Blaming the victim, Texas style

This is a video that Texas now requires all high school students to view. Its purpose is to "teach" students how to interact with the police.

But, in reality, it serves to give the police any number of excuses when they make the decision to pull their weapon and shoot someone.

And I don't want to hear that constant refrain that being a cop is a hard job. No one was forced to enter law enforcement. Everyone who attended the academy made the decision that's what they wanted to do.

The State of Texas has made the decision to side with the police when it comes to the shooting of unarmed black men. Texas has decided that the blame falls squarely on the victim of police violence because they didn't act in a certain manner. This mindset lets the police off the hook when they turn a situation confrontational. It lets them off the hook when they decide to draw their weapon.

It's the classic game of blame the victim.

Part of the problem is that law enforcement loves to play soldier. Local departments are dressing their officers in uniforms that look like fatigues. They are carrying military-style weapons. Departments are handed surplus military gear like it's candy.

And in this effort to have a War on Drugs - or whatever other evil is the flavor of the month - police officers adopt an "us v. them" attitude. The police are on patrol. The news media refers to ordinary citizens as civilians - so as to differentiate them from the police.

Now don't get me wrong. The police have always been used to enforce the social order. They were the front line defenders of Jim Crow in the South. The images of Bull Connor turning the police dogs on civil rights protesters can never be erased from the mind. The police have been used to bust strikes. They have been used to deny people their right to assemble peaceably and petition the government over their grievances.

I don't think we should be surprised that such a video becomes must-watch propaganda in Texas. There are more than enough wing nuts in the state legislature and Board of Education who love the idea of a police state (while telling their supporters how evil government is). Not surprisingly, the video left out the most important instruction in how to deal with the police -- not being black. Until we can sit down and discuss the racism at the core of policing, nothing will ever change.

Perhaps police officers should have to watch a video to teach them how to interact with people of color.

School board members acting like petulant children

This is how democracy works in this country.



The Vermillion Parish school board met to determine whether to give the school superintendant a raise. Ms. Deyshia Hargrave had the nerve to question the school board as to why they were giving the superintendant a raise when teachers hadn't had a raise in years.

In the meantime class sizes have increased along with the duties of the teachers.

Instead of answering Ms. Hargrave's questions, the presiding officer of the school board decided to have her removed from the meeting. The officer, who showed himself to be nothing more than a lackey for the administration, roughed up Ms. Hargrave before arresting her on charges of remaining when forbidden and resisting arrest.

School board meetings are supposed to be open to the public. Members of the public in attendance have the right to ask questions and make comments during portions of meeting. Now I understand that many school board members would prefer to make their decisions in private where they are away from the glare of the light and can avoid taking responsibility. But that isn't how it's supposed to work.

The school board in Vermillion Parish - just like many school boards across this country - showed where their priorities were. It's a whole lot easier to raise the superintendant's salary that it is to explain to the public that taxes need to be raised to pay for school improvements and teacher salary increases.

But what happened in Vermillion Parish was uncalled for. Yes, board members who favored the pay increase - and the superintendant himself - certainly didn't want to be questioned about it. They expected everyone in attendance to just go along with the proposal. But when your response to being questioned by not just a member of the public, but your own employee, is to have her dragged out of a meeting and arrested, you have shown yourselves to be incapable of leadership.

This video should be broadcast as part of a civics lesson on how not to govern.

H/T David Begnaud

See also "Louisiana teacher handcuffed forcibly after asking questions at board meeting," The Guardian (1/9/2018)

Class dismissed

Talk about your sophisticated ways of poisoning jury pools and public opinion. The Harris County District Attorney's Office found the perfect tool to make Harris County even more prosecution-friendly.

According to a PR memo released by the DA's office, Harris County prosecutors have been spreading propaganda "teaching" students at Strake Jesuit High School about criminal procedure over the past five weeks.

I'm sure there was plenty of talk about technicalities and court decisions that have hampered the ability of the police to do whatever the hell they want to do. Sure, there's a justification for gutting the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable search and seizures - it's really important that we catch the bad guys and, well, sometimes that requires us to do some things that, under ordinary circumstances, we shouldn't do.

I doubt there was any mention of how Harris County systematically violates a defendant's right to counsel at crucial stages of a prosecution. I mean, why on earth would a defendant need to consult with an attorney before a magistrate judge fills in the blank on the arraignment form with the bond listed in the county's bond schedule?

I would guess that somehow the prosecutors assigned to the propaganda division forgot to inform the students about the abuses heaped on defendants from judges intent on clearing their dockets via mass plea. Oppressive and punitive bond conditions? Doesn't happen. Threatening to revoke the bonds of defendants who come to court without attorneys? A very rare occurrence.

And there is no need to talk about prosecutors hiding the sausage and ignoring Brady now that the Michael Morton Act is about to go into effect. We've got extensive checklists now so that the burden can be shifted onto defense attorneys when exculpatory evidence isn't handed over. I wonder if they broached the subject of junk science being deemed admissible if it was beneficial to the prosecution? Probably not.

If the purpose of this exercise had been to teach high school students about criminal procedure and how the criminal (in)justice system works, there should have been criminal defense lawyers involved. Allowing students to hear one side of the equation while acting like they're getting the whole story is a travesty and has no place in our education system.

