Letters: School discipline and juvenile justice

Did you know that based on data from 2006, in Louisiana alone, more than 10,000 students are pushed out of the public school system? This occurs often as a result of harsh discipline policies that increase the chances that children will end up in the juvenile justice system.

Many of our youths are criminalized because of their experiences with failing foster care and mental health systems. Once arrested, children can stay in detention facilities for weeks or months before a judge hears their case.

Today, an estimated 100,000 children and teens are locked up in juvenile facilities across the country, and thousands are incarcerated in adult prisons.

Based on research from the U.S. Department of Justice, youths incarcerated with adults are eight times more likely to commit suicide than in juvenile facilities.

Incarcerating children in adult systems does not only put them at risk of abuses, it also fails to protect communities.

By reforming the juvenile justice system and providing support in our schools and communities, this cycle can be broken and we can dramatically reduce our country’s prison population.

Delores Peters

teacher

Bogalusa

Comments

1) Comment by nimby? - 28/10/2012

teachers are limited in their ability to "restrain" students , while they , and their parents , are free at will . unless the offense requires automatic expulsion there will be a hearing . administrators don't like putting kids on the street so the student gets a warning , as does the parent , and is returned to class , usually wearing a smirk . a serious offense may involve local police . depending on the students' age they will either be incarcerated(temporarily) or given the warning , as will the parents , and let loose on the streets . society cannot prevent people from having children nor can it legislate responsibility . catch 22 ...

2) Comment by MBW - 28/10/2012

@spqr-- Apparently you didn't read my earlier comments. I said very clearly that parents bear responsibility in this too. But if you don't think teachers and principals can do anything about it, you should just quit your job now. Why are you there if you can't do anything about it? Sorry, but I know from the few years that I was a teacher (yes, a full time credentialed teacher) that the teachers and principals can do A LOT, even in today's society. It requires leadership and getting everyone on the same page instead of pointing fingers.

3) Comment by nimby? - 28/10/2012

in a pure socialist society everyone performs a function for the state , based on your talents/abilities . if you fail you are sent to a cold , desolate place to fend for yourself . if you become too much of a problem you 'disappear' .

4) Comment by bourbon-soda - 28/10/2012

Tell us about the binder full of mandates from various levels of government.

5) Comment by spqr - 28/10/2012

MBW has worked in them, but is not a teacher. You come and go with no real responsibility. Ultimately, it is the student's responsibility to follow the instructions of the teachers. And it is worth noting principals no longer control schools as they once did. So many laws are written by those who have never attended public schools.

6) Comment by MBW - 28/10/2012

Teachers aren't blameless either. I've worked for many years in low- income schools (you know, the ones that people always say have the "bad kids")......and most of the discipline problems in those schools would be solved if the adults would just get their act together. It's easier said than done....but ultimately, part of a teacher's job is to control his/her classroom...and it's a principal's job to set the tone at the school by backing up the teachers.

7) Comment by MBW - 28/10/2012

Parents, kids notice how you talk about their teachers. If YOU don't respect the teacher, then how can you expect your kids to? When I was a kid, my parents were very deliberate about never talking bad about teachers at home....and I was in big trouble if a teacher ever called home about something bad. These days, when a teacher calls home, the parents run up to the school and complain.

8) Comment by MBW - 28/10/2012

As a former classroom teacher, I can tell you that discipline will return to schools when parents start working WITH teachers and not against them. Sorry, but discipline problems are not always "someone else's child". I've seen plenty of kids who are completely different at school than they are around their parents....but the parents refuse to believe it.

9) Comment by MBW - 28/10/2012

Parents, quit complaining about the lack of discipline in schools and actually back the teachers and principals up once in a while instead of bailing your kids out everytime they get in trouble.

10) Comment by Springer98 - 27/10/2012

If these children were properly disciplined at home, by loving, but caring parents, this would be a non issue. Sorry Ms. Peters, but no sympathy here.....

