Schools Matter: Bloomberg and Klein's Penal Pedagogy Model

Schools Matter: Bloomberg and Klein's Penal Pedagogy Model

Bloomberg and Klein's Penal Pedagogy Model

Bob Herbert in the NYTimes:

If you don’t think the police in New York City need to be reined in, consider the way the cops and their agents are treating youngsters in the city’s schools.

In March 2009, a girl and a boy in the sixth grade at the Hunts Point School in the Bronx were fooling around and each drew a line on the other’s desk with an erasable marker. The teacher told them to erase the lines, and the kids went to get tissues. This blew up into a major offense when school safety officers became involved.

The safety officers, who have been accused in many instances of mistreating children, are peace officers assigned to the schools. They wear uniforms, work for the New York Police Department and have the power to detain, search, handcuff and arrest students. They do not carry guns.

In this case, the officers seized the two pupils and handcuffed them. Before long, an armed police officer showed up to question the youngsters. The girl asked for her mother and began to cry. Tears were no defense in the minds of the brave New York City law enforcers surrounding this errant child. They were determined to keep the city safe from sixth graders armed with Magic Markers.

The children were transported in handcuffs to the local precinct.

Duncan News: It's Not How Much You Know But Who You Know, and a Visit to Robt. E. Lee High

America's chief reform schooler this week plans a visit to a high school in Alabama that has a history of opposing the national holiday honoring Dr. King:

The Associated Press
Saturday, March 6, 2010; 9:48 PM

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Alabama's Legislative Black Caucus on Saturday called on U.S. Education SecretaryArne Duncan to cancel a planned appearance at Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery.

State Rep. Alvin Holmes said the school and its principal publicly opposed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Selma-Montgomery march in 1965. Holmes said it was "insulting" to King and civil rights protesters that PresidentBarack Obama's top education aide was scheduled to appear at the school Monday.. . .

And Duncan tells Gotham Schools that, in the end, it is not what you know that will get you part of the $4.35 billion but, rather, who you know--or more specifically, who knows you: