Believe it or not, this is not the first time I have heard about students being pepper sprayed. I've seen it with my own eyes. With such a spotlight on the legitimacy of force by public safety officials, I think it's worth a discussion. I know of an officer or two that the kids complain about because they are a "spray first ask questions later" kind of officer. When you have 100 kids and they refuse to disperse I can understand.
A student came to me yesterday and said her niece was one of the kids who stayed home today because she was irritated by the pepper spray. My response to her was "i'm so sorry! That's terrible." My follow up was "also, why was there pepper spray in the classroom? I thought the fight was outside the classroom. Did the officer run by, spray into the classroom, then start spraying the fight?" She laughed and said "NO! she was out watching the fight."
Exactly. Why was she out there? Why wasn't she sitting in her desk and staying away from that mess outside? Are kids to blame for their group mentality? Can we put any responsibility on them for getting sprayed? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It's a complicated situation, but we also can't blame the teachers for not being able to stop a whole class from running out to be nosey. The Dade fight was a mess. What is the best procedure going forward?
A student came to me yesterday and said her niece was one of the kids who stayed home today because she was irritated by the pepper spray. My response to her was "i'm so sorry! That's terrible." My follow up was "also, why was there pepper spray in the classroom? I thought the fight was outside the classroom. Did the officer run by, spray into the classroom, then start spraying the fight?" She laughed and said "NO! she was out watching the fight."
Exactly. Why was she out there? Why wasn't she sitting in her desk and staying away from that mess outside? Are kids to blame for their group mentality? Can we put any responsibility on them for getting sprayed? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It's a complicated situation, but we also can't blame the teachers for not being able to stop a whole class from running out to be nosey. The Dade fight was a mess. What is the best procedure going forward?
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