to create a positive culture around school safety. “Metal detectors are just one symbol, but symbols are important,” he said. “The removal of those negative symbols begins to let other folks know that you’re really concerned about the community that you serve.”
At Progress, students are involved in setting discipline policy, and administrators convinced the city to remove metal detectors more than a decade ago. But the city has been pushing for the detectors to return, Jusino said. “It’s a fight that we struggle with each and every year,” he said, adding that he and the other principals in the building have been threatened with firing if “something major” should happen on the campus, which was at one time the most dangerous in the city.
Here’s the NYCLU’s full report, titled “Safety with Dignity: Alternatives to the Over-Policing of Schools”:
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July 8th, 2009 7:02 pm
In my experience, students take offense at metal detectorss either way.
At schools with them, students complain that they are not trusted. At schools without them, student complain that their safety is not respected and valued.
More importantly, I am glad to see someone examing the issue through this differents. Relations between school safety officers — who are not trained as educators — and students can themselves be a problem. (Obviously, the SSO’s can present a host of challenges, as adults in the building who are not part of the educational team and might well have a different theory of discipline than the the faculty has agreed upon.) Removing this potential flashpoint strikes me as a wonderful idea.
I very like the idea of bringing students into the violence prevention discussion, making them part of the solution rather than the population upon which the program is imposed.
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July 8th, 2009 7:05 pm
I’ve long wondered about the appropriate response to violence, harassment and other “infractions” in schools — especially high schools.
Schools should not be a law-free zone. I don’t know if we help kids by hiding them from the seriousness of their behavior, which I think we do when we keep them from the reality of their offenses.
On the other hand, our justice system does such a poor job of dealing with adults and an even worse job of dealing with juveniles. It is often a cure that is worse than the disease.
I remain troubled. I do not know what the right answer is.
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July 8th, 2009 9:07 pm
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July 9th, 2009 5:03 pm
What do you think of this report Philissa? I don’t see a solid link between any of the data they cited and their conclusion. They attribute a causal connection between the number of reported incidents and the metal detectors- as though the detectors in themselves were responsible for provoking misbehavior. Perhaps these incidents are more easily documented in schools with detectors- which also generally lean heavily on their SSAs for disciplinary support. I support their message but I’m not satisfied with the evidence they provide. I wish they could have nailed it down.
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