Criminalizing the Classroom: Students Who Have Experienced Over-Policing in their Schools

Statement of Jonathan Clark, Aviation High School

As I arrived at school on October 24, 2006, I could see that dozens of police vans and cruisers were surrounding my school, Aviation High School. Both regular police officers and School Security Agents were forcing students to go through metal detectors in order to get into school. We weren't given any instructions, just yelled at to, "Hurry up!" The police presence was really overwhelming. It seemed like a lot just for a metal detector.

There were very long lines because the officers were searching every student. The school had to cancel all zero-period Advanced Placement classes, labs and leadership activities, which usually begin at 7:00 a.m. When first and then second periods began there were still hundreds of students outside waiting to get in. A lot of students were late and had to miss class, which meant that they would be marked absent and maybe even lose their certifications, which is why we're at Aviation in the first place.

After we went through the metal detectors, the officers began to search through our book bags. They went through my folders, pulled out all my papers and confiscated my drawing supplies. They decided that my six-inch ruler was "a hazard to society," even though it's sold at school and required for class. I began to wonder what else they would take from me.

The ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) students were forced to remove their medals, which was really upsetting - especially because they're graded on wearing them.

The teachers had no idea what was going on. Their hands were tied. For the first time in my entire career at the school, the principal looked disheartened. I could see why.

Even as all this was going on, the students stayed calm. I told them, "If you guys get loud now, it justifies their actions. If you keep quiet, like we're doing now, we can fight this later."

I wrote a letter complaining about the incident to Chancellor Klein via e-mail, and in response my mother received an angry phone call from the local head of school security. He said, "There's no way a sixteen-year-old, public high school student could write a letter of that magnitude." My parents were furious; I was just sickened by all of this.

There should be officers that are trained to work with kids. We shouldn't be treated like criminals until proven innocent. And I don't think the metal detectors are necessary unless it's warranted by the school. It's one thing if they're trying to protect our safety, but keeping everyone out of class doesn't make a lot of sense.

• Jonathan Clark is in the eleventh grade at Aviation High School in Queens. He is a member of his school's honors society and participates in a number of extracurricular activities, including the robotics club, leadership club and science honors society. In addition to working toward his FAA certification and running for president of the honors society, Jonathan has been organizing for students rights since the day he was subjected to metal detector scans by the New York Police Department.

 

Statement of Biko Edwards, Samuel J. Tilden High School

In January of this year I was late to Chemistry Lab because I had been talking with my math teacher after math class. As I was rushing to class, Val Lewis, the Assistant Principal for Security, stopped me in the hallway. Because I was worried that I would be late to Chemistry Lab, which has strict attendance requirements, I asked Officer Lewis let me keep going to class, and I told him that I had been talking with my math teacher. Officer Lewis didn't listen to my explanation and instead told me to go to the "focus room," where we have detention.

I kept begging to go to Chemistry Lab, and Officer Lewis got angry and threatened to send me to the principal's office. Then he ordered a police officer stationed at the school, Officer Rivera, to arrest me. Officer Rivera grabbed me and slammed me against a brick door divider, which cut my face. I was bleeding. Officer Rivera then sprayed Mace in my eyes and face, then called for back-up on his radio and handcuffed me.

Eventually they took me to the hospital, where I spent about two hours handcuffed to a chair and received some treatment for my injuries. Then they took me to the local precinct and to central booking. I missed the rest of my classes that day. Overall I spent more than 28 hours in police custody. I was also suspended for four days.

If it can happen like this in school, imagine what police officers could do to you outside if something like this happened…. Why are they arresting school kids while they're in school? Tensions between students, teachers, principals, and school safety agents wouldn't be as bad if SSAs would do more listening to students and less pushing them around.

• Biko Edwards is from Crown Heights and is a seventeen-year-old eleventh-grader at Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn. Biko is an excellent student and plays soccer for both his school team and a traveling team based in Brooklyn. After college he plans to be either a professional soccer player or an accountant.

 

Statement of Ryan Kierstedt, Urban Academy

I go to school at Urban Academy, which doesn't have permanent metal detectors, but I used to go to a school that did have them. In fact, I'd been going to schools with metal detectors since I was thirteen. It would take me an extra hour and a half to wait on line for the scans, so I would have to leave my home really early in the morning and then wait forever on the sidewalk outside of school – on the street, in East New York, just to get into class.

The scans make you feel like an animal, like less of a person. You even start to become suspicious of yourself, because the officers treat you like a criminal. Each morning, I thought, "this is not a school anymore - it's a future prison. They're preparing us for prison." I thought a lot about dropping out. I figured if education was the important thing, then I'd be better off just reading in the library all day.

It would be better if the officers would take the time to learn about the students. When nobody asks questions and instead they treat the students like animals, then the students act like animals. When you treat a kid like that long enough, he or she is going to become what you treat them.

• Ryan Kierstedt is eighteen years old, lives in Bushwick, Brooklyn and is a senior at Urban Academy in Manhattan. He is involved in his school's poetry club and spends his free time painting and writing plays. He plans to pursue a Bachelors degree in Philosophy and a Masters degree in Fine Arts. Before transferring to Urban Academy, Ryan attended East Borough Congregate High School in East New York (EBC-ENY).

 

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