Transcript
Neuschwanger- This podcast is a part of the digital news packet for Journ-3314, Breaking the School to Prison Pipeline, a collaboration between journalism and social work students.
Neuschwanger- I met with Steve Aleman, who is a Senior Policy Specialist at Disability Rights Texas to speak about issues regarding the discipline and suspension of disabled students in Texas schools. Disability Rights Texas in a Texas nonprofit corporation with special designation in Texas as the protection and advocacy agency for people with disabilities.
Neuschwanger- When a student is removed from school, that removal can interrupt the student’s education. Mr. Aleman spoke to me about how evaluating a student in an all encompassing manner can be beneficial, and ultimately help a student return to school.
Steven Aleman- The last thing we want to do is take a student who’s had an unfortunate mishap or situation at school or emergency, be disciplined and then end up suffering educationally, then that just compounds the injury that occurred with the removal. So it’s really incumbent upon the system to make sure there’s adequate resources for these disciplinary alternative education programs. And that the staffing there isn’t just the mindset, I’m here to impose your punishment on you. I’m here to make sure that you don’t misbehave any more. It needs to be a holistic approach of well, how can we help the child heal? How can we help the child maintain progress and be resilient enough to return to school?
Neuschwanger- Students with disabilities in rural parts of Texas often have less aid than students in more urban areas. This can mean that in rural areas it is more common for students to interact with the juvenile justice system.
Steven Aleman- As you know, there is quite a bit of literature about the school to prison pipeline. And that’s,in short, how simple referrals to law enforcement or involvement with police in the court system really put a child on a pathway to being removed from school or in depth after school in our criminal justice system. And really no one in the end benefits from that and the personal cost, the societal cost.So one big disparaging issue is about rural counties, and the differences in programs and supports there versus urban locations. Not to say that every urban area has a stellar program, but it’s more the lack of resources and lack of opportunity in rural areas. And so that’s where we were, especially in a state as big as Texas, we see that there being a state responsibility to ensure a level playing field for students who are removed from school get referred to local juvenile officials, that our state,Texas Juvenile Justice Department is
at the forefront of reform.
Neuschwanger- When students do interact with the juvenile justice system it is beneficial to look for disadvantages that a student may be suffering from.
Steven Aleman- A student who ends up in a juvenile justice facility. Are we screening them for dyslexia? Are we looking for perhaps hidden educational disadvantages that they have suffered, which help prompt them to misbehave to be in the situation because lo and behold, we never realize this. You know, “Stephen can’t read or can’t read all that well. And his misbehavior was out of frustration, not being able to vote performing classroom.” So it’s incumbent upon our system, both the state juvenile justice department as well as the support we provide to counties, especially rural counties, which are stretched with resources, and lack of capacity to understand underlying educational disadvantages, and address those so that the true purpose of the juvenile justice system of reform and does become a successful success story.
Neuschwanger- When talking about discipline in school, in regards to students with disabilities, the issue of restraints becomes prevalent. There may be a time when a student may need to be restrained due to a behavioral component of a disability. With proper planning and education, educators can avoid triggers that induce behavior in order to avoid circumstances that create emergencies. When emergencies are avoided, there is no need to restrain. It is essential to take a global assessment of a student when addressing a behavior and try to understand behavior through analysis, evaluations, and professional opinions. Restraints can go from legal to illegal depending on the frequency of use, the length of a restraint, the amount of force used, and the mechanism of a restraint. State regulations say that restraints should only be used in emergencies and for as brief an amount of time as possible. Mr. Aleman spoke to me about the dangers of concerning restraints.
Steven Aleman- The two mechanisms that we have the most concern with are what are called prone and supine restraints. And those are types of restraints when the student is literally flat on the ground, either face down or face up. In our concern with that mechanism, or manner of restraints being harmful and dangerous is that that is when the student is most vulnerable. Frankly, just because of an adult typically being a bigger human, then this child is going to impose so much pressure on the body cavity that they could cut off circulation could damage organs could fracture bones, broken ribcage, for instance, oil and or literally suffocate the student.
Neuschwanger- Mr. Aleman also spoke about creating accountability in restraints.
Steven Aleman- And finally, I think it’s common that there’ll be changes in our sort of accountability for restraints if people know, for instance, that every restraint to the extent possible has to be video recorded. And that shared with the parent that I think that adds a level of transparency to the process and decreases the likelihood of harm. We all know from the Black Lives Black Lives Matter movement, for instance, the power of video, showing a police restraint, and understanding what really actually happened there, rather than just relying on descriptions or words to explain what happened. The power of images is very important and critical. In that sense, it’s also critical and important in public schools when there was a restraint. So that could be a mechanism of accountability and monitoring, for instance, that we might look towards where there’s better camera surveillance, where students with disabilities are present, for instance, so if there is a restraint is captured on camera, it’s recorded, and both for the benefit of the family to know what happened to my child as well as for the defense of the educator say, look, I was put in a very difficult Supreme Court circumstance, it was an emergency. And as you can see, I was gentle but firm for instance. So I think it kind of could be a win, could be a benefit
Neuschwanger- When approaching disciplinary practices in schools, and how these practices are applied to students with disabilities, Disability Rights Texas aims to keep students with disabilities in a position, where they can continue to learn alongside their non-disabled peers, by trying to understand disabled students individually and holistically in order to provide them with support and avoid negative disciplinary action. I would like to thank Steven Aleman for speaking with me on April, 1st 2022. This podcast was made using portions of my interview of Mr. Aleman and edited on Adobe Audition
