I’ve been thinking a lot about the Spring Valley assault. Lots of people have written about it in important ways. What that video showed in the context of racial injustice and the Black Lives Matter movement is of paramount importance. The larger socio-political ramifications of that video – of what happened to that young woman – are a devastating example of how our schools fall far short of the promise of equity and justice that so many of us who are teachers aspire to.
And, as others have written, this clearly was not a one-time event. The reaction of the students showed they had seen behavior like this before. There was no reaction of shock, as there should have been, when seeing a classmate thrown to the floor violently.
But beyond whether or not the administration knew they had a police officer known as “Officer Slam” in their building… or even what it means to have police officers in schools… there’s a question that needs to be asked — would this have happened if there was a system in place so that every student in that school was powerfully cared for?
Because, as horrible as the actions of the officer were, the school failed that young woman before the officer ever put his hands on her. They failed her because the adults cared more that she left the classroom than they did about what was causing her to shut down in that way.
This event is why it is of the utmost importance that we as educators understand the difference between “care about” and “care for,” why it is important that we say “We teach students,” rather than “We teach subjects.” Because when we acknowledge, understand and truly believe that no subject we teach is more important than the child in front of us, then there’s no way that the teacher or the administrator makes the wrong-headed decision that getting her out of the room was far more important than finding out what was wrong. And there was no way that the teacher and the administrator would not have known that the young woman had just lost her mother.
This is why it is essential that we create systems in our schools where every child is known and every child is cared for. In our schools, every child should know who their advocate is, and that advocate should ensure that students in crisis are known and cared for by all. At SLA, that is our Advisory program. At other schools, they call it family group. In some middle schools, it’s a looping program so that students and teachers stay together. But in every school, there should be a structure in the school day so that the adults— all of the adults, not just the counselors — have the time to care for the children.
And this is most important for students who have been underserved by our schools, because oftentimes, those students who have been underserved feel that no one cares about them at school. And too often, those students are the same students who are sent a message every day that our society doesn’t care enough about them either. We need to couple the structures like Advisory with professional development toward cultural competency so that all teachers understand what it means to truly know and respect students, no matter the differences (or honestly, sometimes similarities) between teacher and student. We can build systems and structures that cross racial, gender, socio-economic boundaries and allow everyone in our schools to be seen for all that they are in powerful, positive, humanistic ways.
Because every child deserves to be known in school. Every child deserves an advocate. It cannot happen by luck or fiat. We can’t just hope it happens. We can’t just tell the stories of the teacher who has some of the kids eat lunch in her classroom every day… or the coach who drives her players home from practice. To do that and to not systematize it so that every child is known is to all but guarantee that some children will go through school isolated and uncared for. And, in the world we live in, we can be sure that that will disproportionately happen to children of color and children of poverty.
We can do better. We can do it now. In all our schools. We owe it to every child we teach. We owe it to her.
I think this is a good point being left out of the national conversation. What is happening in that school that would require a police officer to be on call to remove children from their classrooms? Are they trespassing in their own school? I am left wondering what kind of school board would have a policy that dictates for a teacher or the administration to call in the police when a student is not being violent. In my high school growing up our resource officer was like a social worker, helping all of us when we needed it. Some one we could trust and talk to. The administration changed and the new one ran out our beloved resource officer, the new one quickly began treating students like prisoners or offenders rather than children.
Every child should be known. I completely agree. However, the sad truth is that there are children somehow slipping through our cracks. There are children that do not have positive relationships with adults in the school buildings. Rather than providing necessary training to bridge gaps between teachers and some students, pressure is being put on teachers to spend more time on standardized testing and performance rather than relationships. Although learning and performance is of utmost importance, relationships and cultural understanding is paramount in order for learning, performance, and proficiency to exist. Until we reach these children being overlooked, we will not bridge the performance gap and more importantly will not bridge our cultural deficiency. We must find a way to exhibit they are cared about and noticed.
I teach at the high school level in what would be considered the “hood” of Utah. People often play into the stereotype that our kids are nothing but trouble. I grew up in the area where I teach which I feel gives me an entirely different understanding and appreciation for the community around me. From a very young age my students have an understanding of what it means to be labeled. Many of our kids enter adulthood with a chip on their shoulder, feeling as though everyone is against them. Some of my “toughest” kids are those that have or are currently experiencing significant challenges in life. Some of these challenges understandably cause them to act out, or make it difficult for them to focus on what is being taught in the classroom. All too often, we have no clue what’s troubling them. For these reasons, it is has and will continue to be my greatest priority to make them feel cared for while at school.
When news broke of the sickening behavior displayed by this school officer, I was infuriated and saddened. To think that young students who are most likely already experiencing their fair share of adversity are placed in the care of ignorant, dangerous, and unqualified individuals. The fact that no one was shocked by this behavior shows that these poor kids feel deserving of this behavior. Misbehavior can some times be a cry for help, but instead individuals such as this add to the negativity that might be a student’s everyday reality. I agree wholeheartedly, that in an educational setting and everywhere…we owe it to one another to do better, to be better!