The recent budget cuts to the Department of Education have resulted in the canceling of grants which funded 12 school resource officers and probation officers in various state schools.
I worked in one of the affected schools for 10 years. Riverview High School (known then as Mesa Vista) is a Mesa school for reluctant and resistant learners. That is a fancy way of saying students who often have a history of gang affiliation, violence, truancy, or drug use. Students who do not have school as their top priority.
Many of the kids I taught were on probation for a variety of offenses. The probation officer was a tremendous support-- sometimes a needed hammer, sometimes a needed positive role model.
Their work was necessary and appreciated. Their efforts kept many of these teenagers in school-- and off the streets where they would be far more trouble and costly to society.
And now these officers are gone. Rationale?
My school only had about 250 students, but as I said, we had an extremely high (30-50%) number of kids on probation.
Here is yet another example of poor decision making by Horne. Another example of how the budget cuts are affecting real people and the jobs they can do.
And a clear example of how this budget is making some schools-- and some neighborhoods-- less safe.
I worked in one of the affected schools for 10 years. Riverview High School (known then as Mesa Vista) is a Mesa school for reluctant and resistant learners. That is a fancy way of saying students who often have a history of gang affiliation, violence, truancy, or drug use. Students who do not have school as their top priority.
Many of the kids I taught were on probation for a variety of offenses. The probation officer was a tremendous support-- sometimes a needed hammer, sometimes a needed positive role model.
Their work was necessary and appreciated. Their efforts kept many of these teenagers in school-- and off the streets where they would be far more trouble and costly to society.
And now these officers are gone. Rationale?"The thought was (the cuts) would have less of an impact in smaller schools," said state schools Superintendent Tom Horne.
My school only had about 250 students, but as I said, we had an extremely high (30-50%) number of kids on probation.
Here is yet another example of poor decision making by Horne. Another example of how the budget cuts are affecting real people and the jobs they can do.
And a clear example of how this budget is making some schools-- and some neighborhoods-- less safe.
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