For Safer Schools, We Need More Counselors — Not More Police Officers
The trauma that our kids experience everyday cannot not be cured by law enforcement alone.
Earlier this month, The Wilmington News Journal published a story describing efforts by a school safety group advocating for legislation that would place more law enforcement officers in our Wilmington schools.
Understandably, Delawareans were saddened by the tragedies that occurred in and around Howard High School of Technology over the last few months.
I am confident that this group harbors the best of intentions, especially for our youngest students who are just beginning to learn about conflict resolution. However, as history has shown us, critical mistakes have been introduced with the best of intentions.
The tragedies that befell Amy Inita Joyner-Francis and Brandon Wingo would not have been prevented with more police in our classrooms — Amy was attacked in the women’s bathroom and Brandon was callously killed after he had left school grounds. Neither of those locations would have been a post for on-duty officers.
We have taken kids from the corner to the graduation stage on numerous occasions, and we didn’t get there by turning their schools into mini-prisons.
The responsibility of public safety officers is to enforce the law. That’s their job.
To also place upon them the responsibility of classroom management is not only a waste of badly-needed resources but also represents an outdated philosophy which claims that simply increasing police presence is the solution to all problems in black and brown communities.
Then our political leaders act surprised when one-third of black males end up in the criminal justice system or harbor a resentment toward police and politicians.
I grew up on Wilmington’s Eastside, just a few blocks away from where Brandon Wingo was killed. My non-profit, Delaware Elite, has served many kids from that very same neighborhood.
We have taken kids from the corner to the graduation stage on numerous occasions, and we didn’t get there by turning their schools into mini-prisons.
We didn’t get there by instituting policies which led students to believe that society views them as potential criminals rather than potential achievers. We got there by understanding what their needs were and by working our tails off to ensure that they received all of the resources needed to be successful.
From my personal experience, and after listening to students, teachers, and school administrators along the campaign trail, the best thing that we could do for our schools would be to devote resources toward behavioral psychologists, mental health professionals, counselors, special education professionals, and experts to train our kids in non-violent conflict resolution.
And we can also turn to the non-profit community to help bring greater resources to our schools. Over the past year, I have worked with The United Way of Delaware, Scholastic Books, and The World Economic Forum Global Shapers Program to bring the My Very Own Library initiative to Wilmington, which provided 3,000 children at Shortlidge, Warner, Pulaski, Palmer, Lewis, Bancroft, Stubbs, and Highlands elementary schools with 10 free books of their choice.
Some of the volunteers who came out to help launch My Very Own Library were a couple young men from Delaware Elite who I have known since they were in 5th grade, and it was inspiring to see them in college and giving back to the community.
Our city schools serve as a haven for many students who come from challenging homes — not because these schools are filled with law enforcement officers like we see in Gander Hill, but because they are filled with experts who care deeply for the futures of their students.
It is time to rethink how we address the problems in our communities because the trauma that our kids experience everyday cannot not be cured by law enforcement alone.
If our representatives in Dover are looking for strategies that may prevent future tragedies in our schools, I urge them to focus on the mental health and psychological trauma that our students, and in turn our schools, grapple with on a daily basis.
We need policies that assist schools and families as they confront the life-altering challenges of trauma, crime, and poverty.
I respect the eagerness of some school safety groups as they attempt to address some of these problems. However, I also recognize that to a hammer, every problem looks like a nail, and I refuse to remain silent when it comes to our children, no matter the politics.
