DISQUS

Jack and Jill Politics: Criminalizing Children Still A Problem In NYC

  • Eddie G. Griffin · 1 year ago
    Hold that thought. This is one of the major issues at BASG... black children being criminalized.
  • Jack Turner · 1 year ago
    THANK you for sharing this. thank you.
  • Acanthus · 1 year ago
    Of course, I can't help being reminded of the 6-year-old black girl in Florida who had a tantrum at her kindergarten, and ended up being handcuffed, taken to the police station, and formally booked on assault charges.
  • The Bag of Health and Politics · 1 year ago
    Anyone who has ever been inside an inner-city school--in New York, Chicago, DC, Baltimore or elsewhere knows these problems are real. Dilapidated buildings are a monument to the silent bigotry (I'm appropriating a line from Bush) of out of sight, out of mind.


    Special education is the worst aspect of the national crime that is our urban education system. I hope it will change. I don't expect it to under President H Clinton. She has already shown that she doesn't care.



    And say what you want about Obama and his somewhat plain plans. The image of Obama as President sends a message--a good message--to kids in those schools; a message that 100,000,000 new books cannot send. The image of him losing the Presidency solely because of his race--the image which the Clintons are trying to push on America--only re-enforces the belief, the just belief, that the system is stacked against some. And that some can never be solely because of who they are.



    The 650,000 soldiers and one President who died in the Civil War will collectively roll over in their graves if we do what we're on the verge of doing...
  • Anonymous · 1 year ago
    The Clintons MISTAKENLY decided they could trash Obama with racist smears, thereby doing damage to him in South Carolina....and NONE of the other Super Tuesday States would notice.


    WRONG



    What is mean and LOW CLASS in SC, is mean and LOW CLASS all across America.

    http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-8/1210139/slumLord.jpg



    http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-8/1210139/takesAvillage.jpg



    THEY USE SCARE TACTICS IN IOWA AGAINST STUDENTS...



    THEY USE RACE CARD AGAINST BLACKS IN SOUTH CAROLINA...



    THEY USE SMEAR TACTICS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE ABOUT DRUGS AND ABORTION...



    THEY USE LAWSUITS IN NEVADA AGAINST HISPANICS...



    THEY WILL DO ANYTHING FOR POWER!!!!WELCOME TO THE CLINTONS WORLD!!!



    HILLARY CLINTON OPPOSES ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS DRIVER'S LICENCE.



    THIS MEANS THEY WILL HAVE TO DRIVE ILLEGALLY TO GO TO WORK!



    THIS MEANS THEY CANT GET INSURANCE FOR THEIR CARS!



    http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-11-14-clinton-immigration_N.htm



    Hilarious. Bill Clinton falls asleep at MLK celebration



    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/01/clinton_gets_sleepy_at_mlk_day.php



    CLINTON SAYS WE HAVE THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT BECAUSE LYNDON JOHNSON SIGNED IT.



    GOLDWATER RAN A CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOHNSON...

    SO WHY WAS SHE CAMPAIGNING FOR BARRY GOLDWATER WHO WAS AGAINST THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT???



    BY THE WAY CHECK OUT BILL CLINTON'S RACIST POSTCARD HE SENT TO HIS GRANDMA IN 1966 DURING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.



    http://serr8d.blogspot.com/2007/10/bill-clinton-racist-postcard-buy-it-now.html
  • CAB · 1 year ago
    Whoa...I know we don't like the Clinton tactics, but let's try to talk on topic.


    Does anyone have an idea to a policy solution or step in the right direction? I'm not well versed in educational theory so all the knowledge you can give helps....
  • The Bag of Health and Politics · 1 year ago
    A friend of mine deeply involved with education is a big time proponent of Charter Schools. I oppose them on the simple fact that it makes good education a lottery. That is unconscionable to me.


    Here in Maryland we have problems with funding disparities. Montgomery County--the richest jurisdiction in the country--has lavish, well funded schools. Schools in Baltimore are chronically under-funded (a court held the state in contempt a while back on this issue). But schools in rural areas in far-western Maryland--where I live--also have problems.



