THREAD: @marcorubio’s recent letter to @USEDgov and @TheJustice Department linking the Parkland shooting to the 2014 school discipline guidance is wildly misguided...at very best 1/
First, the primary purpose of that guidance is to prevent discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in schools’ administration of school discipline practices. Plain text: you must create fair discipline policies, and apply these policies equitably. 2/
Clearly, this guidance presented no obstacle to school administrators when they decided to expel the Parkland shooter. 3/
Second, the quote in @marcorubio’s letter -- where the guidance encourages school personnel, rather than law enforcement, to handle matters of routine discipline (e.g., insubordination, dress code violations etct) – is a matter of simple “common sense”. 4/
Schools, parents, and POLICE don’t need nor want law enforcement to handle every day disciplinary issues. This is a position that the @NASRO has agreed with for years. Parents: do you want police called if your child has a temper tantrum? 5/ nasro.org/news/press-rel…
But note that the letter curiously omits another line from the guidance that clearly asserts that the role of #schoolpolice should focus on #schoolsafety: 6/
“train school personnel…on how to distinguish between disciplinary infractions appropriately handled by school officials versus major threats to school safety or serious school-based criminal conduct…and how to contact law enforcement when warranted.” 7/
As I said before at a recent discussion hosted by @educationgadfly, read the guidance. Just read it. Don’t trust my interpretation of it. Don’t rely on others’ interpretation of it. Read it for yourself. 8/ www2.ed.gov/about/offices/…
We have a lot to learn about what happened at Parkland – the details are still coming out. Who was in position to act? How should they have acted? What type of policy should have restricted his access to a firearm? 9/
These questions are important. The investigation of what happened is important. So much so that we can't afford to guess at next steps, or make statements regarding policy that are unsupported by the facts of what happened or other data and research. 10/
As we learn more, the debate over these questions are raging. And this needs to happen. Those that had opportunity to act will point fingers, desperate to avoid culpability. And this is unfortunate, as it will slow our learning. 11/
But to take advantage of this tragedy to take aim at the 2014 discipline guidance – which was put in place to protect children of color from discriminatory discipline based on race (which has zero relationship to Parkland) – just makes no sense at all. 12/end
