Letters: Maybe police shouldn’t be posted in schools

I attended Sumter High during the school riot of 1970. This was the year of desegregation, racial tensions were high, and the strategy of suppressing black students backfired, so the district hired mature professional people from the community to serve as hall monitor-truant officer-role models. They were not law-enforcement officials.

Students continued to cut class, smoke on school property, disrespect authority, fail to participate, hang together in restrictive groups and have conflict, but there were no more riots. Disrupting school simply resulted in a call to parents. Kids who continually broke the rules were suspended or expelled and given the option of attending night school. Those who did not receive effective parenting or teaching in the community did drop out; schools are learning environments committed to those who want to learn.

I wonder if the police-state mentality could be moderated by school districts employing their own security personnel.

Yes these are different times. However, applying a police-state mentality to all issues may be the problem. So is Sheriff Leon Lott’s attempt to demonize the victim. Voters should require accountability from law enforcement leadership.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Letters: Maybe police shouldn’t be posted in schools."