We're getting a sneak peak at what the Wake County school safety task force will recommend today, and it looks like they're talking more about additional counselors than police officers.
In a press release from Legal Aid of North Carolina this morning, the group says the 19 recommendations that will be presented to the school board today include:
* Provide access to peer mediation and alternative dispute resolution (e.g., restorative justice) programs or services.
Wake County school board members let it be known tonight that they're concerned about how Raleigh police responded to last month's water-balloon prank at Enloe High School that resulted in the arrests of seven students.
Democratic and Republican board members said the police response showed the need to revisit the district's discipline and law enforcement policies. The discussion came up as board members agreed to renew contracts for school resource officers in high schools in Raleigh and Cary for the 2013-14 school year.
“I too like everyone else was saddened and upset when we saw the Enloe incident, and the tapes are extremely disturbing for us to watch,” said school board member Tom Benton.
There are 21 people signed up to speak at tonight's Wake County school board meeting.
You've got four people to talk about votes to renew the school district's school resource officer contracts with Raleigh and Cary. Based on the names listed, you'll probably hear them question the contracts.
You've got five people signed up to speak about the arrests for the Enloe High School water-balloon incident. At least some of the speakers include students who were arrested. They want the criminal charges dismissed.
You've also got nine people talking about gifted education, single subject acceleration and math placement. Speakers have been showing up at the last few school board meetings to complain about how Wake is offering single-subject acceleration in math under the new common core curriculum.
UPDATE
Citing the length of the agenda, school board chairman Keith Sutton said they'll take public comment for 30 minutes. This means they'd hear from all the people who are speaking about items on the agenda.
Sutton said the remaining speakers would be allowed to speak at the end of the meeting.
Interim Wake County Schools Superintendent Stephen Gainey announced today that the school system is reviewing security measures in light of Friday's school shooting rampage in Connecticut.
In this statement today, Gainey said Wake already has in place measures such as site-specific school safety plans, crisis-response measures, annual training and regular drills. He also noted that there's a law enforcement presence in schools.
But Gainey said that the district security team and district leaders are "reviewing emergency operations plans and procedures in light of this tragic incident." He also said that principals "will be reviewing their site-based crisis plans and protocols with their school staff members."
Will the Wake County school board require changes in the way school resource officers operate in order for them to continue to patrol the district's high schools and middle schools?
The school board will vote today on these contracts with Raleigh and Cary to provide school resource officers for the 2012-13 school year. The vote comes amid lobbying efforts by several advocacy organizations to get the school system to cut back on the role of SROs, from what they're armed with to what interaction they can have with students on discipline issues.
In an email Monday to school board members, Jason Langberg of Advocates for Children Services wrote that approving the contracts "without more careful consideration of the >issue of SROs in WCPSS would be irresponsible, undemocratic, and arguably, a violation of multiple Board policies."
UPDATE/CORRECTION
Click here to view the email sent to board members on Monday. Corrected post to say letter from N.C. Juvenile Defender.
The school board voted 5-4 to table the Cary SRO contract. it went along party lines with the Democrats voting yes and the Republicans voting against tabling.
The board also voted to table the Raleigh SRO contract.
Is it case closed for any further need to review the school resource officer program in Wake County's schools?
As noted in Saturday's article, Superintendent Tony Tata is giving at least partial credit for this year's drop in school crime on the presence of the SROs. Combined with the response from the survey of middle school and high school principals and assistant principals, Tata doesn't feel there's a need to make major changes.
"We’ve got a lot of things we can work on here in Wake County and I think that school resource officers is an area where we can work on the margin but I think these statistics show its effectiveness and I think the response from the principals and assistant principals show its effectiveness," Tata said at Friday's news conference.
Here's an abbreviated recap of today's Wake County school board meeting with more to come later.
A decision on the grading practices was delayed until Aug. 16 to give more time for public comment and to allow staff to report back on additional information on the rationale for going back to letter grades in grades 3-5 and to learn more about how behaviors would be incorporated into the policy.
But the signs are that the new grading policy will pass with school board vice chairman John Tedesco strongly advocating for the revision. But you could still see some revisions made to the R&P.
Is Wake County school board chairman Ron Margiotta now singing a different tune on the issue of reviewing the school resource officer program?
In an interview Wednesday on the Bill LuMaye Show on WPTF, Margiotta was effusive in this praise of the school resource officer program as being necessary now that society has changed. He said he's hoping Superintendent Tony Tata's review will not result in any change of the program.
"I have some serious concerns with the fact that we're even considering making any changes," Margiotta said. "That's my personal feeling."
SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST
How much change, if any, will be made in the way school resource officers operate in Wake County schools?
As noted in today's article, Wake Superintendent Tony Tata is expected to report back in September to the school board on the survey they requested of the effectiveness of the SRO program. It's a prelude to efforts to revise this memorandum of understanding that governs how the SROs operate in the schools.
While a majority of the board asked for the survey and indicated they wanted to review the MOU, it's uncertain how far they're willing to go to change the agreement. It's also uncertain how much the various law enforcement enforcement agencies would be willing to change.
It looks like, for now, high schools in Cary and Raleigh will still have police officers assigned to them for the 2011-12 school year
After a lengthy debate, the Wake County school board unanimously agreed tonight to continue their contracts with the Raleigh and Cary police departments for school resource officers for the high schools. As part of the vote, Superintendent Tony Tata was directed to come back in three months with a review of the SRO program.
But before the vote, some board members talked about delaying the vote and what would be necessary should they terminate the deals.
