4 ms·

A person walking around the school garbage collecting loose students and returning them to their classrooms. Or potentially sending them to the principal’s offi

A person walking around the school garbage collecting loose students and returning them to their classrooms. Or potentially sending them to the principal’s office if they are repeat offenders. At my high school, we had a city police officer doing this. (Not continuously, but she was always around looking to catch students breaking the law.) Of course this officer was fully armed with a pistol, taser, and pepper spray.

TheNewsIsHere 3y ago
Where I grew up these were called "School Resource Officers" and their presence was inscrutable. Ours coached the girl's volleyball team, had his own small office, and seemingly did nothing else for virtually all four years I was there. He was there to quickly call for police presence when once a large fight broke out, but that was about it.
- BobaFloutist 3y ago
  Their job is to cower in the bathroom in the rare event of a school shooting.
hedora 3y ago
When I was a kid, they had a kid do this, not a cop. They didn’t give the kid proper training, but not a gun, taser or pepper spray. Seems reckless in hindsight. /s
- kube-system 3y ago
  It works in some cultures. But in an increasing number of places in the US, the worst of the students abusing their time in the halls are bullies and/or violent. The students who are most likely to follow the instructions of a student hall monitor are most likely not the worst offenders.
  - hedora 3y ago
    The hall monitor simply keeps track of who is breaking the rules. Presumably, that's all the cop does. They're not perp-walking them to jail or something, right?
    - kube-system 3y ago
      Students don't have any disciplinary authority over other students, nor any ability to immediately intervene when appropriate, which paraprofessionals and SROs do. And SROs absolutely do escalate to the criminal justice system (e.g. juvenile detention) when necessary. There are occasionally guns, knives, drugs, and violence in schools, and those are situations where the legal system is frequently involved. The bottom line is that a student hall monitor is going to be able to snitch on an otherwise good kid who is goofing off in the hall, but they're not going to be able to deal with more serious issues. And it would be a very bad idea to rely on them as the front-line workers for more serious issues.
tokai 3y ago
Seems perfect for that school2prison pipeline.

TheNewsIsHere 3y ago

Where I grew up these were called "School Resource Officers" and their presence was inscrutable. Ours coached the girl's volleyball team, had his own small office, and seemingly did nothing else for virtually all four years I was there. He was there to quickly call for police presence when once a large fight broke out, but that was about it.

BobaFloutist 3y ago
Their job is to cower in the bathroom in the rare event of a school shooting.

hedora 3y ago

When I was a kid, they had a kid do this, not a cop. They didn’t give the kid proper training, but not a gun, taser or pepper spray. Seems reckless in hindsight. /s

kube-system 3y ago
It works in some cultures. But in an increasing number of places in the US, the worst of the students abusing their time in the halls are bullies and/or violent. The students who are most likely to follow the instructions of a student hall monitor are most likely not the worst offenders.
- hedora 3y ago
  The hall monitor simply keeps track of who is breaking the rules. Presumably, that's all the cop does. They're not perp-walking them to jail or something, right?
  - kube-system 3y ago
    Students don't have any disciplinary authority over other students, nor any ability to immediately intervene when appropriate, which paraprofessionals and SROs do. And SROs absolutely do escalate to the criminal justice system (e.g. juvenile detention) when necessary. There are occasionally guns, knives, drugs, and violence in schools, and those are situations where the legal system is frequently involved. The bottom line is that a student hall monitor is going to be able to snitch on an otherwise good kid who is goofing off in the hall, but they're not going to be able to deal with more serious issues. And it would be a very bad idea to rely on them as the front-line workers for more serious issues.

tokai 3y ago

Seems perfect for that school2prison pipeline.