School Resource Officer CLA
SCENARIO
You are the principal of a public high school located in Midwest City, North Carolina an average sized metropolitan area. Teachers in the school have been complaining that disruptive and sometimes violent student behavior is on the increase and they want something done to maintain order in the school. The school district has received a grant to address violence among students. The school board has asked you to help decide if you want to use the grant money to support two full-time school resource officers in your school. School resource officers (SROs) are career law enforcement officers who are stationed in public schools to perform a number of duties, including mentoring, responding to disciplinary issues and, if necessary, detain and arrest students.
QUESTION
Your job is to determine whether you should use the grant money to support two school resource officers (SROs). The school board has given you one week to write a response clearly stating whether or not you would recommend spending the money on SROs.
Read Documents A through E, and use only these documents to make your decision.
Then write a report (500-1000 words) that answers the following questions:
What are the arguments for and against using SROs in schools?
What are the ethical implications of criminalizing delinquent behavior in the school setting?
Given the evidence provided, what are some of the diversity issues (e.g., race, disability, gender, etc.) that relate to the presence of SROs in schools?
Describe the quantitative data found in Documents A-E. What information about the use of SROs do you gather from the data?
Based on the evidence provided, would you support using the grant money to fund SROs?
Which documents did you use to assist you in your decision? Explain whether or not each document was a credible source, moderately credible, or not credible at all and why.
As you write your report, keep in mind that your decision must be based on Documents A-E. Your report will be assessed on your critical thinking skills, communication skills, quantitative reasoning skills, ethical decision making skills, and your understanding of diversity issues.