header image

[Sign Up Now] to Receive Our FREE Daily SCVTV-SCVNews Digest by E-Mail

Inside
Weather


 
Calendar
Today in
S.C.V. History
March 28
1934 - Bouquet Canyon Reservoir, replacement for ill-fated St. Francis Dam & reservoir, begins to fill with water [story]
Bouquet Reservoir


Commentary by Betty Arenson
| Friday, Feb 2, 2018

Is it time to give students and teachers what they want? That would be the total freedom on school campuses they demand, irrespective of safety.

Would it reduce taxpayers’ expenses?

For some history, the Los Angeles School Police Department was established in 1948. In 2016, laschoolreport.com reported this department oversees 664,000 students and 60,000 employees.

As of 2016, the department consisted of 410 sworn officers, 101 school safety officers and 34 civilian support personnel, with any given portion on duty 24/7 in 26 cities.

This is no half-baked operation.

There are canine and investigative units along with a critical response team, an anger management team and police academy magnet schools.

Seven divisions have their own police cars and motorcycles, and there is a Multi-Assault Counter-Terrorism Attack Capabilities (MACTAC) for the obvious: terror threats.

In the summertime, they visit early education and elementary schools, and they participate in Beyond the Bell programs.

There’s more to applaud about this police force, but overall, they work hard to build positive relationships with the students.

Are schools safer for students, teachers and other employees? According to Chief Steven K. Zipperman, the answer is a mixed bag, as it “depends on what prism we’re looking through” to gauge safety.

The prisms would be lack of crime overall, number of weapons seized, a feeling of safety coming to school; or is it “the amount of or lack of suspensions or expulsions?”

The LAUSD reported 3,103 incidents for the 2014-2015 year – an increase from 2,425 in 2013-2014, or about 28 percent.

Incidents reports included 1,163 sex crimes or inappropriate behavior, and 746 cases of finding illegal or controlled substances, with 839 weapons confiscated.

With that background, here’s what is happening on February 24: a rally to organize students “against the district’s police force” (Daily Wire, January 29, 2018).

The most prominent co-sponsors are the United Teachers Los Angeles, Black Lives Matter and the American Civil Liberties Union.

I repeat: “against the district’s police force.” Its title is “Making Black Lives Matter in Schools.”

The featured speaker is to be police abolitionist Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter.

The LAUSD flyer implores: (1) “Join the next round of our fight to end random searches and criminalization;”

(2) calls for “community schools funding;”

(3) “We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

Item 1: review the aforementioned statistics from the LAUSD.

Item 2 is bewildering, considering the California Department of Education cited that for 2014-15, K-12 education and child development cost taxpayers $45 billion, accounting for 40 percent of the state’s budget. More staggering is that overall, California’s public school spending was $76.6 billion, which includes federal funds and other sources.

Item 3 comes from the honoring of Assata Olugbala Shakur, once part of the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army (a famed revolutionary extremist group), and one of the FBI’s “Most Wanted.”

With a lengthy criminal history, she was imprisoned for the 1973 murder of a New Jersey state trooper. She escaped in 1979 after serving two years and now lives under political asylum in Cuba.

The collective activists’ aim is to end random police searches, with some voicing “abolishing policing” altogether.

They claim that existing policies are “racist” and “disproportionately” target and “criminalize” non-white students.

One district-employed English teacher at the microphone of an earlier protest said, “We’re going to get these cops out of our schools, and we’re going to end these random searches, and we’re going to be proud to be black and brown.”

The claims of police activity being racist and disproportionate are unsupported by surveys from the Census Bureau and American Community Survey (2013).

Los Angeles’ ethnic composition was stated at nearly 70 percent non-white. Non-Hispanic whites were 29.4 percent.

In 2016, Cecily Myart-Cruz, a vice president of both UTLA and the National Education Association, told a local news station, “It’s about having a movement, not a moment.”

Considering crime data, it’s hard to fathom the concept of “over-policing” on our campuses.

 

Betty Arenson is a Valencia resident who believes in the Constitution in its entirety and that laws should be upheld and apply to everyone equally.

 

 

Comment On This Story
COMMENT POLICY: We welcome comments from individuals and businesses. All comments are moderated. Comments are subject to rejection if they are vulgar, combative, or in poor taste.
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.

8 Comments

  1. gary says:

    Better watch out, Betty. Those dark people you fear and loathe so much are coming to get you.

  2. mellie says:

    YOU “watch out”: she doesn’t “fear and loathe” them; she is telling YOU the truth about them and YOUR leftist attitude.

