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<\/p>\nCarey Wedler
\nActivist Post<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In response to last week\u2019s shooting at a Florida high school, the state\u2019s governor recently released his plans to make schools safer. Many of his proposals will indisputably serve to further turn schools into prisons, a trend that has been on the rise for years.<\/p>\n
According<\/a>\u00a0to the\u00a0Tampa Bay Times<\/i>, Governor Rick Scott\u2019s proposals include:<\/p>\n \u2014\u00a0$450 million to put a law enforcement officer in every public school, and 1 officer for every 1,000 students by 2018 school year\u2026<\/p>\n \u2014 Increased Safe Schools funding to provide metal detectors, bulletproof glass, steel doors. Safety plans would be required before money would be spent\u2026<\/p>\n \u2014 Mandatory active shooter drills in all Florida schools by the fall 2018 semester.<\/p>\n \u2014 New \u2018See Something, Say Something\u2019 hotline, website and mobile app.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n While other proposals include increasing mental health services, banning bump stocks, and some restrictions on gun purchases (as well as an explicit\u00a0refusal to arm teachers), the push toward the heavy policing of schools is evident (Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel now\u00a0says<\/a>\u00a0qualifying deputies will soon carry rifles on school grounds), and it is a natural progression from an ongoing nationwide shift.<\/p>\n From a 2012 paper\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0in the UCLA Law Review:<\/p>\n Schools are increasingly allocating funds to become \u2018well-policed fortresses,\u2019 hiring police officers to conduct suspicionless searches of student belongings, instituting harsh disciplinary policies resulting in suspensions for relatively trivial offenses like dress code violations and profanity, and using extreme practices like mass strip searches and lock-down drills. While enhanced security measures\u2014including the presence of school police officers\u2014may potentially curb school crime and improve school culture if adequately implemented, these beneficial measures are not the ones that appear to be on the rise.<\/p>\n Rather, it is the draconian measures used to target minor rule violations that are expanding,\u201d\u00a0the paper explained, ultimately\u00a0\u201cmaking the education system and the criminal justice system increasingly difficult to distinguish in low-income, nonwhite communities.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The schools themselves also resemble prisons, with students fenced in behind walls and\u00a0increased\u00a0<\/a>surveillance pervading education institutions around the country, particularly among minority populations.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, there are numerous examples of violent, regimented tactics within schools, from the viral video of a police officer aggressively slamming a student in a desk for unruly behavior to a Pennsylvania school officer beating up a student and knocking out his teeth over the\u00a0suspicion<\/i>\u00a0of stealing a phone.<\/p>\n