    Funding is based on the property tax. In suburban DC--Montgomery County--million houses, not estates but houses, are common place. It's easy for a county to have a relatively low mill rate and a extremely well funded school system.



    Where I live, you're lucky to get $125,000 for your house. This is better than Baltimore--where most of the prime real estate is owned by non-profit hospitals or universities--where they are always facing under-funding. It's also worse just down the road from me in Cumberland--where the nicest homes go for less than $100,000 and an average home is about $40,000.



    It is impossible for Washington and Allegany Counties to match the funding levels of Montgomery County. To do so would mean mill rates so high that people would default on their property tax and be foreclosed upon by the government.



    I lived in Pennsylvania for a few years. There the situation is even worse because the school districts are Township by Township--causing vast disparities within the same county.



    In my opinion, the only solution to these problems is a national property tax and an equal allocation of funding for schools via Congressional District. Then, we could truly have equality in education.



    Unfortunately, the 10th Amendment gets in the way of that. Because of that, I think the best solution is statewide property taxes and a formula that doles out funding to jurisdictions on an equal per pupil basis.
  • Anonymous · 1 year ago
    Not that this excuses the over-reaction, but the 5 year old weighed 78 pounds, and was swinging on the teacher, and throwing furniture around the room.
    I have taught in NYC public schools, and children with issues can be extremely violent. How should someone control a child who puts not only himself, but other students at risk of injury?

    Sure, you don't call the police. But the student's own mother didn't even come to the school to help her child, when she was told what was going on with him-- she sent a babysitter, who had no legal right to take the child.

    Police in schools is a problem. But violent students and uninvolved parents is just as big a problem.
  • Ronnie B · 1 year ago
    Thanks for the additional context. But you're right; it does not excuse the over-reaction. That child was still 5 years old, and will be forever scarred with the image (and knowledge) that he is a predator in society's mind. But, as was suggested earlier, a Black or Brown child who sees him or herself that way, doesn't seem to offend the sensibilities of majority society (which increasingly includes non-white peoples).


    A solution to that particular incident could have been found in an administration that recognized the probable actions of emotionally troubled students acting out. Anyone in the profession of dealing with people on a regular basis, ought to know that they will encounter emotionally unstable people.



    Handcuffing and hauling away a 5-year old is clearly evidence of how our paid public service professionals regard the people they're sworn to serve.
  • Jovan · 1 year ago
    I read this blog often and I have not felt compelled to comment until now because this issue is near and dear to my heart.


    I work as a teacher in the type of school ( equipped with metal detectors ) that you describe and I feel that you're oversimplifying the issue.



    I agree that there are instances of administrators, teachers, and school police officers overreacting but to imply that these school are simply used to warehouse children is incorrect.



    There are more children in schools like these that want to be educated than not. However, there are children who are incredibly disruptive and create a dangerous environment for everyone there. What are we to do with those children ? Are we to allow them to say in classes and disrupt the learning process ?



    A student brought a gun to my school on Thursday. If not for the officers and metal detectors someone could have been shot or killed. In August, a young girl brought a large knife to school. The issue of safety in schools is real and must somehow be addressed. Schools now are not at all like they were when many of us were children.



    The children I speak of definitely have emotional issues that need to be addressed but teachers are not trained to do so, counselors are overworked, and so many of the parents in the area do not take advantage of the free services available to them. Education about services is provided to the community but you cannot force someone to take advantage of what the system does offer.



    I don't suggest that the officer's actions in this case were warranted or at all justifiable, but before you condemn an entire system consider the limitations that the system faces...or at least offer some solutions at the end of your critique. And finally, I realize you comments may have been specific to the New York City police who work in the schools but working in a system like that provides me with a different level of insight into this particular issue.
  • Anonymous · 1 year ago
    Note that the principal left NY for a nearly all white school in CO.
    http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/co/district_profile/69/#students