RELEASING THE HANDCUFFS

The Milwaukee School Board is having second thoughts about using flexible handcuffs to restrain out of control, violent students.

The Board is wimping out.

The message:

We don't want to offend anyone.

Violent students make the schools a dangerous place, but we don't want to hurt their self-images by restraining them while in the midst of violent outbursts.

We would rather put others -- students, faculty, and staff -- at risk than effectively manage the troublemakers.

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The yellow light that the Milwaukee School Board gave last week to allowing safety workers in schools to use plastic handcuffs on students who need to be restrained may turn red next week.

Continued strong opposition to the idea, particularly in the African-American community, and major changes this week in the makeup of the board have dimmed prospects for the proposal taking effect.

Peter Blewett, a leading critic of the idea, was elected president of the board Wednesday night and, within 24 hours, called a special meeting to take up the subject at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Milwaukee Public Schools central office, 5225 W. Vliet St.

"Personally, I would like the handcuffs to be taken off the table," Blewett said Thursday. He said he would like a broad-based group to come up with recommendations on what should be done to improve safety in schools.

Better safety strategies are needed, he said, but given the impassioned opposition to the handcuff proposal, "It's hard to make progress on the issue if the idea of handcuffs is still on the table, even if there's a delay about implementing it."

Later Thursday, Superintendent William Andrekopoulos said he was withdrawing the idea to give MPS safety aides training on how to use the flexible handcuffs before full board approval is given. That was a step approved by the board last week.

Andrekopoulos said nothing would be done to pursue the idea in the near future. He said he wanted a broad community discussion of what steps should be taken to improve school safety. His goal, he said, was to use that as a way to develop plans to be put before the board in the fall.

"We pulled our training," Andrekopoulos said. "We are not going to do any training. . . . Our only action right now is more communication around the broader themes."

"I want to hear from the community - what do they want us to do?" he said.

Way to lead, Andrekopoulos!

I wonder if he'd like to comment on the incident at Vincent High School on Thursday.

An assistant principal at Milwaukee's Vincent High School received a cut to his arm when he attempted to intervene in a fight involving a 16-year-old girl who then threw a vase at him and shattered a mirror inside the school office, Milwaukee police said today.

The school administrator, 45, was treated for his injury, said department spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz, and the 16-year-old girl has been referred to Milwaukee County juvenile authorities for possible charges of felony battery to a teacher and criminal damage to property.

Schwartz said the fight started about 1:50 p.m. Thursday when the 16-year-old threw a 14-year-old girl into a garbage can inside a classroom at the school, 7501 W. Granville Road.

The students were taken to the principal's office, where the 16-year-old reportedly continued to fight the younger girl.

After throwing the vase and shattering the mirror, the older teen was taken to the ground and held until police arrived, Schwartz said.

The 14-year-old complained of pain to her stomach and a sore hand. The 16-year-old had cuts to a finger.

Do you find the description of this fight troubling?

I think it's a horrible scene.

Will this elicit the same outrage that the handcuff proposal has whipped up?

It should, but it won't.

And what's the best that Andrekopoulos can do?

He backs down and throws the problem of violence in schools out to the community to solve.

Imagine a doctor telling a patient what treatment is most effective to treat an illness. The patient doesn't like the sound of the treatment. Then, the doctor responds by asking the patient what he would consider a proper approach to treat the problem.

That's nuts.

The handcuff proposal is one of several steps MPS administrators have taken to improve safety this year, including the assignment of full-time police at two high schools, stricter enforcement of a cell phone ban, additions of safety aides and more spending on services for students with mental health emergencies.

But the handcuffs have prompted the largest furor. The power of the image of kids in handcuffs, coupled with specific concerns about the idea and criticism of the short window for public reaction, have turned the idea into a hot-button matter that has brought politicians, organizations such as the NAACP's Milwaukee chapter and radio talk-show callers into action.

Maybe it's just me, but I find the image of two girls fighting in a principal's office, throwing a vase, smashing a mirror, and injuring an assistant principal pretty powerful.

Personally, I think it's a far more powerful image than a student in FlexiCuffs.

Why aren't incidents of violence like the one at Vincent High School "hot-button matters" for politicians and the NAACP's Milwaukee chapter?

Why is so little expected from these MPS students?

Looking for racism?

Look to the soft bigotry of low expectations.