Doing so allows the state to continue to equate constitutional protections with "technicalities." There is a reason behind the protections of the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments. Ignoring the reason behind those protections is a disservice to our youth - and our society.

I'm certain that no one told the students that the defendant is entitled to a vigorous defense and that the job of the criminal defense lawyer is to hold the state to its burden of proof. It is the job of a defense attorney to ensure that his client's constitutional protections aren't violated. It is the job of the defense attorney to question every piece of evidence and to challenge the state to prove its case beyond all reasonable doubt. It is our job to stand beside people that no one else will and fight to defend their liberty.

We don't deal in technicalities. We deal in quanta of proof. When it comes down to it, the defense lawyer is the only person standing between his client and the power of the state.

H/T Grits for Breakfast

The militarization of elementary school

Every Wednesday

Military shirts

Spring Branch T-2-4 Plan 

By 2017, SBISD will double the number of students completing a technical certificate or military training, two-year or four-year degree.

Pine Shadows Elementary School will support this plan by encouraging staff and students to wear a technical school, military shirt or two or four year college shirt/t-shirt every Wednesday, beginning September 4, 2013.

And so begins the indoctrination into unquestioning support of the military in our schools. I guess they have to learn somewhere that we should all cheer and support the murder of innocent men, women and children and the wanton destruction of property and land around the world. Who couldn't get behind that?

Our schools are for learning. Violence is the last resort of those who can't think of a better way to get what they want other than destroying someone or something. Shouldn't our goal be to get away from that kind of mindset? Shouldn't we be teaching our children why war is not the answer?

It's got to start somewhere. At some point we have to get away from trying to solve every problem with a gun or a bomb. Our role as stewards of the earth is to leave it in better shape than it was when we came along. Is perpetuating a war mentality the way to do that?

We've seen President Obama and the other cheerleaders for bombing Syria talk about the women and children who were killed by the alleged chemical weapon attack from their own government. Yes, we should be appalled. But where is the outrage over the innocent men, women and children who have died at the hands of American artillery and armaments? Where is the outrage over the scores of people killed by drone attacks who had absolutely nothing to do with any terrorist plot?

I'm pretty sure that won't be a topic on "wear your shirt supporting death and destruction" day at my daughters' school. I'm sure they won't be talking about the hundreds of thousands of people around the world killed as a result of our government's militaristic policies and support of right-wing dictatorships.

I cling to the belief that one day we will live in a world without war. I doubt I will see that day but I hope that someday my grandchildren or their children will live in that world. Encouraging unquestioning support of the military and war culture gets us nowhere near that goal.

Two for Texas

Hey, make no mistake about it, I love living in the Lone Star State. I've lived here all my life and have no intentions of going anyplace else. But, let's be brutally honest, Texas has more than its fair share of stupid ideas.

The latest comes from our esteemed Lt. Governor David Dewhurst. As best as I can tell, Mr. Dewhurst was dead serious when he proposed that the state fund specialized weapons training for teachers and administrators selected to carry guns on campus. Under his proposal districts could decide whether they wanted to designate one teacher and one administrator on each campus to pack heat. The state would then provide the funds to train them in how to use a gun correctly and how to handle a situation in which a gunman starts firing inside a school.

Just let that sink in for a minute.

Apparently Mr. Dewhurst is still licking his wounds from getting beaten by that tea-baggin' wingnut Ted Cruz who two-stepped into the U.S. Senate promising to introduce legislation to repeal Obamacare. Somewhere along the line he felt the need to dial up the wingnut tendencies to appease the far right.

I know the NRA seems to think the solution to gun violence is to put more guns out on the street. And if that notion seems absurd - the notion of more guns on school campuses seems downright obscene.

And, just to prove that Mr. Dewhurst's latest brainstorm isn't a fluke - over in Pearland (a suburb of Houston), an 11-year-old was arrested for threatening to bring a gun to school. He wasn't sent to the office and placed in an in-school suspension program. He wasn't placed in an alternative school. He was arrested.

Someone please enlighten me as to what good it does to place handcuffs on a 5th grader and cart him off to the police station. As a rule, kids that age don't appreciate the consequences of their actions. They live in a bubble and have a hard time understanding that the things they do may affect others.

Now, instead of learning math and science and grammar, this young boy is learning all about the criminal (in)justice system. What an education he will receive. Instead of reaching out and trying to help this young boy, the folks entrusted to educate him threw up their hands and passed him off to law enforcement.

Sure, they were probably a bit skittish after what happened last month in Connecticut. I get that. But the kid is only eleven.

Farming out discipline problems to the courts is a losing proposition but it sure is a hell of a lot easier than dealing with the problem yourself. The administrators responsible for this incident should be ashamed of themselves and might want to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror. There is no excuse for putting an 11-year-old in handcuffs.

Group rips school districts' priorities

Thanks to the economic meltdown, and the refusal of state leaders to do anything, funding for public schools in Texas plunged. The results were fewer teachers and larger classes.

But even more disturbing was the amount that 11 school districts serving a quarter of the school-age population spent on disciplinary measures and security.

