Letter to the editor: Lattner

Letter to the editor:
Criminalizing Minors

You won't believe where our civil liberties are being attacked now. My 13 year old son and two others like him were facing a misdemeanor charge by the Kasson-Mantorville Police School Resource Officer (SRO). The offense was for being offered and/or taking less than $.30 of "Frooties" candy from a friend's locker. The boy who owned the Frooties candy, gave his combination to other boys who opened the locker and were getting candy. My son asked what they were doing and they asked him if he wanted some candy. My son said, "yes" and took approx 20 of the small pieces which he also handed out to his friends during the day. The owner of the locker noticed the candy being gone and reported it to Officer Peck who was nearby. Officer Peck reviewed the school camera film, conducted a recorded interrogation of the minors without a parent or lawyer present, and issued criminal citations that were forwarded to the Dodge County Court.

For this offense, three of the four boys were given a three  day out-of-school suspension and were later charged with criminal misdemeanor theft. Another boy known by the officer received no citation or out-of-school suspension at all. The family of and the boy who reported the missing candy to Officer Peck asked that no charges be brought against these minor boys. Officer Peck pushed it through till it reached the Dodge County Prosecutor and Court. The Court threw the case out when the first minor appeared for this court hearing.

When I spoke with the Kasson-Mantorville Superintendent of Schools, Mark Matuska, he was not aware that the District had signed off on forwarding the charges for some candy and felt the punishment was not proportional to the alleged offense. The Dodge County Court said they would not normally take a case like this but because it was pushed through they are obligated to hear it. The children were being charged under the same statute as taking items off war dead (MN Statute 609.52). No such charges appear from Triton or Hayfield School Districts which also report to the Dodge County Court.

The Districts outside of Kasson-Mantorville refer drug and violence cases which are better suited for the legal system and its limited resources. We never had these problems under our previous SRO through the Dodge County Sherriffs Office. Our Kasson Police Department SRO primarily focuses on candy and food fights for criminal action.

The problem is that SROs are in our schools to protect against real crime: drugs, violence, and bullying. Unfortunately, some like Officer Peck are taking away the rights of active parents to raise their young children and discipline them in a way that brings them to a healthy and productive adulthood. Instead of working with the parents, he throws it into the courts.

The use of school-based citations, interrogations without a parent or attorney present, and arrests as a means of addressing even minor, non-violent disciplinary infractions should raise serious concerns for educators, parents, and the wider community.

While there is no question that guaranteeing the safety of our public schools is important, we must never come to view criminally citing minor infractions committed by minor aged school students as just another approach to discipline.

Instead, every time a school-based citation or other police punishment occurs, we must ask: Was this a rational, proportional, and evenhanded response to the misbehavior? Was it really necessary? Was there another way?

Plainly, SRO’s can help make schools safer. But with the wrong SRO, his presence also may encourage a criminal justice response to misconduct better addressed by school administrators and active parents who work with those administrators.

Unfortunately, there is a trend over the last few years of criminalizing our Kasson- Mantorville children, through increased reliance on selective zero-tolerance school discipline, school-based interrogations, and citations. This is beginning to create an atmosphere of the "school-to-probations pipeline" for our minors.

There is a lot of documentation available in the local media and the Dodge County Court to see this trend occurring here in the K-M School District. The focus is not on drugs, violence, or bullying. This SRO has put his focus on minor infractions and has escalated them to where our court is becoming the mandated parent of our children. Again, is this the most rational, proportional, and evenhanded response to minor misbehavior?

                  Respectfully Submitted,
                      Bernie Lattner