Today, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc., sent a letter to the Pinellas County School Board regarding their proposed Interagency Agreement between Pinellas County School Board, Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Pinellas County Schools Police Department, the University of South Florida, and the municipalities of Belleair, Clearwater, Gulfport, Indian Shores, Kenneth City, Largo, Pinellas Park, St. Petersburg, Tarpon Springs, and Treasure Island. Based on LDF’s initial review of the draft Agreement, the proposed Agreement is internally inconsistent and directly conflicts with the letter and spirit of the operative agreements in the federal school desegregation case. The proposed Agreement: (1) would be an abdication of the District’s promise to ensure that law enforcement does not supplant the critical role of educators in deploying developmentally appropriate, pedagogically sound interventions to student misbehavior, and (2) would abandon important provisions that protect the rights of students whom law enforcement seeks to question on campus.
Read the full letter here.