The group Texas Appleseed took a look at the ways in which we are turning our schools into prison pipelines for those with disciplinary problems. In an era in which funding is at a premium it just doesn't make sense to waste money on suspension programs and the like. It certainly makes little sense to fund fully staffed school district police departments when districts are laying off teachers and not filling vacancies.

"We recognize that many Texas school districts are struggling as a result of the $5.4 billion cut in state funding for public education approved last year to help address a state budget shortfall," the group's Deputy Director Deborah Fowler said. "We are releasing this report, not to point a finger at spending in the surveyed school districts, but to open a dialogue with schools about different approaches to student discipline that are more effective and less costly to implement."

The schools surveyed spent about $140 million in the 2010-11 school year on out-of-school suspensions, referrals to Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs and discretionary expulsions to Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Programs. They also spent $87 million on security, monitoring services and campus policing, according to the group.

Suspending students from school and assigning them to so-called alternative schools only serves to make those students more of a risk to drop out before graduating.

Somewhere along the line we have completely lost sight of what public education is all about. In the rush to rank schools based on test scores, we have introduced programs that marginalize students who might not score as high as school administrators might wish. Those students who drop out will not be able to get jobs that pay a living wage and will either subsist on government handouts or take up a life of crime.

Not that state leaders care. What happens five or ten years down the line isn't their concern. Those are problems that can always be pawned off on someone else. With our short election cycle the only things state legislators are interested in is telling their constituents that they didn't vote to raise taxes.

Click here to read Texas Appleseed's report.

Cuffing and stuffing a 10-year-old

A ten-year-old boy was disruptive in class. No news there. But this young man attended elementary school in a suburban Houston school district.

Of course there are various accounts as to what happened in that classroom. The boy's great-grandmother said he had thrown a plastic container. Being as great-grandma was not in the classroom at the time, we can only assume that that's what he told her he did.

School officials paint a different picture. According to district officials the classroom was left in a shambles.

Instead of being sent to the principal's office, suspended or placed in detention, the child was arrested for assault of a public servant, handcuffed and taken to the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center.

Let that soak in for a little bit.

A ten-year-old child was placed in handcuffs and booked into a detention facility. A ten-year-old was charged with a felony offense.

What is wrong with these people?

Yes, he created a disturbance. Yes, I'm sure it was more than just a plastic container. No, I'm not condoning his actions. But arresting and cuffing a ten-year-old?

It allows the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District to wash its hands of the child. Now it's in the hands of authorities in the juvenile (in)justice system. We have moved from trying to figure out whether the child has a problem to locking him up in jail.

We have moved beyond providing a basic education in math, reading and science to providing an education in the inner workings of our criminal (in)justice system. He is learning what it means to be an inmate. What it means to be cuffed and stuffed. What it means to have a judge and prosecutor look at you like you're not worth shit. Please, oh educators in the suburbs, explain to us how this helps the child.

Don't tell me you've forgotten. It's all about the children. Don't y'all remember. Well, except when it's not. Except when it's about telling a ten-year-old that he's worthless and deserves to be in jail.

Is it too much to ask for?

My girls are in a dual language program at their elementary school. They get half of their instruction in English and the other half in Spanish. The classes are divided equally between native English speakers and native Spanish speakers. The goal is for all of them to be fully bilingual by the time they get into high school.

It's not a bad idea. The population of Houston is about 1/3 Latino and that percentage is growing year by year. Being completely fluent in both English and Spanish will serve these kids well once they get out into the real world.

All is not rosy, however. One might think that a native English speaker would teach the English portion of the lesson and that a native Spanish speaker would teach the Spanish portion. Well, by the looks of the test sent home for my oldest daughter (she's been out of school for the last week), the wheels are coming off the bus.

What was the reason because of Louis Braille lose his sight, becoming blind person? 

What was the reason why Louis his second eye vision? 

The reader can infer that Louis Braille, what kind of person was him? 

Mention three different ways or systems have existed to help the blind people to read and write. 

Today, which tool are necessaries to be used by the blind people to help them to read and write? 

What was Louis job before he died, and his students feel for him?

 What are those passages, you ask? It reads like some of the spam comments I receive every night. It might even appear to be website copy prepared by a programmer in India who promised he could get you on the first page of Google.

Nope. Those are actual questions from my daughter's test.

Now I don't mean to pick on anyone but I would think that a basic requirement of an English teacher is to be able to communicate in (I don't know) English. If the person in the front of the classroom can't put together coherent sentences in English, I'm not so certain I want her teaching my daughter how to write.

I'm not in favor of making English the official language of the United States. Those that favor that proposition tend to be the ones who have forgotten that all of our forebears came from somewhere else and that English may or may not have been the language of choice back in the old country. But I do think that a teacher should be well-versed and knowledgeable in the field in which he or she teaches. I don't think that's asking too much.

I mean, if you're in law school you should expect that your professor in criminal procedure has some knowledge of the subject matter. If you're in medical school, it's not too much to ask that your instructor in orthopedics has a working knowledge of the material. Should we expect nothing less from our kids' elementary school teachers?

What ever happened to an apple on the desk?