11) Comment by bourbon-soda - 27/10/2012

@Whatnow - thanks. Priceless. An executive order plus an ACLU initiative, how can this fail? I was able to find the dot gov entirety of the executive order by searching [executive order educational excelllence african]. And Romney is supposed to be a bull*****er.

12) Comment by Whatnow - 27/10/2012

http://www.tribunetalk.com/?p=3759

13) Comment by Whatnow - 27/10/2012

Don't worry Ms. Peters, this should fix everything and make everything hunky-dory! http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/26/executive-order-white-house-initiative-educational-excellence-african-am. A similar program, for Hispanic students, was created in 1990 with an executive order signed by President George H.W. Bush.

14) Comment by bourbon-soda - 27/10/2012

I thought I saw something about a "school to prison pipeline" project in another newspaper. Searching for those terms yields a number of hits. This letter would be consistent with what appears to be a national campaign, one of whose buzzwords seems to be "school pushout." Citizen movements are a great thing, but it also helps to know when one is taking place. The ACLU is prominent among the internet hits on the "school to prison pipeline" search. This reminds me of the recent "dropout factory" campaign.

15) Comment by mcarter - 27/10/2012

Schools won't even suspend students anymore for fear of lowering their school report cards.

16) Comment by tradewinns - 27/10/2012

10K students kicked out of our school system? are the 20K parents already in jail for child neglect/abuse? the only reason a child is kicked out of school is because their parents failed them, any other reason is negligible. so what is society doing to "fix" the parents?

17) Comment by TheTardis - 27/10/2012

Disruptive students make it tough for regular students to learn. Why should the teacher be forced to deal with these students and spend all their time dealing with discipline? Some teachers actually get in trouble with their principal if they write up too many students for bad behavior. I guess the principal thinks it makes their school look bad, but it hurts the school in the long run. The new truancy center should be used as an alternative school for disruptive students. Teachers should be able to move disruptive students out of their class to this facility.This could be used as leverage by the teacher, a real consequence to bad behavior.

18) Comment by 8point6 - 27/10/2012

Four excellent comments. Thanks.

19) Comment by spqr - 27/10/2012

This week I broke up two fights. I threw a shirt away because I could not get the blood out. One teacher had her cell phone stolen out of her purse while she was in class teaching. At a football gm one student broke another's front teeth last night and the police arrested or we recommended for expulsion yesterday at least six students this week for being such classroom disturbances they cursed everyone who attempted to intervene, including police who threatened to tase them. I am certain, Delores, you know nothing of violent fights, grinding apathy, gangs, rampant drug abuse and chronic disrespect many of us deal with on a daily basis. DAILY! We deal with these student-criminals in disregard of the opinions of weak teachers like you. We protect students and faculty who wish to be at school for the right reason.

20) Comment by [e-mail] - 27/10/2012

More of those anti-social, maladjusted, and other appelations denoting criminal behavior "juveniles" should be "pushed out" of public schools and then there might be a chance for progress there. The laxity of discipline is the problem; my young female relatives who are teachers tell me such horror stories about the behavior of their students that it's hard to believe, yet I know that it's true. School is for learning, not for trying to bring about or implement social change.

21) Comment by bourbon-soda - 27/10/2012

I'm sure this is a complicated problem but a consequence of tolerating criminality in a school or school system is flight from the school or system by many parents of noncriminal students who can afford to flee. An "ankle bracelet" on a rapist does not encourage sending one's daughter to school with him, and that's just a flagrant example.

22) Comment by Attila - 27/10/2012

Thank goodness that my children did not have you for a teacher Ms. Peters. The problem is not too much discipline, but not enough. Today's young people do not get nearly enough discipline at home, in public venues, or school. They have the attitude that there are no consequences to their actions because a lot of parents find it easier to say yes or it's OK baby rather than say no and take discipline, Teachers like Ms. Peters just contribute to the problem.