Parents United calls for investigation into use of pepper spray on students
How far do we go in the name of “safety”? That’s the question Parents United would like answered in the wake of two recently surfaced incidents of pepper spray used against students inside of Philadelphia schools.
Last week one media outlet reported that pepper spray had been used against students to “disperse a crowd” during a fight at Benjamin Franklin High School in October. The incident went completely unreported at the time. This week the Philadelphia Public School Notebook confirmed at least one additional incident of pepper sprayused against a student. As a result of these news articles, Parents United has issued a call for an investigation into the use of pepper spray and any chemical agent against students.
This call for an investigation is not about condoning violence or harassment in schools. It’s about building safe AND responsible climates as we work with young children and students in schools. It’s important to remember that District policy prohibits the use of pepper spray and chemical agents inside of school buildings. We have deep reservations about increasingly dangerous and violent tactics used against students in our schools, whether they be tasers, chemical agents, or other tactics . It is critical that we develop responsible policies governing and reviewing the use of such force against juveniles, in front of and amidst their peers who may also be impacted.
The American Civil Liberties Union has documented a number of fatalities as the result of pepper spray in particular, and has called for a ban on the use of tasers and pepper spray in Texas schools. This call followed the tragic coma of a Texas high schooler who was allegedly trying to break up a fight in school when he was