ACLU says police officers in schools need guidelines.

ACLU says police officers in schools need guidelines. ARMED POLICE OFFICERS PATROL hallways and grounds in schools acrossthe country. A new white paper from the ACLU ACLU:see American Civil Liberties Union. , Policing in Schools:Developing a Governance Document for School Resource Officers in K-12Schools, argues that these schools need to have a formal governingdocument for such officers. Without such a document, the report says, school resource officers(SROs) "may not have a dear understanding of their role within thelarger educational context or the rights and needs of the children theyare intended to serve; they may inadvertently, and indeedcounterproductively, create an adversarial ad��ver��sar��i��al?adj.Relating to or characteristic of an adversary; involving antagonistic elements: "the chasm between management and labor in this country, an often needlessly adversarial . . . environment that pushesstudents, particularly at-risk students The term at-risk students is used to describe students who are "at risk" of failing academically, for one or more of any several reasons. The term can be used to describe a wide variety of students, including, ethnic minorities academically disadvantaged , out of school rather thanengaging them in a positive educational environment." The reportpoints to studies that indicate the number of children arrested orreferred to court for school discipline has grown in recent years. Policing in Schools lays out a framework that establishes anSRO's role in a school as promoting the school's educationalmission by enhancing safety, not punishing pun��ish?v. pun��ished, pun��ish��ing, pun��ish��esv.tr.1. To subject to a penalty for an offense, sin, or fault.2. To inflict a penalty for (an offense).3. students, and that expectsthe SRO See Self-regulatory organization. SROSee self-regulatory organization (SRO). to make use of nonpunitive techniques as much as possible toaccomplish this. An appendix provides a model governance document for an SRO programthat establishes principles for understanding the role of SROs in aneducational context, guidelines guidelines,n.pl a set of standards, criteria, or specifications to be used or followed in the performance of certain tasks. for determining when a disciplinarysituation becomes a law enforcement matter, guarantees of students'rights, measures to ensure transparency and accountability, and minimumtraining requirements for SROs. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Policing in Schools, which was released in late August, can bedownloaded at www.aclu.org/racialjustice/edu/ 40816pub20090824.html.