School officers aren’t solution many think

I have been joyously working as a special education paraprofessional (that is, a teacher’s aide) at Fayetteville High School for two-plus years. Since I started there, four law enforcement personnel — with the deceptive moniker of school resource officer (SRO) — have been added, an increase of 500%.

First, studies have shown “that increases in offenses and exclusionary reactions due to increased SRO presence were most evident for Black and Hispanic as opposed to white students. Educational decision-makers should carefully weigh the benefits of placing SROs in schools against the knowledge that this practice differentially increases recorded school crime and exclusion from school for students of color” (Sage Journals, “Are Effects of School Resource Officers Moderated by Student Race and Ethnicity?” March 6, 2021). And students with disabilities and indigenous children are also disproportionally targeted (The Center for Public Integrity, “When schools call police on kids” Sept. 8, 2021).

Does the presence of more law enforcement keep school children safer? “Research finds that police officers in schools do not make school safer and leads to harsher discipline for minor infractions” (NEA Today, “Making Schools Safe and Just” April 28, 2022). Maybe law enforcement presence at least is likely to prevent a school shooting? “A 2021 study from researchers at SUNY Albany and RAND indicates that the presence of guards actually ‘marginally increases the likelihood of a school shooting’” (The Trace, “Do Armed Guards Prevent School Shootings?” Aug. 14, 2023). Maybe the severity of school shootings? “A recent study by researchers from The Violence Project suggests that armed guards in schools don’t reduce fatalities … At least one armed guard was present in almost a quarter of cases studied, and researchers found no significant reduction in rates of injuries in these cases” (id.).

Given those clear findings, why would the House of Representatives’ Arkansas delegation all vote to defund scientific research by the Centers for Disease Control studying the causes of gun violence, including that in schools? That question was, of course, rhetorical.

Look at the fundamental issue: (1) We are militarizing schools — as well as other aspect of society — by adding and adding more law enforcement; and (2) we are doing so because there is a gun violence problem in the U.S. Does No. 1 make sense as a solution to No. 2? Maybe a solution to gun violence, especially school gun violence, would’ve been more likely using the defunded CDC scientific research.

MIKE KARCIS

Fayetteville