  3. Nancy Hill says:

    NOT HAVING SCHOOL POLICE is insane. Certainly there will be more trouble on LAUSD campuses & can’t see this getting passed. Students and liberal teachers think they can control everything.
    THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

  4. jim says:

    Well Betty, you are some years older than I am, so we may have had similar experiences in “elementary”, “Jr. High” and “High” School.

    Not being a parent, I only know what I hear and see in my extended family. And what I think I know is that we (1950 birth to 1965) lived in a wondrous fairy land of thrumming economies, and only worried about the Effing Russians bombing us into oblivion. I’m glad we didn’t buy a fallout shelter back then because it would have dumped the value of our home by a lot in the 80’s.

    In case you’ve forgotten, there were no “School Police” back then. Nor did LAPD or any other police force show up on campus for any reason other than to do a show and tell (and occasionally lock up a juvie defendant). And even then they always sent the youngest (and best looking) officers to connect with us youngsters.

    Well, the nukes didn’t fall and we stopped doing the “Duck and Cover” dance after a while.

    And I still think that the education I received from LAUSD was excellent.

    As far as Education (capital “E”) is concerned, I had a decent one, that taught me the basics and allowed be to excel in those areas I could.

    Turns out I liked History and therefore Politics, although the latter not so much; mostly because it seemed like going through the looking glass from Science Fiction.

    I’ll tell you what; most of the fiction I read back then could not have convinced me that the world we now live in was even a possibility.

    I cannot begin to explain why the education I received (and thrived upon) is no longer relevant today. I still know much more about the world, history, politics, and governing than any of my friends’ kids, much less THEIR kids.

    I like TV, I still watch TV, and I do go online and pay attention to certain websites and blogs that seem relative to my life today. And I still read a giant bag of fiction, history, and intermixed books to keep my interest, and hopefully my mind current and functioning.

    So Betty, just what is it about today that bothers you so much? Politics? I can assure you that none of us singular voters really matter anymore. The recent decisions by the so-called Supremes have assured that money is more important than voters when it comes to elections. The only difference between California voters, and the rest of the US is that we get bought up on local issues, and ignore the national issues. Just like most of the rest of them, except for the liberal thing.

    Hell, if we all (members of the US States) were fully educated and aware voters that could tell a poke from a pig, we’d have an entirely different government. If of course, we had reasonably qualified Senators and Representatives who hadn’t already sold out to other big money fund raisers. AKA banks, corporations, Unions, and fund-raising corporations that can hide their actual owners, and of course the Two Parties.

    So what exactly is your bitch about this? Seems like you should be reveling in today’s wallow.

  5. Rudy Perez says:

    In behalf of the 500 men and women of the Los Angeles School Dolice Department thank you very much for this post and support ! #LASPOA

  6. Rudy Perez says:

    In behalf of the 500 men and women of the Los Angeles School Dolice Department thank you very much for this post and support ! #LASPOA

Leave a Comment


Opinion Section Policy
All opinions and ideas are welcome. Factually inaccurate, libelous, defamatory, profane or hateful statements are not. Your words must be your own. All commentary is subject to editing for legibility. There is no length limit, but the shorter, the better the odds of people reading it. "Local" SCV-related topics are preferred. Send commentary to: LETTERS (at) SCVNEWS.COM. Author's full name, community name, phone number and e-mail address are required. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses are not published except at author's request. Acknowledgment of submission does not guarantee publication.
Read More From...
RECENT COMMENTARY
Wednesday, Mar 27, 2024
Remo, Inc. is is the world's leading manufacturer and developer of synthetic drumheads and shells. They’ve been in business for 60 years
Tuesday, Mar 26, 2024
Springtime in Santa Clarita brings not only vibrant blooms and opportunities to embrace the outdoors with warmer weather, but also an array of free, family-friendly events and this Saturday is no exception.
Thursday, Mar 21, 2024
Did you know that each year, Main Street in Old Town Newhall undergoes countless makeovers for different events, such as Light Up Main Street and the Fourth of July Parade?
Thursday, Mar 21, 2024
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose Fifth District includes the Santa Clarita Valley, issued the following statement Thursday in response to an announcement by Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel of a proposal to change how calls to the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline are routed.
Monday, Mar 18, 2024
Unlike our children who enjoy a week-long spring break, we adults no longer have that luxury.
Friday, Mar 15, 2024