Teachers at my daughters' school wrote down items they needed on paper cut-outs shaped like apples and attached them to a tree. Now I'm sitting on the couch watching Storage Wars and staring at two paper sacks filled with items such as ziplock bags, kleenex, adhesive hooks and the like.

Thank you, Rick Perry. For all your talk about lowering taxes you have succeeded in shifting more of the burden of public education on the public without anyone the wiser.

Seems there was a day when public education was viewed as a benefit to society at large. That is, until the libertarians, Ayn Rand worshipers and other wingnuts came into positions of power and influence in the 1980's. All of a sudden public education became the bogeyman for the evils of big government.

Thus began the assault on universal public education.

And, when the Texas economy began to bottom out, the first casualty was public education. School districts were required to lay off teachers and increase class sizes to meet budgetary demands. So here we are, reduced to parents providing items that should have been provided by the school.

In defense of learning

About two weeks ago, Scott Greenfield penned a wonderful essay in defense of algebra. His post was in response to an op/ed in the New York Times proclaiming there was no longer any reason to teach school children higher level math.

Now I wasn't the biggest fan of algebra, trigonometry and calculus when I was in high school. I got off on the wrong foot with algebra in middle school and struggled to catch up. I was quite happy at UT when I finished the one and only calculus class I had to take.

Of course now I lament my lack of knowledge about higher level math. After reading about chaos theory and economic theory I wish I had a more solid background in math. But, such is life.

Just the other day I saw a piece on NPR's website that seemed quite appropriate given the subject matter in Simple Justice. The thrust of the article was whether the piss poor job we're doing teaching our children proper grammar is ruining the English language.

The article seemed to take the side of the squishy academics who preach the whole word method and other ways of teaching language that don't require the rigid adherence to rules. And, in the long run, the lack of fundamental grammar knowledge isn't the death knell of the language - we can still understand what our children are saying even when they are too young to know the rules of construction. But there is a more fundamental issue at stake - and it's an issue that spans the gap between language and math.

Algebra and calculus teach us different ways to look at numbers and at the world around us. They take our concept of numbers as concrete objects and force us to think of numbers as concepts. We are taught various theorems and postulates that we piece together as syllogisms. It's a language all its own.

But learning that language teaches us how to analyze other concepts critically and logically. We learn how to put together arguments to support our hypotheses.

I think we would all agree that it takes a certain level of intelligence to be able to work through differential equations and conduct a regression analysis - but those topics don't usually come up during an ordinary day. The way a person speaks, however, does make an impression.

When someone makes a glaring grammatical error it just grates on the ears. When someone says "myself" instead of "me" it makes me want to scream. When I go back and reread a brief or a motion I end up trying to get rid of all the split infinitives.

How ironic it is that non-native English speakers can actually speak the language better than those of us who grew up in these United States.

These arguments against teaching higher level math and good grammar are emblematic of a deeper theoretical war. What is the purpose of education? Do our schools and universities exist to train people to earn a living as adults or do they exist to teach us how to learn and how to think critically? And what on earth is the problem of learning solely for the sake of learning? Does everything we do have to be with some end in mind?

Which brings me to one of Mr. Greenfield's pet peeves - the world of the lawprof. Yes, our law schools don't prepare students for the day-to-day reality of the practice of law. Yes, the tuition charged at most schools is beyond ridiculous. But the purpose of law school is to teach aspiring young lawyers how to think like lawyers, to provide young lawyers with a theoretical framework with which to view the world.

In the old days aspiring lawyers read the law under the tutelage of an experienced lawyer. They read treatises on evidence and property and whatever else was in the law library. They learned the theory so they could sit for the bar. At the same time they learned what a lawyer does and how to do it from their tutor.

That is the failing with our system of legal education today. But let's not get all utilitarian and turn law schools into vocational schools. And let's not turn our elementary and secondary schools into programs that do nothing more than train young people to sit behind a desk and do what they're told to do.

Exporting a bad idea

Even the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, Wallace Jefferson, thinks issuing Class C citations to students for "disrupting class" is a bad idea.

According to this article from the Guardian, Judge Jefferson thinks introducing children to the criminal (in)justice system is helping drive them to jail. Even the US Attorney General, Eric Holder, thinks it's a bad idea.

It appears that the British government is looking to take cues from the Lone Star State in dealing with juveniles. Crispin Blunt, the UK's justice minister, toured juvenile courts and detention centers in Texas this fall on a fact-finding mission.

Emulating the way in which Texas handles its school disciplinary issues will only succeed in introducing more young people to the criminal (in)justice system. The most common citation issued to students in Texas is "disrupting class." Can you imagine a more nebulous term? What constitutes a disruption serious enough to warrant charging a student with a criminal offense?

Do we really need to make kids miss class to attend court because they spoke out of turn? Because they made an inappropriate joke? Because they insulted another student? Because they took too long coming back from a potty break?

And what are the leaders of the Texas State Teachers Association took no position on the issue when the legislature last debated it. The head of the union said that most of his members are in favor of issuing criminal citations to students.

And what message is that sending? The job of our schools is to educate our youth, not to socialize them in the workings of the criminal (in)justice system. Those who support the current law, and those who take no position, are doing our children a grave injustice.

