Report urges mandated training for school resource officers in Alabama

A non-partisan Alabama policy institute is calling for specialized and fully funded training for all School Resource Officers in the state as well as "unambiguous" codes of conduct for policing in school after data revealed children with disabilities and African-American students are disproportionately targeted by school policing. 

Alabama Appleseed last week released "Hall Monitors with Handcuffs," which found children of color were more than twice as likely to be referred to law enforcement in 10 school districts. In 34 districts, children with disabilities were more than twice as likely to be referred compared to the overall school population.

Leah Nelson, author of the report, said Appleseed found many School Resources Officers, or SROs, were not specially trained to work with juveniles or deal with students with disabilities. Advocates fear an increase in police officers in school will lead to an increasing criminalization of normal childhood behavior, such as acting out or insubordination.

Nelson found that 1,951 Alabama students were arrested or referred to law enforcement in the 2013-14 school year.

"Children who are disruptive, who are very disruptive, do need to be disciplined, but that discipline should not carry lifelong consequences," Nelson said. "Even a misdemeanor that doesn’t lead to criminal prosecution can set a kid up to have a very different relationship with school and law enforcement than they would not have if they didn’t have that contact."

The nationwide leader in SRO training, the National Association of School Resource Officers, is based in Hoover, and provides a curriculum that focuses on aspects beyond policing: teen brain development, disability law, how to interact in a school environment. 

In March, Gov. Kay Ivey awarded $15,000 to 40 Alabama resource officers for NASRO training. But overall, Alabama does not require specialized training for SRO, allowing law enforcement and retired law enforcement officers to work as SROs even if they have no school-specific training.

Policing adults on the street and policing kids in a school are entirely different jobs, Nelson said. And the state does not require special agreements between school districts and law enforcement agencies outlining duties and expectations, leading to confusion among teachers, administrators and SROs about rules and regulations. 

According to an Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program report, an SRO ordered a Alabama teenager suffering from a mental illness to leave the school building after a verbal altercation. By leaving the building, the teenager violated school rules, triggering a rules violation and a disciplinary hearing. 

"Children with disabilities may be disruptive, and it is important to understand those kids, understand what may trigger them, and understand that’s it’s not appropriate to arrest a child for disruptive behavior," Nelson said. "I know there are people who say disruptive kids have no place in school, that school is a place for learning only. I would say a school is a place for learning only, but one of the most important lessons at school is how to behave successfully in society. It’s not about just learning content, it’s learning how to navigate conflict, how to interact appropriately with authority. We need to give our kids space to make mistakes."

According to John Jay College's Crime Report, the use of SROs rose rapidly in the 1990s following several high-profile violent events at schools. Legislators often reference Columbine or the 2018 Parkland school shooting when pushing for armed officers in schools. 

But Nelson said the current state of Alabama SROs — largely responding to reports of fights, disorderly conduct or marijuana possession — is actually counterproductive to greater school security.

“If ‘Columbine’ happens in my jurisdiction, I want the police at the school protecting the children and not at the family court over a school yard fight," Jefferson County Family Court Judge Brian Huff said in Appleseed's report. 

In a teacher survey, Appleseed found 24% of teachers who knew of a student arrest that could have been handled with internal school discipline instead of escalated to law enforcement.

"If you’re referred to a vice principal, you might get a stern warning or detention or suspension, depending on what you did wrong," Nelson said. "But if your first contact is a police officer and that police officer doesn’t have special training, maybe he sees what you did as criminal conduct."

Appleseed requested records from 29 school districts within the state for documents and data related to SROs and school discipline. Montgomery County did not respond to their records request. 

The Alabama State Department of Education denied Appleseed's request for the number of school districts that employ SROs, and Appleseed's report alleges SRO incidents are poorly tracked within the state. 

"[State data] also does not track the race, sex, or disability status of children referred to law enforcement, nor does it illuminate what happens to them after they are referred to law enforcement," the report states. 

Appleseed recommends Alabama require and fund school-specific training for SROs, rather than force cash-strapped districts to choose between school supplies or SRO education. The state should also improve its data, tracking student interactions with law enforcement from "start to finish," particularly if the interaction ends with any arrest of court action, the report recommends.

"Keeping children safe means keeping all children safe," Nelson said. "That means if we are going to put more police in schools, we need to give those police the tools they need to do their jobs in a way that keeps all children safe."

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Melissa Brown at 334-240-0132 or mabrown@gannett.com.