Chicago Sun-Times | “Not an emergency? Don’t call cops, CPS tells administrators in new policy”

Arrests should be avoided on school grounds “whenever possible,” the policy said, but if an officer makes an arrest “they should coordinate with the principal or designee to find a private location out of sight and sound of other students.” In that case, a school administrator is required to accompany the student to wherever the officers is taking them. If the officer denies the administrator, the administrator is required to follow the officer and student separately.

Language that criminalizes kids, such as “criminal,” “battery,” “assault,” “burglary,” and “aggravated assault/battery” has also been removed from the student code of conduct. In some places “criminal act” was replaced with “alleged illegal behavior.”

Jasmine Roach, an incoming senior at Prosser Career Academy, said the policy is a “good start, but it’s not enough.”

“A ‘criminal act’ and an ‘illegal behavior’ is just the same thing,” Jasmine said. “You guys are still not guaranteeing that you’re not going to call the cops. You still are, you’re just taking an extra step before you do it.”

Jasmine, a leader with the advocacy group VOYCE, said it was nice to see the district start to move in the direction of taking students’ personal circumstances into consideration when dealing with incidents, but she doubted anything would change quickly. She noted that policies haven’t stopped adults from harming students in the past.

“Most of the behavior comes from trauma,” Jasmine said. “It helps the student a lot in many ways [if their trauma is considered]. It’s like a breather to them, it’s like a boulder lifted off their shoulder.

“It takes time for everything. [Administrators] just have to get used to it.”

Read the full story here!