Connections Between the Racial/Ethnic Make-Up of the Student Body and School Safety Personnel Use

ABSTRACT

Few studies empirically compare the approaches law enforcement officers (LEOs) and school mental health professionals (SMHPs) use to keep schools safe. Such comparisons are important for improving safety and student wellbeing. A focus on the experiences of racial/ethnic minority students is especially important given evidence that school safety approaches have harmed this group. In this study, we compare how LEOs and SMHPs report prioritizing their duties and how this prioritization varies in schools with a predominantly Latino/a/x or Native American population or diverse population versus a predominantly White population. To these ends, we pair school-level data with survey data from LEOs and SMHPs. Both LEOs and SMHPs prioritize and focus on reducing the risk of violence and building strong relationships. We also find that school demographic context plays a role in how some, but not all, school safety activities are prioritized. Implications for scholarship and policy are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• School safety
• school police
• race
• ethnicity
• mental health

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2023.2297039

Acknowledgments

Data collected for this paper were a part of an agreement (PI Sarah Lindstrom Johnson) with the Arizona Department of Education to evaluate the School Safety Program. We thank all the participants in the program for sharing their experiences as well as for the work they do to keep students safe.

Disclosure statement

This project was funded by the agency (Arizona Department of Education) that oversees the program evaluated in this study (School Safety Program).

Notes

1. A total of 282 LEOs and SMHPs (from 276 schools) responded to the survey. Six of these schools had two SSP-funded staff members on their campus (three schools had two SMHPs, three schools had one SRO and one SMHP).

2. The survey asked LEOs about “referrals for arrest.” Though LEOs might have referred students to the juvenile court or to community LEOs, they also could make arrests themselves. The survey’s wording might have influenced how LEOs responded to this question; future surveys should use more precise language.

3. Two items were not included in th isscale: “you direct small group sessions with students” and “you teach prevention lessons in the classroom.”

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Arizona Department of Education.

Notes on contributors

Andrea N. Montes

Andrea N. Montes., is an assistant professor at Arizona State University, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 411 North Central Avenue, Suite 600, Phoenix, Arizona 85004, email ([email protected]). Her research uses quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate questions related to justice system practices, what factors contribute to their effectiveness, and where the gaps between scholarship and practice exist.

Sarah Lindstrom Johnson

Sarah Lindstrom Johnson received her PhD in Public Health and is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University. Her work focuses on research-practice partnerships to support youth development, including school safety and school climate interventions.

Angelica Lopez

Angelica Lopez, M.A. is a Sociology PhD student in the Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics at Arizona State University. Her work focuses on quantitative methods and racial disparities in health outcomes.

Brooke Johnson

Brooke Johnson is currently a Project Coordinator with the PEAC lab at Arizona State University’s School of Social and Family Dynamics. Her work primarily focuses on the evaluation of intervention programs that support safe and healthy schools.

Alexis Klemm

Alexis Klemm, M.S., is a doctoral student at Arizona State University’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Her research focuses on incarceration and correctional systems, race and ethnicity within the justice system, and dynamics between citizens and agents of control. Her master’s thesis looks at racial and ethnic variation in incarcerated women’s reports of positive experiences with correctional officers.

Kay S. Varela

Kay S. Varela is a Presidential Postdoctoral Scholar in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on Critical Race Theory; critical race criminology and punishment; risk assessment; and qualitative methods. Specifically, her research focuses on the ways in which race, class, and gender impact perceptions of and experiences with public and personal safety.

Anthony Peguero

Anthony Peguero is a Professor of Sociology & Criminology at Arizona State University. His interests involve youth violence and school safety. Dr. Peguero is a member of Latina/o/x Criminology and Racial Democracy, Crime, and Justice Network which hold the goals of advancing research on the intersection of race, crime, equity, and justice.