This week Breaking Brown reported on disciplinary issues in Wake County, North Carolina schools which resulted in eight school-prison students and one parent being arrested after a water balloon fight.
According to a complaint filed against the local school and police district by children’s advocacy groups with the Justice Department, the water balloon fight is just the tip of the iceberg. The complaint alleges that thousands of students have ended up in court, missing school, for relatively minor offenses over the past five years.
Even though black students only represent around 25 percent of the student population, they comprise up to 75 percent of the school district’s disciplinary complaints, according to The Huffington Post.
“It’s becoming part of the school culture,” said attorney with Advocates for Children’s Services, Jennifer Story. “In one case, a parent didn't even know that her son had been handcuffed until we told her about it. The student was like, ‘It just happens all the time.’”
One student, named only in the complaint as T.S., got into trouble after a resource officer spotted him cutting the lunch line in the cafeteria. The officer grabbed the student, who is described as mild mannered in the complaint, and when the student pulled away, the officer allegedly twisted his arm, pushed him up against the wall, handcuffed him, and led him out of the cafeteria. He was ordered to appear in juvenile court and forced to do nine months of probation.
In another incident, a student with attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity disorder punched a student who’d hit him and called him a racial slur. He agreed to a plea deal which resulted in him serving six month probation and completing 24 hours of community service.
A Wake County spokesperson says the school district is reviewing the information.
No comments:
Post a Comment
What's Your Thoughts?