Instead of looking for excuses to enter people into the criminal (in)justice system, we should be looking for ways to keep them out.

Creative thinking in public education?

Possession means actual care, custody, control of management. 

-- Texas Controlled Substances Act Sec. 481.002(38)

Possession is different than use. Possession is different that "under the influence."

To possess an item is to exert some degree of control over a tangible object. The tangible object, such as a controlled substance, is necessary to prove possession. After all, you can't have control over something that no longer exists.

For instance, one may be in possession of marijuana at the time he is smoking it. But, as he smokes the marijuana, the drug breaks down in various components and metabolites in his body. At the same time, the marijuana itself is destroyed by fire. After smoking marijuana one may be "under the influence" of it. One may even be intoxicated by smoking the marijuana, though that would be difficult to prove without a test showing the concentration of the metabolites in the body and expert medical testimony regarding the effects of marijuana in the concentration found in the body.

The State of Texas defines marijuana (please, someone, explain to our legislators that no one else spells marijuana with an h) as "the plant Cannibis sativa L., whether growing or not, the seeds of that plant, and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture or preparation of that plant or its seeds."

Nowhere in the definition of the hippy lettuce does the state allege that the metabolites left in the body after ingesting marijuana is marijuana.

Texas defines controlled substance is "a substance, including a drug, an adulterant and a dilutant listed in [the Controlled Substance Act]."

Once a person absorbs a controlled substance, Xanax, for instance, that substance is broken down by the body into various metabolites - a term not used in the definition of controlled substance. One can be intoxicated if he ingests a controlled substance (or marijuana) and loses the normal use of his mental or physical faculties as a result. However, one is not in possession of the controlled substance once it has been ingested - because the controlled substance itself no longer exists.

In fact, you can make the argument that once someone is "under the influence" of a drug, that the drug is in control of the person and not the other way around. How else could one be "under the influence?"

But try explaining that simple concept to a school administrator who declares that being under the influence of a drug on a school campus is the same thing as possessing the drug on a school campus. I recently had a school administrator tell me, with a straight face, that, per district policy, that if a student is under the influence of Xanax, for instance, that student is considered to be in possession of the drug; and, since possession of Xanax is a state jail felony, that the student under the influence of Xanax is subject to expulsion because their conduct amounted to a felony.

Huh?

I have yet to find a statute in the Texas Penal Code or in the Health and Safety Code that makes it a felony to be under the influence of Xanax (unless, of course, the person was driving a vehicle with a child or was in an accident that resulted in serious bodily injury or death to another person).

Just something to think about.

More than half of Texas students suspended or expelled

The results of a longitudinal study that followed one million Texas seventh-graders for six years reveals that 60% of those students were suspended or expelled at least once before finishing high school.

That is an astounding number - and an indictment of disciplinary policy in Texas schools.The purpose of public education is to ensure that every child in Texas receives a quality education through high school. Policies that result in more than half of our children being suspended or expelled and policies that introduce children to the criminal (in)justice system for misconduct at school are antithetical to the mission of our schools.

Mike Thompson of the Council of State Governments Justice Center said that this is a continuation of a 20-year trend that has seen suspension and expulsion rates double across the country. I guess it's a lot easier to educate the children who behave and leave everyone else to fend for themselves. But kids who drop out, are expelled or who fail to graduate for some other reason are more likely to find themselves caught up in the criminal (in)justice system as adults.

There are already too many folks under the thumb of the government. We don't need more.

Thompson said that's the problem: Expulsion and suspension policies focus too much on punishment, and not enough on addressing the misbehavior and having students learn from their mistakes. 

"We think the findings in this report should prompt policymakers in Texas and everywhere else to ask this question: Is our state school discipline system getting the desired results?" Thompson said.

According to the study, almost one-in-six children were punished eleven times or more. Of those, about half ended up in juvenile justice centers or alternative schools for 73 days or more. Those are the kids who tend to repeat grades or drop out of school without graduating.

The study also revealed that 70% of black girls were either suspended or expelled compared to 37% of white girls for the same or similar offenses. That's hardly a coincidence. Disciplinary decisions tend to be made solely by a teacher or administrator - hence there are no checks-and-balances to ensure that all students are treated equally.

The report also looked at the fascination that Texas schools have with issuing Class C citations for behavior that a generation ago would have been handled in class or within the school. Talking back to the teacher or disrupting class make it harder for teachers to do their jobs -- but charging a kid with a criminal offense and requiring them to miss school to appear in court with their parents is not the way to resolve it. We should be looking at ways to reduce the number of people introduced to the criminal (in)justice system, not the other way around.

State Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston) voiced his concern to the Houston Chronicle about schools farming out disciplinary problems to the courts:

Whitmire complained of "large inner-city school districts creating a large bureaucracy to deal with oftentimes just dumb teenage behavior that can be corrected short of making it a crime." 

Whitmire said the report confirms his concern over the continual growth in criminalizing classroom behavior. 

"We all want safe schools, an orderly environment and for teachers to be left alone," said Whitmire, the senior member of the Texas Senate. "The nonsense begins with overusing the issuance of Class C misdemeanor tickets and the tremendous growth of school district police departments."

