Nashville has worked to reduce arrests in schools. Will increased police presence reverse that?

Police presence in Metro Schools is at the “highest levels ever” — with more resource officers in middle and high schools, and additional safety staff in elementary. The leader of the Juvenile Court is hoping that doesn’t mean more kids will be arrested.

Research shows school resource officers do little to reduce violence and can be damaging to students of color or with disabilities.

“A child having a meltdown or breakdown in a school doesn’t mean that that needs to be a police response,” says Juvenile Court Judge Sheila Calloway.

More: Following the Uvalde shooting, police presence at Nashville schools will be at ‘highest levels ever’

The biggest change to this year’s school safety plan is in elementary schools.

Superintendent Adrienne Battle has said emphatically that she does not want armed officers inside elementary schools in Nashville. This year, there will be armed officers on patrol outside of elementary schools in the mornings, but not inside.

“I think this is an appropriate balance between the desire for added security and safety and collaboration with the police department, while not risking the criminalization of childhood behavior by using a policing response to incidents instead of our restorative approach,” Battle says.

Inside elementary schools, the district plans to hire 70 school safety ambassadors — an unarmed person who will receive training similar to school resource officers but will not be an active-duty police officer.

Calloway wants these new safety ambassadors, and the additional resource officers, to understand the impact of their presence.

“Their roles need to be separate from school disciplinary versus actual preventing of crimes,” Calloway says. “There’s a difference.”

Her fears are well-founded. About five years ago, kids were being arrested for things like behavioral issues. Nearly 60 kids 12 years old or younger were arrested in schools during the 2017 school year — most of them young Black boys.

It was a wake-up call that led to policy changes. The emphasis moved from arrests toward behavioral and mental health intervention. The next year, arrests among that age group fell more than 70%.

Calloway says city leaders don’t want increased police presence to reverse that progress.