Two men are standing against the wall waiting to be shot by a firing squad.Delores Griego says; if the community brings guns onto west side campuses; it is just going to piss off the gangsters.
One of them demands a last cigarette.
The other tells him; shut up you fool,
you're just going to piss them off.
Her exact words, according to the Journal; were;
"The West Side does not want armed police officers," Griego said. "This is the area where we have the greatest number of identified gang members, and our principals understand placing this element (gun-carrying police) in our schools will simply cause greater turmoil."Students in general, and gangsters in particular,
are "in charge" in public schools.
At any campus were prohibited behavior is permitted;
children are in charge; it is their will, which will be done.
"Sagging" is prohibited behavior. It is permitted behavior
on nearly every school campus in the APS.
The "expert opinion" is that it is a mistake to let gangsters display their "colors" openly and routinely;
in particular if it is specifically prohibited.
The permission of prohibited behavior cannot be permitted. It teaches children to ignore authority. The loss of authority of adults over children is fundamental to most educational obstacles.
The leadership of the APS has decided to let gangsters dress according to their own will; simply to avoid "greater turmoil";
at the expense of adult authority over students;
and over the plan for their education.
This is not about "sagging".
3 comments:
This is by far the best thing you've written. It is the source of all our problems in schools today, even NCLB. I was astounded when I read Delores' comment this morning. Of course, she was the one who supported Elsie Fierro in the grade gate debacle and then became ever so quiet when the &%$#@ hit the fan. Maybe we need to throw out all the rules, pick 5 we just can't live without and enforce the hell out of them. Otherwise we are training our kids to break any rule they can get away with.
Interesting that West Mesa is one of the roughest schools in the city, has the highest population of gang members and the Principal thinks armed APS police would cause termoil. HUH?
Perhaps the West Mesa Principal would like to let go of the 2 armed APD Officers as well as the APS Officers & multiple campus aides in that school - Obviously they are making things worse.
Send them packing West Mesa, so that they can protect other schools who appreciate them!
I can unfortunateluy beleive that several schools are thinking security is part of the problem. That not upsetting the gang members is paramount to keeping order. Because of teh TYPE of service they get from those who are placed ina situation out of their depth.
Training and support is what the security people need to do their jobs right. Schools can use a mix of plain clothes and uniforms, the kids know who the "narks" are in or out of uniform. The uniform isa deterrent to thsoe OUTSIDE the school, though, an immediate signal that the person they are talking to has the authority to bar them entry or escort them to the office to verify that they belong.
Lets not trow out the baby security officers with the bathwater; let them get the training and SUPPORT they need and things will change for the better. My success with school detective services was done through getting to know the school community and listening to their overall needs, then figuring out how best I could provide the safety and police services they needed with the resources I had at hand. Each officer needs discretion and autonomy with a healthy respect for their ETHICAL superiors. give the fine men and women of the APS Security force time to recover from Lovatogate, they will bounce back. If they hire the right leader, within a yar or two, things can be as they should be, and I hope that whole communities will not fear those that are there to help them.
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