Baltimore City Council members are seeking clarification on school safety measures as instances of bullying and violence persist districtwide.
In a hearing Wednesday afternoon, education officials faced questions about collaboration between city and school police, training for officers and school staff, incident data and more.
Councilman Mark Conway said schools are the best resource to identify safety threats and at-risk youth early-on.
“You guys can be phenomenal partners in figuring out how to crack that nut, to identify what's going on with our young people,” he said. “You're the most likely to see them, even if they don't show up to school every day. They're gonna see you more than they see said officer on the street.”
City schools CEO Sonja Santelises said the district is working to improve data-tracking of incidents and offenders. Her team is also looking into the effects of gang-related violence in and around schools.
Santelises said the district also hopes to build-up peer mediation techniques and a series of assemblies to tackle bullying prevention.
“As we've seen the incidences and the need increase, we've also increased both supports and corrective actions,” Santelises said. “You'll see a really sharp uptick, particularly in areas with regards to parent outreach, student conferencing, student-parent conferencing, and also increases in areas like out of school suspensions.”
The district also amended the code of conduct to give teachers more flexibility with behavioral-related suspensions, Santelises said.
“We don't want to over-suspend children,” she said. “But at the same time, we also know what is sometimes needed with a safe climate. Principals need that flexibility.”
Madeleine Monson-Rosen, a teacher at Bard High School, said the district also needs to focus more on physical infrastructure.
“What we need, speaking as a teacher, are doors with locks and keys that work,” she said.
Councilmember James Torrence requested reports from district officials on training for principals and student support teams, data on suspensions and crime, data on parental assaults of students and teachers, and updates on door and lock functionality by June.
“The expectation is to do more and do better,” he said.
Police force collaboration
Torrence also said the city council wants to see an updated review of the agreement and responsibilities between the Baltimore Police Department and school police officers.
Interim School Police Chief Norman Coleman said school officers meet with the city police department every two weeks to share data.
“There are certain data items that I can share about the students and certain things that I can’t, but we all collaborate and how we assist in investigations of different incidents across the city,” Coleman said.
Santelises said the school system tracks some data that the police department does not, like suspensions and bullying.
“We track the incidents that occur on school property,” Coleman added. “Some of the incidents that may occur to a student on their way home, we may not know about that report…However, we do utilize the same reporting system. And we can reach out to the deputy commissioner and get that data.”
Colonel Kevin Jones of the Baltimore Police Department also said the school police send out text alerts when incidents are actively occurring.
The city district is in the process of “building back the depleted school police force,” Santelises said. “If we could, I think every principal in the city would want an active safety professional at their school. We just don't have that staffing. But we do have staffing targets.”
Baltimore police officers also assist schools with the “Safe Passage” program, which stations officers at certain schools to protect students as they enter and exit buildings, Santelises said.
Correction: This story has been updated to remove a statement the speaker later said was untrue.
