How would you feel if a police officer flipped and dragged you around the classroom? In South Carolina on Oct. 26, a student refused to cooperate in class therefore an officer had to come remove her from the classroom. The officer flipped the girl out of the desk and proceeded to drag her around the room. (Read the article and see the video: NYTimes) What would happen if an officer were to do this to a student at AHS? We asked AHS Principal Heather McKay and AHS Assistant Principal Matt Alexander what steps would be taken and what their reactions were to the South Carolina story.

Physically handling a student the wrong way can mean big trouble for teachers or other faculty at schools.  Knowing this, our AHS staff has to know the correct way to respond to an unruly student.  Regarding the South Carolina story, McKay said, ““My opinion is I wish I could know more specifics.”  and Alexander said “My opinion would be that if an individual poses an immediate threat to themselves or others, they need to be removed.”  If a teacher were to call for the office to remove a student and they still refused to leave the classroom, McKay said that she would have the rest of the classroom evacuate; Alexander said that it should be done in the safest way possible.

If it were to happen that a student would choose to not follow the directions to go to the office, McKay and Alexander have a procedure that they follow before calling an outside source.   The first step taken would be to locate the student and simply ask them to come to the hallway to talk.  McKay said that 99.9% of the time the kids cooperate and she also said that they try to remain non confrontational throughout the talk in the hallway.  If something were to happen at AHS where a student didn’t cooperate Alexander said, “I’d be shocked.”  He thinks that our student body is better than that.  

In past years, our school has utilized Officer Corey Larsen as our School Resource Officer (SRO).  The biggest reason for him no longer being with us is that the he was needed more and more at work.  However, if major problems were to arise within the district he is still available for the faculty to call.  Regarding the subject, McKay said, “He is still a resource for us but he is no longer under contract for us.”  

Faculty has certain restrictions on how they can physically handle students if they are choosing to act out.  Alexander said, “They’re allowed to protect the individual, themselves, and others.”  and McKay said that they are only supposed to put their hands on students if safety is an issue.  Grabbing students on the arm is okay, other than that, the teacher or administrator is to let outside authorities handle it.  

From the sounds of it, our student body is behaving pretty well so far this year.  McKay has only had to go down and talk to a student once and it’s the eleventh week of school.  “It’s small.”  she said.   All staff is trained once a year on how to properly handle students if they were to choose to act out in the classroom.  Once their certificate expires, they are required to take refresher courses to keep their knowledge and training up to date.