A New Mexico teacher asked a 13-year-old girl to stop talking with her friend and move to another seat. The girl refused. The teacher called the police.
The case is among thousands across the country fueling a long-simmering debate over when educators should bring in the police to deal with disruptive students. A 6-year-old Georgia kindergartner became the latest test case last week when she was hauled off in steel handcuffs after throwing books and toys in a school tantrum.
Kids are being arrested for being kids, said a civil rights attorney who has filed a class action against Albuquerque's public school district and its police department on behalf of hundreds of kids arrested for minor offenses over the last few years, such as having cell phones in class or destroying a textbook.
Police were put in many schools across the country in the 1990s in response to zero-tolerance policies and tragedies such as the Columbine High massacre. But many overwhelmed teachers and principals began turning to those officers to handle disciplinary issues that in years past would have resulted in detention or a call to parents.
Frustrated teachers aren't getting enough support from above to deal with increasingly extreme student behavior, from sexual harassment in elementary schools to children throwing furniture.
Experts and educators point to a number of factors that lead to the arrests: Some officers are operating without special training. School administrators are desperate to get the attention of uninvolved parents. And overwhelmed teachers are unaware that calling in the police to defuse a situation could lead to serious criminal charges for kids.
There is little national data on in-school arrests; no numbers are being tracked nationally. Whether the children are actually charged and saddled with criminal records varies by case and jurisdiction. Some youngsters are charged with felonies. Some are freed without further incident. Others receive tickets.
In Milledgeville, Ga., a city of 18,000 about 90 miles from Atlanta, a six year old was accused of throwing books and toys in an outburst Friday at Creekside Elementary. Police said she also threw a small shelf that struck the principal in the leg, jumped on a paper shredder and tried to break a glass frame.
She was handcuffed and taken in a patrol car to the police station, where she was given a soda pop, police said. She won't be charged with a crime.
The department's policy is to handcuff everyone arrested regardless of age for safety reasons, police said.
The girl's family said the 6-year-old has been suspended for the school year.
In Albuquerque, which started tracking arrests after noticing more minor cases coming from schools, more than 900 of the district's 90,000 students were referred to the criminal justice system in the 2009-10 school year. Of those, more than 500 were handcuffed, arrested and brought to juvenile detention, officials said.
More than 200 were arrested for minor offenses, including disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and interference with staff.
Preliminary numbers indicate arrests have fallen 53% since the class action was filed in 2010.
Albuquerque school officials have declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
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