As the New York Times and others report this week, the Trump administration is rolling back Obama-era policies aimed at ensuring that minority children are not unfairly disciplined, arguing that the efforts have eased up on punishment and contributed to rising violence in the nation’s schools. The decision culminates a nearly yearlong effort begun by Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos after the massacre by Nikolas Cruz (above) at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, Florida.
Paul Sperry of RealClearInvestigations highlighted the problems with the Obama approach early on, while much of the media instead focused on the role that gun laws and mental illness played in Cruz’s decision to carry out his rampage.
The policies were pioneered in Broward and adopted by more than 50 major school districts around the country to end the “school-to-prison pipeline.” And as a result, as Sperry showed in a series of stories, lawbreaking students including Cruz were thus diverted away from the criminal justice system and into alternative programs. Cruz's lack of a criminal record allowed him to pass a background check and ultimately purchase the weapon he used in his murderous spree.
Here are Sperry's articles:
Behind Cruz’s Rampage, Obama’s School Leniency Policy, by Paul Sperry, March 1, 2018.
Timeline: The Making of School Leniency in Broward, March 2.
Broward County’s Reverse Jail-to-School Pipeline, March 19.
Broward School Violence: Cruz’s Massacre Is Far From Whole Story, April 15.
