The Case Study of the Greenwood School District's Use of District School Security Officers

• In Event: Teaching and Learning in a Time of Turmoil, Polarization, and Trauma

Abstract

In 2015 Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina Officer Ben Fields slammed a fifteen-year-old Black female student on the floor and handcuffed her for refusing to turn over her cell phone to her classroom teacher. Since that horrific event, a spate of similar instances of police officers stationed within schools, commonly referred to as school resource officers (SROs), abusing students have surfaced prompting many to rethink the police officer presence in schools. The focus of this presentation is the results of a case study that examine how the Greenwood School District (NJ), through the employment of district-employed School Security Officers (SSO), offers an alternative approach to addressing school safety and, simultaneously, student wellbeing.

Author

• Keith E. Benson, Camden City School District