BETWEEN CROWDED JAILS AND failure to enforce a mollycoddle program, 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.
According to several media outlets, “alleged” murderer Nikolas Cruz had, following several run-ins with authorities, been ordered into a THREE DAY program aimed at steering children away from the criminal justice system. Cruz failed to complete the three-day diversion program as a middle school student, yet nothing seems to have been done.1
The PROMISE program was aimed at reducing recidivism rates for students who commit non-violent misdemeanors and keeping them out of the juvenile justice system. The program helps students develop pro-social and resiliency skills, improve academics and may address family and community struggles that may be contributing to behavior issues, according to the school district's website.
The Obama-era program is sponsored by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (https://www.nimhd.nih.gov/).2
As information continues to come out, it appears that over and over and over yet again Cruz was identified as a person with mental health “issues.”
For some reason, Cruz “fell through the cracks.”
Florida agencies failed to act.
The local school administration – at both county and school level – failed to act.
Even the FBI admitted it “missed” a mass of information about the person accused of murdering 17 people at the school and calmly walking away.
This “it fell through the cracks” excuse seems to becoming commonplace.
Rather than incarcerate known threats to the community, the threats are shunted off to “programs” where they are mollycoddled.
Cruz didn’t even see time in a juvenile “boot camp” that has a pretty good track record of disabusing youth that crime pays.
He was diverted into a program designed strictly for African American young men. The program apparently was broadened to include all races when it was implemented in Broward County.
According to American conservative television and radio talk show host Laura Ingraham3,
- An initiative called the 'PROMISE Program' that reduced the number of school-related arrests in Broward County Public Schools. In 2011-2012, BCPS had the highest number of student arrests in Florida, but after the superintendent implemented the program, arrests plummeted.
PROMISE gave school administrators the power to decide whether infractions were deemed worthy of involving the policy rather than following guidelines that were previously in place. PROMISE stands for 'Preventing Recidivism through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education.'
The program was praised by the Obama administration and the school district was awarded $54 million in grants from the $4 billion 'Race to the Top' initiative.
PROMISE turns school administrators into both judge and jury and encourages diversion to the program rather than involving law enforcement and mental health professionals.
In the “old days” in Florida, many children ruled “delinquent” for non-violent behavior were turned over to probation officers who worked with the offender. Failure to show up for a session with the probation officer could cause revocation of the “privilege” and a stint at a juvenile detention center (that usually was over crowded). Unlike the PROMISE program as it is implemented in Broward County, failure to comply with the rules quickly raised a red flag and resulted in swift action.
Ingraham commented that
- PROMISE gave school administrators the power to decide whether infractions were deemed worthy of involving the policy rather than following guidelines that were previously in place. PROMISE stands for 'Preventing Recidivism through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education.'
The infractions that the 'PROMISE Program' prevented police from getting involved in: Alcohol-related incidents, assault, threat, bullying, disruption on campus, drug use, possession, under the influence, drug paraphernalia, possession, false accusation against school staff, fighting, mutual combat, harassment, thefts, trespassing, vandalism and damage to property.
According to a pamphlet by BCPS, the 'Promise Program' was implemented in an effort to "eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline."
Arrests went from 1,056 students in 2011-2012 to 392 in the 2015-2016 school year.
The Obama Administration Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder were so impressed by the PROMISE Plan that it inspired their own new national guidelines.
Holder hailed the program for discarding "unnecessarily harsh discipline policies" for "really minor infractions" that led students to "feel unwelcome."
"Too often, so-called zero-tolerance policies, however well-intentioned they might be, make students feel unwelcome in their own schools. They disrupt the learning process, and they can have significant and lasting negative effects on the long-term well-being of our young people," Holder said.
Really “minor” infractions”?
Tell that to the kids who are bullied.
Tell that to the teachers who are harassed.
Tell that to the taxpayers who have to repair or replace items damaged by vandals.
Apparently, PROMISE is not concerned with cumulative evidence of a person’s mental health.
In Cruz’ case, he had a long history of “minor infractions.”
He had been diverted to a special school, but there is no evidence he got help with his problems.
Is it safe to suggest that the Broward County school system must share blame for the deaths of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School?
Had Cruz been “diverted” to a detention facility and obliged to undergo treatment for his mental conditions, 17 people might be alive today.
Sources
1. http://tinyurl.com/y9qkakwe
2. http://tinyurl.com/y7kv4xpc
3. http://tinyurl.com/y7j2mr6g
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
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