District Administration - October 2009 - (Page 14)

Security ACLU Says Police Officers in Schools Need Guidelines armed police officers patrol hallways and grounds in schools across the country. a new white paper from the aclU, Policing in Schools: Developing a Governance Document for School Resource Officers in K-12 Schools, argues that these schools need to have a formal governing document for such officers. Without such a document, the report says, school resource officers (sros) “may not have a clear understanding of their role within the larger educational context or the rights and needs of the children they are intended to serve; they may inadvertently, and indeed counterproductively, create an adversarial environment that pushes students, particularly at-risk students, out of school rather than engaging them in a positive educational environment.” The report points to studies that indicate the number of children arrested or referred to court for school discipline has grown in recent years. Policing in Schools lays out a framework that establishes an sro’s role in a school as promoting the school’s educational mission by enhancing safety, not punishing students, and that expects the sro to make use of nonpunitive techniques as much as possible to accomplish this. an appendix provides a model governance document for an sro program that establishes principles for understanding the role of sros in an educational context, guidelines for determining when a disciplinary situation becomes a law enforcement matter, guarantees of students’ rights, measures to ensure transpar- Br iefings by Don Parker-burgard ency and accountability, and minimum training requirements for sros. Policing in Schools, which was released in late august, can be downloaded at www.aclu.org/racialjustice/edu/ 40816pub20090824.html. Solar Lights Provide Safety and Revenue stUdents in the taylor (mich.) school district waiting for school buses in the early morning hours will soon see the light—the solar-powered light, that is, illuminating their bus stop. Through a new program sponsored by adopt-a-Watt and approved by the taylor school board over the summer, solar-powered lights will soon be installed at 50 locations around the city. not only will they enhance the safety of waiting students, but they will also generate revenue for the city and the school district. adopt-a-Watt is an initiative patterned after the federal adopt-a-highway program. a company or nonprofit pays an annual fee and in return is listed as the sponsor of a solar panel, which either powers a specific light or contributes to the electricity grid. Unlike with the main adopt-a-Watt program, in which organizations bid on the A student is illuminated by a prototype of a solar-powered school bus stop safety chance to sponsor a site, the new school light in Taylor, Mich. Bus stop safety light program will assess 14 October 2009 a flat fee of $2,000 per year. according to Thomas Wither, adopta-Watt’s founder and principal, this fee will cover all costs to install and maintain the lights for one year, with a little bit left over. over the next 19 years, however, the sponsorships will generate a great deal of revenue. for 50 lights, Wither estimates the net will be $1,454,000, to be divided equally between the city and the school district. all revenue from the program must be directed to reducing the use of fossil fuels, adopt-a-Watt’s primary goal. Wither sees great potential here for districts. “schools desperately want to become more green, but they don’t have the funds,” he says. for every 10 bus stop lights, he explains, “there would be enough revenue generated to fund a 20-kilowatt solar-power system financed over a 10-year period.” adopt-a-Watt hopes to have all lights installed by the end of the year. District Administration http://www.aclu.org/racialjustice/edu/40816pub20090824.html http://www.aclu.org/racialjustice/edu/40816pub20090824.html

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - October 2009

District Administration - October 2009
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Security
College Prep
Stimulus Monitor
Administrator Profile
Professional Opinion
Crisis Response
Tech Disruptions
Digital Classrooms Take Flight
Measuring Success in Harrisburg
Reaching Graduation with Credit Recovery
Almost There?
Back to School for Retired Baby Boomers
Problem Solution
New Products
Product Focus
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Understanding the Times

District Administration - October 2009