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Where will this meeting be held?

There is a lot of good people on the list. I hope something can come from this committee that will help solve the problem. My approach would be different. I would find out what school(s) in the US is doing the best with at-risk children and then I would put their methods in effect in several schools in the county. I think this approach would have a better chance of success. I may be wrong.

The meeting is 7:30 am at the Eugene St. office.

Will the meeting be televised or otherwise recorded?

Kuddos to those who are willing to take on this awesome challenge!! In looking at the list, I am familiar with some of the names; and they are great people in this community to tackle this problem. People like Amos Quick, Alan Duncan, Terrina Picarello, and Rev. Brown are intelligent people with common sense solutions and I am sure that they will devise an achievable plan and the students of Guilford County, along with the community in general, will be better off for it. Good Luck!!

Committee meetings such as this are usually not recorded. Minutes are taken.

If teachers, students, or parents would like a specific issue addressed by this committee or want to share a specific story for our information or consideration, please contact me. I will pass that along to the committee members.

You can share in confidence if that is an issue. It is my intention to represent the parents and students voice on this committee.

You can contact me at 282-2182 or terrinap@createyourbestlife.org

So Sorry. I messed up my own email address. How embarassing...

here is the right one:

terrina@createyourbestlife.org

JUST DROP THE 'P'. sorry.

If you got a bounce back, please re-send

Terrina,

One thing the Administration and the BOE will not touch, is video taping in the classrooms. Teachers have resisted because they don't like "big brother" looking. They might see a lady pull up their panty hose. I would like to see cameras in each room for some schools. This does not mean that someone would be in another room watching. The actual cameras tend to reduce misbehavior. Also, letting the tape role is a good way to show parents that jr is out of control. If teachers object, it could be voluntary. In the past the teachers union has fought this tooth and nail. In fact some places that had it, had to tear it out. I think the cost is about 1k per room. We could afford it.

Also, we have one SRO to every school. Noone wants to give up their SRO. I understand that. However, I wonder if we would be better off to concentrate SROs at schools that have large amount of discipline problems?

Also, I think we should consider having SROs work for central Office designee rather than the principal, so they can be more easily deployed.

Good luck. It will be a hard job.

Hi Joe,

As I understand it, the SROs do not work for the Principal. That is a misconception. The Principal and the SRO know this and this creates a problem at some schools because the Principal is ultimately responsible for everything that goes on in his/her building, but they cannot tell the SRO what to do, or how to do it. THey cannot instruct the SRO to patrol a certain area, cannot instruct them when and where to be in the building... etc. When the SRO and the Principal have a good relationship and agree to be partners, it is great. But the reality is, the SRO does not have to do anything the Principal says, so sometimes that is a problem. The SRO works for GPD or HPD or the Sheriff. So there is that.

Also, the effective SRO officers that I have spoken to say that it is NOT their job to be used as a discipline tool. They are not there to make sure children comply with school rules. Classroom behavior and discipline is the responsibility of the classroom teacher and the administrators.

One SRO told me that he gets irritated with teachers who call him to a class because they cannot control the classroom. He said he will not be used that way and some teachers get really mad about that. But he said if he is the one that is always getting onto the kids when they misbehave, he is always the bad guy and he needs to build relationships with the kids. So he won't be used that way. Again, he said that makes some teachers mad.

In fact the SROs that I believe are the most effective tell me that they do not like to be called in for discilpine issues because it damages their relationship with the kids. They say it is important for them to build relationships and to be a person kids can come to when they are stressed or have a problem. When an SRO has this kind of relationship with the kids, you just have no idea how many things are prevented. Kids will confide about a fight, or even a dangerous situation over the weekend, or even something like reckless driving by a student. Sometimes SROs are the ones kids go to when they are suicidal. Sometimes a kid will tell an SRO when they are sexually assaulted at home. They often will not go to the school counselor. Good SROs know the kids and can step in and prevent alot of stuff because the kids trust him/her and listen to them when they intervene.

Good SROs tell me they are there to get in between the kids and trouble.

The SROs that I cannot stand tell me they are there to arrest students who break the law. And you can tell by their arrest records that they feel like the number of arrests they make means they are doing their job. I hate hearing that, and you can tell the difference between that SRO and the one who tells you his/her first job is to build relationships and keep the kids safe. That's a big difference.

I have asked several times for a job description of the SROs and have still not gotten that. Maybe I can get it.

I believe if you interview 10 SROs and ask them what their job is, you might get several different answers. I may be wrong about that, but that is my sense. I think we need more consistency and clarity with regard to what we want the SROs to do, and some clarity around how we want to use them. I also would like to see a specific way to measure whether or not a particular SRO is a good fit for the school, and whether or not they are effective in their job. We measure everyone else in the building.

I definitely would like to see more accountability with regard to the SROs. I have heard some really great things about some of the SROs and I have heard some really bad things about others. I know that my child is scared to death of the SRO at the school, and the other students I have spoken with perceive the SRO as more of a bully than someone there to maintain peace. Some of the SROs truly frighten the kids and use scare tactics that I believe have no place in our schools. These SROs are not the role models that I want my children learning from; I do not want them to learn that you have to bully other people in order to get them to behave. I also believe that parents do not have an appropriate place, or safe place, where they can openly discuss issues they see with their schools SRO for fear of retaliation to their child. We want them to protect our children, not have our children as targets. I understand that SROs have a huge job to do, but I also believe that there should be limits to the power that they hold. It seems like to me that they have the power to do what they want to our students. Do these SROs have any specialized training with children before being placed in schools? Are psychologicals done on them before we hand them this power? I may be the only one hear that thinks this but I want my children to be able to approach their SRO about a problem they may be experiencing, not be scared to death of them.

I notice there are only 2 SROs on this task force. One from NW where there are very few discipline issues and the other from Smith. I would think that it would be helpful to have the SROs from the schools with the highest discipline issues, the highest suspensions and arrests to come together with the schools that have the lowest so that they can learn why there is a gap. What method/strategy/approach is working in one school that isn't in the other.

A lot of times we hear that the schools that have the highest discipline issues are those associated with the lowest socio economic group and lowest parent involvement. While I think this has a hand perhaps in what is wrong, I would challenge those to simply stop passing the buck so to speak. Conform to the circumstances and seek out others opinions. I think quite often it is thought to be just simpler to suspend or arrest the students than to effectively deal with the problem, and I think in the long run, it is just a band-aid solution.

Joe Pass is the NW High School SRO and the reason I am personally very glad he is at the table is because he has a wonderful relationship with the kids at NW and he has a sincere desire to protect the kids. He is the kind of SRO we need in all schools, and I am anxious to hear his thoughts, observations, and opinions about all the issues the task force will try to address. When I have been at NW and just following him through the halls, the kids are all over him. They are telling him all kinds of things and looking to him for support. They tell him about a run in with a teacher or about someone picking at them. You can tell he relates to the kids at their level. That is what we want at the schools. An SRO that is interested in supporting the kids and building relationships. As tight as money is all the time, I feel like for the money, he is an adult at the school that really cares about the kids.
That is why I believe he is on the task force. Because of who he is, not what school he is at. And I do not know the other SRO officer.

I believe Amos has done an excellent job of bringing diverse voices to the table. We do have some polar opposites on the task force, and that is wonderful. That is what we need.