IN RESPONSE: Police, harsh punishment no solution to school violence

American psychologist Abraham Maslow once said that if your only tool is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. Unfortunately, when some discuss school safety, it appears their only tool is more school police because they simply can’t understand that police are not the answer to every potential safety issue.

Victor Joecks’ March 2 column (“ACLU opposed more school police: Now, it’s upset about school violence”) perfectly demonstrates this lack of understanding.

The conclusion reached in the piece — that it is “obvious” more police and more harsh punishments will stop violence in schools — fails to account for the fact that this proposed solution has been historically disproven, year over year in numerous school districts and in numerous peer-reviewed studies, as an effective means of addressing school violence. Approaches to improving school safety rooted in increasing school police, rather than increasing critical support services for our students alongside de-escalation training and restorative practices for staff, are destined to result in failure.

Alongside attorney Robert Langford, I represent a Las Vegas High School student who survived a brutal beating while merely doing her classwork. I write “survived” specifically because my client was bludgeoned in the back of her head dozens of times without intervention, with the majority of the blows she absorbed coming after she had already lost consciousness. She is likely to have serious, long-term health issues. She could have died.

Because our investigation remains ongoing, I will not share here each and every detail of what occurred before, during and after the incident. But the ACLU of Nevada joined the case because there were numerous failures within the district’s response (or lack thereof) that require systemic correction.

Mr. Joecks’ column suggests that “violent incidents at district schools have been increasing for years” but fails to admit that district police have already received millions of dollars in budget increases during the same period. If we are to address student behavior in schools, we must start by shoring up critical staffing deficits for social workers, psychologists and counselors. We must do so within a state that continues to fail at spending and distributing funding for school in a way that addresses the systemic inequalities we’ve seen for decades.

According to a Center for Popular Democracy report published last year, the disparities within the district for critical mental health services are stark. While a ratio of one social worker for every 400 students is recommended, the district had approximately one social worker for every 1,600 students. Similarly, while a ratio of one school counselor for every 250 general education students is recommended, the district has routinely provided one counselor for every 400 to 500 students. School psychologists are recommended at about a 1-to-500 ratio, but the district has approximately one per 2,200 students.

How on earth can district students get the support they sorely need and deserve with these staffing shortages?

What isn’t absent within the district is a police force that continues to disproportionately push students of color and students with disabilities into the juvenile system. In 2019 alone, Black students were 5.7 times more likely to be referred to the Department of Juvenile Justice than white students.

We firmly believe that trying to prevent school violence by throwing more police at schools isn’t a thoughtful solution — it’s a lazy and ineffective one that wastes taxpayer dollars.

The ACLU of Nevada firmly believes that every student should be safe from physical harm when they are at school. No student should ever experience what my client has had to experience. No family should ever experience what my client’s family has had to experience. If any money is spent for our students, it should be spent on evidence-based resources proven to support safe, healthy, and inclusive schools — not criminalizing our students.

Athar Haseebullah is the executive director of the ACLU of Nevada.