Police in school put my autistic son at risk

Counselors, social workers a better answer to help stressed-out kids in crisis

I am a mother of three children in Albuquerque Public Schools. My son is a gentle 14-year-old who towers over others at 6 feet tall. He loves furry animals, rainbows and watching movies. Alex is autistic, has an intellectual disability and Fragile X syndrome. He is nonverbal. Due to his disabilities and because he does not use words, he screams when he becomes distressed by such situations as large crowds. People who don’t know him might be afraid of him or mistake his behavior as combative. This is why, since he started high school, my greatest fear has been the presence of police officers in his school. I worry an officer will mistakenly perceive my son as a threat and harm him.

In addition to being an APS parent, I am also an APS teacher. In my many years as a public school educator, I can recall numerous instances when police have been called into situations that would have been better handled by a counselor. I have witnessed how traumatic it can be for children to interact with police. And there are mountains of evidence showing that Black and Brown kids — with and without disabilities — receive the lion’s share of attention from police in schools, often resulting in early involvement in the criminal justice system. All of this has convinced me that police, while important to our community, do not belong in our schools.

As a mother, I understand the instinct to increase the number of officers in schools — we all want our children to be safe. However, there is no evidence that police keep schools safer. On the contrary, a recent study found schools with armed officers stationed in them during school shootings had nearly three times more casualties than schools without armed officers. To put it simply: a school police presence does not prevent shootings or gunrelated incidents in schools.

What absolutely does work is access to wellness resources. The taxpayer money used to pay for police in schools would be better spent on additional counselors and social workers who are trained to assist students going through crises. In my school, there are three counselors for over 1,400 students. They are overwhelmed and don’t have time to provide meaningful support. Those students need adults they can talk to and who will listen. They need adults who can deescalate stressful situations without involving the police. They need adults who can recognize when a student is struggling and connect them with the services they need. Educators also need professional development that teaches strategies for supporting students with behavioral challenges and those dealing with crises. Instead, we have armed officers roaming the halls.

Every school day, I pray I do not get a call from my son’s school informing me that he has had an incident with the officer stationed there. I have so many worries about my son. This should not be one of them. We need to rethink what safe and healthy schools mean for Albuquerque’s children. For my son. For the over 15,000 other APS children with disabilities. The best way to keep students safe is to expand and invest in robust resources that support them. Anything short of that will never lead to the safe schools we know our children deserve.

“A recent study found that schools with armed officers stationed in them during school shootings had nearly three times more casualties than schools without armed officers.”