Scott Armstrong, former Allentown School Board member is upset that Phoebe Harris, a current board member, is circulating the above poster on her facebook page. The discussion and poster were created by a student at Dieruff High.
What the student, and perhaps even Ms. Harris, don't seem to realize is how the police came to be in the schools. The high schools did use their own security people prior to police, but it was insufficient to quell escalating violence. There were even a couple of incidents when adults came into classrooms and attacked students.
Talk of signs of the times...Although the country just suffered $billions of dollars in damage from riots and looting, a sheriff was arrested in California for damaging a paper BLM sign. Although that sheriff was arrested, over a hundred people were shot in Chicago last weekend, including children.
Those children in Chicago and our children in Allentown schools deserve to be protected. If there are overreactions from the BLM movement which compromise that protection, it will not be progress, but a step backwards.
I understand police officers were injected into schools to keep students safe, but do they? According to a report on NPR, police officers at schools like Allen or Dieruff are likely to regard students as threats instead of persons they are there to protect.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.npr.org/2020/06/23/881608999/why-theres-a-push-to-get-police-out-of-schools
Example: It is ridiculous that a Florida officer arrested a 6 yo girl at school for having a tantrum. https://www.newsweek.com/florida-girl-six-arrest-video-kaia-rolle-officer-turner-1488949
So I think discussion is warranted.
Bernie -
DeleteThe reality is that Allentown (the city) is home to about 12 active gangs. Some of those are school age, and do their best to recruit in the high schools and even the middle schools.
Having resource officers in the schools is needed, and has helped weed out bad kids. I know saying that some kids are bad sounds harsh, but that is reality. Allowing them to prey on the kids that want to learn would be the real crime.
Discussions, if all viewpoints are weighed, are very appropriate. But Marxist BLM and other followers of same do not participate in "discussions".
ReplyDeleteThey only believe in mob social justice. No discussions are necessary. And they Do NOT care about all black lives at all. Elvis sang "In the Ghetto" 55 years ago. Ghetto mayhem and killings have been perpetual.
Please go to a website that documents Chicago ghetto mayhem. It's all broken down for all to see. www.heyjackass.com
Then tell me who black people should be fearful of. It ain't the cops.
Is ASD director Phoebe Harris accusing the ASD of police brutality in ASD schools? Does she have evidence to back up such a serious charge? And has the ASD board, which apparently vets the public statements of school directors approved this comment? The public and district parents have a right to answers, explanations, and perhaps an apology or resignation.
ReplyDeleteMike, including this part of ASD director Phoebe Harris's comment that was included on her Facebook post with the above poster is more troubling than the meeting itself."Come join me at this event!! Police brutality doesn't just happen in the streets, it happens in schools too." This is a big problem.
ReplyDeleteScott@12:12, I believe the comment was part of the post she shared, but not her words. However, Thomas Parker is quoted in the Morning Call, “Specifically, we want to ensure that we avoid any practices that contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline..." While that may conform with current BLM thinking, he should be concerned with the "pipeline to success", whether it be a job or further schooling
ReplyDeleteWhether they were her words or not she posted them, a defacto endorsement of the sentiments expressed.
DeleteThis from a superintendent who presides over a district that fails utterly to provide most of its students a quality education.Parker is far more the politician and excuse maker than educator.
DeleteIt would be great if they provided a report detailing - how many fights, how many arrests, how many weapons found, how many adults involved, how many APD interactions requiring force - before seeking an emotional response from Allentown parents and students that results in a more dangerous environment in Allentown schools. The dialogue cannot be how seeing APD in schools makes you feel but whether APD is needed based on the conditions in the schools. If APD is needed then ASD should be helping to build a stronger bond between the officers and the students so that at-risk students have the confidence to go to an officer for help.
ReplyDeleteThis would require competent leadership.
DeletePhoebe Harris "liked" this comment on my Facebook post that was critical of her repost; Scott Armstrong why are we paying police officers to patrol schools when that funding could be redistributed to causes that are beneficial to all students, and work to address systemic problems? adding police to educational environments causes distrust & uneasiness in what should be a welcoming space
ReplyDeleteI know I'm a day late to the conversation, but wanted to offer this:
ReplyDeleteIf you're an inept Superintendent, or an inept school board director, do you talk about:
A. Constant tax hikes for ASD taxpayers, to the maximum allowed by state law;
B. Low test scores in the school district;
C. The technology deficit for students in the district, particularly in relation to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and possibility of another extended period of online learning for ASD students;
D. The annual budget fiasco, where in the previous year the district overspent by $10 MILLION without holding ANYONE accountable; or
E. Police in the schools?
If you're incompetent, of course the answer would be E. But that's obviously the least of the district's problems. Both Parker and Harris should go, as well as a majority of the other school board members.
Quite honestly, I'm suspicious of the whole "discussion".
ReplyDeleteApparently one kid at Dieruff had "concerns". Even though he claims to have a good relationship with the in-school officers, he wanted to speak for those who didn't.
Suddenly a school board member and the superintendent are involved, and a gathering is set up to "discuss" the matter.
With (often) violent mobs across the country foolishly demanding that entire police departments be defunded, who in their right mind is going to the gathering to support the police in schools? This is a one-sided setup masquerading as a "discussion"!
If that kid wanted to give someone a voice, it should be for those who are able to learn in schools and not get preyed on by violent students, thanks to the police presence there. I doubt those kids and their parents want to paint an even bigger target on their backs.
But that's not what this is really about.
One other note on the Morning Call story on the Dieruff kid and the "discussion":
ReplyDeleteThe reporter went to great lengths to compare Parkland School District (which is predominantly white) to ASD (which is predominantly non-white) as far as the lower amount of police at the schools.
Two very large points were missing:
1) Any analysis of the number and severity of incidents for either district (as Steven Ramos noted about ASD above), and
2) A mention that the municipalities covered by the Parkland School District don't have anywhere near the size police forces as the City of Allentown does. So having police in school really isn't an option there.
It came off as another attempt by the media to stoke racial tension where there might not be any real racial aspect to the story.
The Morning Call like much of the media reports in afashion that is meant to incite readers, hold attention, and attract readership. In other words, controversy sells so that is the template for all reporting on issues such as this. The truth and balance are not even a concern anymore. By the way, isn't it curious almost all the speakers seemed to be a against the police? Also that school director Phoebe Harris took every claim the students made as gospel and apologized for the actions of the police. Clearly an indication she plans to use this issue to raise for political profil by increasing racial tensions in a school district already beset with numerous problems.
ReplyDelete