In January, the Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC), released a comprehensive report and petition entitled, “Police in Schools are not the answer to the Newtown Shooting.” DSC is a non-profit dedicated to protecting students’ rights in schools and halting what’s known as the School-to-Prison Pipeline – the emerging trend of juvenile incarceration as a result of disruption to education stemming from Zero-Tolerance disciplinary policies.
The past few months since the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, there has been increased support from legislators and school officials to arm faculty members. Is bringing firearms back into our nation’s schools, following such a horrific act of gun violence a good idea? Will it make schools safer, or just that much more dangerous? What will be the short and long-term effects of these policies? Increased Police presence in our schools has an adverse impact on the learning environment. It creates a tense atmosphere in which educating students is no longer the priority, and where even the most minor violations of disciplinary code such as class disruption become legal matters, responded to and dealt with by uniformed and armed police officers.