Schools should be places of learning. Schools should be a refuge from the harsh realities of life. They shouldn't serve as a way station to the criminal (in)justice system.

See also:

"Majority of Texas middle and high school students suspended or expelled," Grits for Breakfast (July 19, 2011)
"Breaking Schools' Rules: A statewide study of how school discipline relates to students' success and juvenile justice involvement," The Council of State Governments

Texas looks to cut teacher pay

"Those damn teachers. They're the ones causing all our problems here in the Lone Star State. They just make too much money. We've got to do something to keep them from bleeding us dry."

Maybe that's not exactly what came out of the mouth of State Rep. Rob Eissler (R-The Woodlands) but it's probably pretty close to what he was thinking. Mr. Eissler is celebrating the passage of a proposal by the Texas House of Representatives that will allow school districts to cut teacher pay.

I would say it's quite ironic given that Mr. Eissler spent 18 years as a trustee of the Conroe Independent School District before pimping himself out running for the state legislature; but on his campaign website, Mr. Eissler wanted everyone to know that he was a fiscal conservative who was out to "reform" education.

He and the rest of the Republican cabal running the State Capitol have decided that it is more important not to raise taxes and not to touch the state's "rainy day fund" than it is to pay teachers for the thankless work they do on a daily basis.

I understand the pressure to balance the state's budget in a time when revenues are falling, but providing an education for our children is an investment in Texas' future and no one seems to have given much thought to the number of experienced teachers who have finally had enough of the abuse, scorn and low pay and have left the profession. Sure, the budget might be balanced today - but what happens ten years down the road? What happens when our youth aren't prepared for college or for the workplace after graduating from high school?

Or do Mr. Eissler and his colleagues even care? Are they willing to trade our future for votes in the next election - or is their goal the destruction of public education in Texas?

Making learning fun

Yesterday I found myself taking my oldest to a birthday party for one of her classmates. I know, I know, a birthday party for a seven year-old - how exciting. How on earth did you get stuck with that gig.

Not yesterday. It was a mad scientist party and the guest attraction was Jon Bartell of Science Quest in Houston. Through some really crazy experiments and a host of critters, Mr. Bartell showed a roomful of kids just how much fun science can be. From cannons made with breath freshener to crushing cans to sending the kids up and back on a hovercraft, Mr. Bartell made science come alive for both the kids and the parents.

We have dumbed down and taken the fun out of so much at school -- all in the name of getting kids ready for standardized tests. What ever happened to teaching children to think and make their own discoveries? What ever happened to hands-on experiments? What ever happened to having kids who wanted to be at school?

Thank you, Mr. Bartell, for reminding us that learning can be fun.

Refilling the ranks?

A couple of weeks ago I got to enjoy one of the perks of this job. I serve as counsel for a local teacher's organization - I represent members in termination hearings and in any criminal matters related to their employment.

Every spring the organization holds its annual banquet in which scholarships are awarded to members and their kids and retirees are honored. In a typical year there might be five or six teachers retiring after 20 years or so in the profession. It's a loss to the schools but there are plenty of teachers in the pipeline.

This year was different. With the budgets of every school district being pared with a butcher's knife as the result of budget cuts at the state level, districts are offering lucrative severance packages to teachers with enough years in service. This year there were about 35 members retiring from the profession in this organization alone. Most of the retirees had well over 20 years of experience.

More than 700 years of teaching experience is walking out the door at one time. And that's only one teacher organization in one city. According to the organization's president, people coming into the teaching profession are staying in five years or less on average. As time goes on there will be less institutional memory.

What does that mean to the future of education in this city? In this state? What will happen to our schools when the majority of teachers are only "passing through?"

Attracting people to the profession and keeping them in is going to take a large investment. The failure to make that investment will cost us much more over the long run.

Reading, writing and citing

Add Texas State Senator John Whitmire (D-Houston) to the growing chorus of voices calling for school districts to stop issuing Class C misdemeanor citations to students for disrupting class and truancy.

According to Sen. Whitmire's op/ed in Friday morning's Houston Chronicle:

Despite evidence that Class C misdemeanor ticketing does little to change student behavior, the practice is widespread in our public schools. According to a recent report released by the public interest law center Texas Appleseed, more than 275,000 non-traffic tickets are issued annually to juveniles in Texas - many for low-level misbehavior commonly ticketed at school. 

Appleseed's research shows that minority and special education students, who are at greatest risk for school dropout, are being ticketed at higher rates for low-level, non-violent offenses. 

In a recent legislative address, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson made an important point: 

"More than 80 percent of adult prison inmates are school dropouts. Charging kids with criminal offenses for low-level behavioral issues exacerbates the problem." This is a warning worth heeding.

The problem is out of control in the Houston area. According to Sen. Whitmire, over a five-year period, Dallas ISD issued citations to 1,200 students while during the 2008-2009 school year alone, Houston ISD issued over 5,700 citations.

There is absolutely no need to drag young children into the criminal (in)justice center. If we stay on this path we are only socializing our children that their place is in the courtroom. It's time that school districts take back responsibility for disciplinary matters in schools. Schools should look at their behavior modification techniques and fine tune or change them if necessary. School district police should be trained to de-escalate situations instead of pulling out the ticket book. School districts should look to youth courts allowing peer-based solutions to behavioral problems.