Latest Additions to SCVNews.com
1934 - Bouquet Canyon Reservoir, replacement for ill-fated St. Francis Dam & reservoir, begins to fill with water [story]
Bouquet Reservoir
The California Department of Public Health launched the “Never a Bother” campaign, a youth suicide prevention public awareness and outreach campaign for youth, young adults, and their parents, caregivers, and allies.
California Launches New Youth Suicide Prevention Campaign
The Santa Clarita Master Chorale invites the community to "Let the Sunshine In," a delightful evening of food, wine and song at the annual Cabaret & Cabernet fundraising benefit.
April 20: Santa Clarita Master Chorale’s Cabaret, Cabernet Fundraiser
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health cautions residents who are planning to visit the below Los Angeles County beaches to avoid swimming, surfing, and playing in ocean waters:
March 27 Ocean Water Warning
As an integral ingredient necessary to help the Santa Clarita Valley to flourish, feedback from the business community is the secret sauce for achieving great things.
SCVEDEC Asks For the Business Community’s Opinion on Santa Clarita
Raise your heart rate while raising funds for the Santa Clarita Sister Cities Dollars-for-Desks campaign to provide school desks for students in Sariaya, Santa Clarita's Sister City in the Philippines.
April 13: Sister Cities Zumba-thon Fundraiser
Remo, Inc. is is the world's leading manufacturer and developer of synthetic drumheads and shells. They’ve been in business for 60 years
SCVEDC Company Spotlight: Drumming Up Big Business with Remo, Inc.
California State Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo (D-Chatsworth) and Assemblyman James Ramos (D-Highland) have introduced AB 3074 the "School or athletic team names: California Racial Mascots Act."
Schiavo Introduces Bill to Prohibit ‘Derogatory’ School Mascot Names
Los Angeles County’s Justice, Care and Opportunities Department  in collaboration with Local Initiatives Support Corporation Los Angeles is proud to announce the 2nd Annual Pitch Competition for the cohorts of JCOD's Incubation Academy.
March 28: JCOD Incubation Academy Helps Grassroots Non-Profits For the Second Year
Children’s Bureau is seeking foster families and now offers two virtual ways for individuals and/or couples to learn how to help children in foster care while reunifying with birth families or how to provide legal permanency by adoption.
April 18: Children’s Bureau Hosts Virtual Orientation
The Sunburst track was constructed in 1887 by the Southern Pacific Railroad and was a part of the main line running between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Enjoy Spring With a Ride On The Sunburst Track
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond hosted a Personal Finance Summit today where he announced his support for Assembly Bill 2927 (McCarty), legislation that would require a personal finance education course for California high school graduation.
State Superintendent Announces Support for Personal Finance Graduation Requirement
1847 - Probable birth date of Pico Canyon oil driller Charles Alexander Mentry [story]
C.A. Mentry
The first Music Jam Session at The MAIN was held on Thursday, Feb. 22 and was a hit. Come out and join in for the next one on Thursday, March 28 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
March 28: The MAIN to Host Musicians’ Jam Session
Los Angeles County Inspector General Max Huntsman of the Office of Inspector General has issued a report entitled "Tenth Report Back on Implementing Body-Worn Cameras in Los Angeles County."
Office of Inspector General Issues Latest Report on LASD Body Cams
College of the Canyons women's tennis played to a convincing 7-2 conference win over Ventura College on Moica to strengthen its potential playoff resume.
Canyons Closes Out Ventura 7-2 in Final Home Match
Join the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce with the Latino Business Alliance at the Cinco de Mayo Networking Celebration on Tuesday, May 7.
May 7: Latino Business Alliance Cinco de Mayo Celebration
The Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control is hosting March Meowness promotion where all cat adoptions are just $15 from now until April 9.
Adopt a Cat During March Meowness at Castaic Animal Center
California State University, Northridge is partnering with the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and the Tataviam Land Conservancy to battle the impact of climate change in disadvantaged communities throughout the San Fernando Valley by establishing “urban forests.”
CSUN Partners with Fernandeño Tataviam Band to Build Urban Forests
Join the Santa Clarita Artists Association on Monday, April 15, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Barnes and Noble, 23630 Valencia Blvd., Valencia, CA 91355, for the SCAA monthly meeting and guest demonstrator.
April 15: SCAA Presents Debbie Abshear Watercolor Demo
Residents are invited to join members of the Santa Clarita City Council for a special ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the addition of Santa Clarita's 38th park, Skyline Ranch Park, 18355 Skyline Ranch Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91351, to the Santa Clarita parks system on Saturday, April 6, at 10 a.m.
April 6: Grand Opening for Santa Clarita’s 38th Park
The Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center is preparing for the annual fundraising event, Celebrity Waiter, with the theme “California Dreamin’” on Saturday, April 27 at Bella Vida, 27180 Golden Valley Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91351.
Table Sponsorships Still Available for Celebrity Waiter Dinner
Springtime in Santa Clarita brings not only vibrant blooms and opportunities to embrace the outdoors with warmer weather, but also an array of free, family-friendly events and this Saturday is no exception.
Ken Striplin | A Fun, Festive, Egg-Filled Day
SCVNews.com