Arrested Futures: Accountability

This is the Citizens for Juvenile Justice report sent to us from the ACLU.
Number of students arrested during school time.
Worcester came out very well compared to the other two major urban city centers, particularly when it comes to "disruption of school assembly."
School resources officers...as opposed to school police liaison officers, not full-time stationed in the schools
"most of them have to do with deterrence and not arrests"
Police in a building are leaned on too heavily to provide discipline for schools that have them there all the time.
"disruption of school assembly" has to be during classtime "very rigid" law
"we have trained teachers to be knowledgeable in verbal deescalation skills"
assistant principal intervenes if the teacher is unable to deescalate; WPD is only called if the student is still beyond reach after being removed from the classroom
Juvenile Detention Alternative in Massachusetts to break the school-to-prison pipeline. Get kids out of that (not detained upon initial arrest if possible; avoid court system with elementary students by having intervention including Child Study department; school safety center 3 days, for students who threaten others)
Recall that the salaries of these officers is paid by the Worcester Public Schools,partly directly, and the remainder through city funding that counts towards net school spending.
Biancheria: "safety, for our students, is something we can't ignore"
"the arrest is the last choice"
Biancheria wonders if we have sufficient training for our staff
asks for recommendations from administration: Pezella speaks of security in the school (facilities): "when people enter our buildings, they know they're being watched"
coordination with WPD, DA, DYS, and so forth
alternative schools
"public safety is questioned after the fact"
Perda stresses looking at the data that we have as well