The Tribune

THE government’s school policing plan will not solve the many serious problems that plague public education, according to the Democratic National Alliance.

Mark Humes, DNA spokesperson for education, science and technology, called the proposed initiative unimaginative, misguided and a clear case of political rhetoric.

Mr Humes said: “Where there is no real vision or plan the people perish, and in this instance, the people are our nation’s children.”

He said the plan to have the police force “once again invade our public high schools” is evidence the Christie administration is blind to the realities of delinquency in the education system.

“This act of putting armed police officers on our public school campuses to pre-empt or cut the rate of violence and delinquency among our middle and high school students is a knee-jerk farce.

“It is not only a crying shame, but it is also a show of unimaginative laziness on behalf of this administration and the education leaders who support the initiative,” he said.

Mr Humes said like the Commissioner of Police and education officials, the DNA believes “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” and that there should be a zero tolerance approach to school violence.

“But having police officers in schools will be totally ineffective in addressing whatever the underlying or root problems are with the child, or the child’s family, or the child’s community that have led to his or her disruptive and violent behaviour. Our educational system is in need of real, non-public relations, non-political solutions.”

Mr Humes called on the Minister of Education, the Commissioner of Police, and the president of the Bahamas Union of Teachers, who all support the plan, to explain how police officers will be more effective in rooting out criminal activity in the school system than school administrators and the teachers “who interact with these students on a consistent basis and who should be the ones empowered for the responsible management and operations of the school system”.

He said the presence of police officers will only give students the impression the police and the justice system are the only solutions to social ills. “It will continue to create a mind-set where our young students see themselves as criminal and ‘bad’, in every sense of the word, thinking that they are the ‘boss’ of things and in need of police control,” he said.