Back to the schoolhouse

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Texas Appleseed report on school districts farming out their disciplinary problems to the criminal (in)justice system. It seems as if at least one state legislator, Armando Walle (D-Houston) paid attention to the report.

According to the Texas Tribune, Rep. Walle has introduced three bills regarding the ticketing of school children. One would allow students to pay their fines through community service or tutoring. The others would require school districts to keep data on the citations issued to students and would require school districts to offer specialized training for officers.

While these bills may be a first step in the right direction - they fall far short of fixing the problem.

If we are going to allow our schools to place juveniles in the criminal (in)justice system for misbehavior on campus, it should only happen for specific offenses such as fighting and possessing weapons or drugs.Disrupting class is much too vague a concept for a student to face criminal charges. Disrupting class is something that should be handled on campus through a suspension or detention program.

Fighting, on the other hand, is an actual criminal offense; as are possessing weapons or drugs.

Rep. Walle's proposals also fail to address the burden placed on parents when a school issues a citation to their child. A parent is required to accompany the child to court (while school is in session). Should the child be required to perform community service, the parents will be required to drive the child there and back again. If a fine is levied, guess who will be opening up the checkbook?

What happens if both parents work? What if one parent stays at home with younger children or older parents? The parent didn't do anything - yet the parent is being punished.

It is time we stop the outsourcing of discipline by schools. It's time school districts disclose to parents the consequences of ticketing students for disciplinary problems. It's time we stop looking for excuses to force people into the criminal (in)justice system.

It's time we stop criminalizing school discipline

Texas Appleseed, a public interest organization whose mission is to promote social and economic justice for Texans, recently released a report detailing the criminalization of discipline in our public schools. The report, entitled Texas' School to Prison Pipeline:Ticketing, Arrest & Use of Force in Schools, takes a critical look at how Texas school districts have shifted disciplinary problems from the schools to the courthouses.

Described by Texas’ premier juvenile law scholar as “the shadow juvenile justice system,” municipal and justice courts are now the primary venue for many types of cases that historically were adjudicated as civil matters by juvenile courts. However, unlike juvenile courts, municipal and justice courts are courts of criminal jurisdiction. As harsh as it may seem, children convicted in these courts are aptly labeled “common criminals.” -- Passing the Paddle: Nondisclosure of Children's Criminal Cases

Estimates are that there are some 275,000 non-traffic citations issued to juveniles in Texas every year. Since many Justice of the Peace Courts don't report all of their juvenile matters, that estimate understates the number of teens ticketed by police. According to Texas Appleseed, the vast majority of those citations are issued for school disciplinary problems: disrupting class, disorderly conduct, fighting, truancy and misbehaving on the school bus.

In Texas, students as young as six have been ticketed at school in the past five years, and it is not uncommon for elementary-school students to be ticketed by school-based law enforcement. School-based arrest of students is not as common, but does occur—and often without prior notice to parents or a lawyer being present during initial questioning of the student. -- Texas Appleseed report

It's a basic tenet of criminal law that one must have the intent to commit a bad act in order to be guilty. While there are some exceptions (notably, DWI), the Texas Penal Code lists a culpable mental state for each criminal offense. Those mental states run from criminally negligent to reckless to knowing to intentional. 

Young children act up. It's part of the process of growing up. But young children rarely consider the consequences of their actions -- their minds aren't developed enough to do so. And you certainly can't compare the average six or seven year-old to the "reasonably prudent man" we studied about in law school.

According to Texas Appleseed, ticketing students for disciplinary matters has the following financial and legal consequences:

The most common misdemeanors for which students are ticketed in Texas public schools are non-violent Disruption of Class or Transportation, Disorderly Conduct, and curfew violations (leaving campus without permission)—however, unlike juvenile court, children convicted or entering “guilty or no contest” pleas in municipal and justice courts have criminal records.

Legislation (SB 1056) adopted by the 81st Texas Legislature in 2009 mandated criminal courts (including municipal and justice courts) immediately issue a nondisclosure order upon the conviction of a child for a misdemeanor offense punishable by fine only, however due to the large volume of these cases and the burden on courts to clear Class C tickets through the Texas Department of Public Safety, the “non-disclosure law” is not working—and Class C misdemeanors are staying on a youth’s “criminal record” accessible by future employers and others.

Students who fail to pay a court-imposed fine or complete court-imposed community service in the wake of a Class C ticket issued at school can be arrested at age 17—and incidents of this happening in Hidalgo County are currently being challenged in court.

The courts providing information for this study reported assessing fines and court costs for Class C tickets ranging from less than $60 to more than $500—and many students receive multiple tickets in a single school year.

Minority, particularly African-American, students and special education students find themselves disproportionately ticketed compared to their rates of enrollment.

Texas Appleseed recommends that Chapter 37 of the Texas Education Code be amended to remove Disruption of Class and Disruption of Transportation as criminal offenses. They also recommend that Chapter 37 be amended to prohibit the ticketing of students under the age of 14. The groups also recommends that truancy no longer be a criminal offense.

