Assistant professor Dana Thompson Dorsey in the UNC School of Education views N.C. Senate Bill 343 as a way for the N.C. General Assembly to dismantle the public education system.
The bill states that assault on a school official — including teachers, principals and bus drivers — by a student 16 years or older would be a misdemeanor on the first offense, and subsequent ones classified as felonies. Students with disabilities who have individualized education plans and accommodations would be excluded from these penalties.
Thompson Dorsey said the bill could apply largely to disadvantaged or disciplinarily challenged students. Staff writer Joe Martin spoke with Thompson Dorsey about the bill and her views.
The Daily Tar Heel: What is the rationale for such a harsh penalty?
Dana Thompson Dorsey: When you put a bill like this into place, what happens is you have more students who end up in the criminal system than in the educational system. We already have a large percentage of students of colors — particularly African-American males — who end up being suspended or expelled for doing the same exact things that their white counterparts do. It gives the benefit of the doubt to the school official that it truly is assault and not that the student was defending him- or herself, or that there may be extenuating circumstances. What is already existing in schools — in terms of these biases that are leading to these exorbitant amount of suspensions and expulsions of students — this may now ratchet that up and now not only lead to suspension or expulsion, but criminal penalties for the student.
DTH: State Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, cites an increasing number of assaults occurring in schools during the 2013-14 school year. Is this a good rationale for the bill?
DTD: I would need more detail about why that increase occurred. If there’s also more of a police presence in schools these days, with school resource officers, also known as SROs ... we have that increased presence, which can bring problems on (its) own. With that increased presence, there can be more agitation, fear, confrontation. These are situations that can occur that may also be a result of people misunderstanding people’s actions or cultural and racial biases.
I definitely don’t think a bill like this needs to go into effect until we address some of these other biases that I mentioned and the disproportionality of suspensions and expulsions that already exist.
DTH: What would the implications be if this bill does pass? You discussed the racial aspect of it, but will we see people being thrown in prison? Do you see the 1,300assaults statistic decreasing?
