To avoid upsetting anybody, public schools are employing strict regulations to guarantee that pupils toe the line. Today, even the smallest blunder may tarnish a child’s record because another kid was upset by it. Stacy Dos Santos and her child found this personally.
Naturally, racism has become a contentious subject, even in primary schools where pupils are much too young to comprehend it. However, their innocence and naiveté have not prevented politically motivated authorities from projecting racism and unconscious prejudice onto children.
Collingswood Police officers were summoned to a third-grade class party at William P. Tatem Elementary School to investigate an event involving one of the pupils. Surprisingly, a 9-year-old kid was accused of using racist language, causing the teacher to alert the department right away. However, it was a simple statement made by the oblivious boy that found him at the heart of a frightening and contentious inquiry.
Reports say that the third-grader, who has not been named, was called in by police because he or she may have said something “racist.” According to his mom, the statement in issue was nothing more than him eagerly expressing his favorite dessert, ‘brownies’ being given at school.
Stacy Dos Santos, the 9-year-old boy’s mother, reports that local police came to the school and interviewed her kid about his statements. She alleges that the teacher who contacted the cops mistook her son’s comments regarding the baked goods for a racist insult directed at those with a darker complexion.
“He stated they were talking about brownies…. Who exactly did he offend? Stacy inquired.
Later that day, the school contacted the boy’s father, informing him that the cops had been summoned and that an inquiry had been forwarded to the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency. Dos Santos believes that the probe “shook up” her kid.
Stacy Dos Santos revealed that her kid, who is half-Brazilian from his father’s side, has been affected by the teacher’s conjecture. She went on to say that the school has a policy that requires staff to notify the police rather than address problems themselves.
According to the state’s Memorandum of Understanding, the school system promptly turns over any instances of suspected offenses, no matter how small, to the local police department and family services. This implies that even the most minor allegation might result in an extensive inquiry, such as the one Dos Santos has been subjected to.
Cops are called out to investigate concerns in the school system up to five times every day, according to Superintendent Scott Oswald. Parents are worried and angry about the rising number of situations that need police help. This has caused the school to look at its policy. According to Police Chief Kevin Carey, his officers are summoned for incidents as minor as a basic name-calling event that the school would generally address internally.
Collingswood school board president David Routzahn also acknowledged that the prosecutor’s office defines practically every problem as a possible criminal concern. This fact has parents concerned that a little quarrel with a classmate would jeopardize their children’s academic and criminal records.
The school has declared that Dos Santos’ charges are completely “untrue.” Nevertheless, when contacted for further information regarding the event and following a police inquiry, the school declined to respond.
Dos Santos said that she wanted an apology from the school as well as a change in how the district handles non-criminal concerns affecting its pupils. She and others argue that including law enforcement in such events not only harms the kids but also wastes the officers’ time and efforts.