We should be doing everything we can to keep young people out of the criminal (in)justice system. Parents need to be informed of the school district's policies regarding the ticketing of students for disciplinary issues. Parents should be warned of the consequences involved in ticketing students.

Maybe it's time we stopped focusing so much on teaching to a standardized test so that schools can get back into the discipline game instead of farming it out to the police.

Legislature takes critical look at citing students for misbehavior

While surfing on Google Reader this morning at the municipal courthouse, I came across a post over at Grits for Breakfast about the goings-on with the State Senate Criminal Justice Committee. The post mentioned discussions regarding the Driver Responsibility Program, deferred for DWI's, reducing the number of offenses that can lead to driver's license suspensions and a new look at using the criminal (in)justice system to discipline students who disrupt class.

I was particularly interested in this last item because I have a friend whose child has been dragged into the justice of the peace courts for allegedly disrupting class. She and I discussed the absurdity of charging children with a criminal offense because they interrupted class. It's bad enough that the students are missing class sitting in a courtroom; but the absurdity continues when the courts hold the parents liable for the fines and court costs owed by their children. My friend was told that if she didn't pay the fines and court costs for her son's case then her driver's license would be suspended for nonpayment of a court-ordered fine.

These are the recommendations of the committee regarding secondary school disciplinary laws:

1. Amend Chapter 37 of the Education code by narrowing the definition for "Disruptive Activities", "Disruption of Classes", "Serious and Persistent Misbehavior" to eliminate non-criminal acts.

2. Amend Chapter 37 of the Education Code by changing the dangerous or disruptive violation to dangerous and disruptive, In order to insure students are not being removed for simple disruptions to class.

3. Require TEA to evaluate and modify education standards at DAEPs and JJAEPs. 

4. Require TEA to notify school districts of disproportionate referrals.

5. Require TEA to develop a tracking system for the funds generated by citations. 

6. Require an evaluation of district with continued disproportionate referrals.

7. Require school district to implement some form of evidence based programs that are proven to reduce truancy, crime, and drug offenses.  

8. Require more training for teachers and administrators in discipline in a educational setting, and early intervention options.

9. Exempt 18-21 year olds from the truancy laws.

10. Require the state auditor to evaluate the use of dropout funds by TEA.

During hearings before State Senator John Whitmire (D-Houston) last April, Mr. Jeff Miller of Advocacy Incorporated testified about the disproportionate numbers of special needs students who get dragged into the criminal (in)justice system.

Jeff Miller, policy specialist, Advocacy Incorporated, testified in agreement of the statements and recommendations made by TA with regard to students with disabilities. Miller stated that while ten percent of students receive special education, they represent twenty-one percent of the students expelled in Texas. He stated that this overrepresentation was the result of systemic problems with assessment done by school districts, programming and accountability for implementation of special education students' Individualized Education Plans and Behavioral Improvement Plans. He also stated DAEPs are especially lacking in these areas.

Miller also testified to the topic of citation. He explained that often students with disabilities are disciplined and also cited; meaning they are directly involved with the justice system. Instead of criminalizing these students and removing them from schools for issues that are directly related to their disability, steps should be taken to develop plans to address the behavioral issues when they are not violent or criminal. The first step in accomplishing this is supplying teachers with needed help, and identifying students with special needs.

Ms. Elysha Aseltine, who wrote a dissertation on the ticketing of students also testified before the committee regarding the rampant increase in tickets issued for misbehavior.

Elyshia Aseltine, representing herself, testified regarding her dissertation on school ticketing. She testified that in 1994 only 1.5 percent of tickets were issued by school police officers. In 2007 40 percent of the ticket for juveniles were issues by school police officers. She stated that the majority of tickets were for curfew violations, typically for leaving campus during lunch. The next most frequent ticket is for disorderly conduct, and next abuse of language. Many citation are also given for drug paraphernalia and disruptive behavior. She also provided statistics pertaining to the number of juveniles who experienced increased penalties for citation as a result of school disciplinary. Approximately 14,200 ticket were issued over a fourteen year period issues; 2,119 resulted in a warrant being issued or the juvenile serving jail time.  

The president of the Texas Association of School District Police, Mr. Jeff Ward, denied that school districts encourage officers to issue citations as a way of raising funds. He did point out, however, that while a student could be cited for disrupting class, he could not be cited for carrying a knife to school.

Jeff Ward, president, Texas Association of School District Police, testified that revenue for citations was not a factor in issuing citations. He stated that only five dollars for every citation is returned to the district from the county in adjudicated cases. He stated that school police officers report to the police department or the superintendent of a school district; and that school administrators can not require that police issue a ticket. They can be the complaining witness if involved in the incident. He also stated there has been a reduction in the issuance of tickets. He also states that as a result of a change in law, possession of a knife on campuses is no longer a criminal offense therefore is no longer a citable [sic]offense. He also stated that officers are trained in crisis intervention and many have mental health training.  

The report also stated that the conflict resolution programs, such as peer mediation and school-based teen courts have proven to be effective alternatives to citing students.

In short, the committee realizes that what we're doing now isn't working and that we need to look at some fresh ideas when it comes to handing campus disciplinary issues. Removing those matters from the criminal (in)justice system is a healthy first step.