ALTERNATIVE RESPONSES TO SCHOOL CRISIS AND EXPERIMENTS IN POLICE-SCHOOL RELATIONS

• NCJ Number: 7123
• Author(s): M A CHESLER; P GRAHAM
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 154 pages
• Grant Number(s): NI-69-040
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice; US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: University of Michigan
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

EXPLORATION OF PROGRAMS TO HELP SECONDARY SCHOOLS RESPOND TO SERIOUS INSTANCES OF STUDENT UNREST AND DISORDER.

Abstract

IN THREE HIGH SCHOOLS THE PROJECT ATTEMPTED TO ESTABLISH PROGRAMS TO HELP ALL PARTIES TO EDUCATIONAL CRISES DEVELOP NEW PROCEDURES FOR UNDERSTANDING SCHOOL CONDITIONS AND FOR GENERATING CHANGE. IN ONE SCHOOL THIS PROGRAM FOCUSED ON THE SITUATION AND GOALS OF STUDENTS THEMSELVES, IN ANOTHER SCHOOL THE PRINCIPAL'S SKILLS AND PERSPECTIVES WERE THE FOCUS OF CHANGE, AND IN THE THIRD SCHOOL THE FOCUS WAS ON RELATIONS AMONG VARIOUS SUB-UNITS OF THE SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. THIS DELIBERATE VARIATION PERMITTED A COMPARISON OF THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF WORKING WITH DIFFERENT CHANGE TARGETS. IN ALL CASES A MAJOR FOCUS OF THE PROJECT'S WORK IN SCHOOLS WAS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW LINKS BETWEEN STUDENTS, SCHOOL PARTIES AND REPRESENTATIVES OF LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. REPRESENTATIVES FROM POLICE SYSTEMS WERE HELPED TO UNDERSTAND AND RESPOND TO THE UNIQUE DYNAMICS OF STUDENT LIFE AND SCHOOL SITUATIONS THAT GENERATE FAILURE AND PROTEST. RECIPROCALLY, ALL SCHOOL PARTIES WERE HELPED TO UNDERSTAND THE SOCIAL ROLES AND PRESSURES ON POLICE OFFICIALS. ALTHOUGH GAINS WERE MADE IN PROMOTING AN UNDERSTANDING OF SCHOOL-POLICE RELATIONS, THERE WERE FEW INVENTIONS OF A STRUCTURAL CHARACTER THAT WOULD REDUCE STUDENT-POLICE TENSION SIGNIFICANTLY OVER TIME. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)