Date of Award

Spring 2-16-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

EdD Education Leadership, Management and Policy

Department

Education Leadership, Management and Policy

Advisor

David Reid, PhD

Committee Member

Lynnette Dortrait, EdD

Committee Member

Rasheedah Saleem-Muhammad, EdD

Keywords

School Resource Officers, school safety, black girls, SRO, SLEO, class III officers

Abstract

School safety is a topic of concern across the nation today because images of mass shootings and violence in schools receive heavy media coverage. Different strategies have been enacted to keep people safe including metal detectors, video surveillance, strict discipline policies, and armed personnel. Some of these strategies such as zero tolerance policies and school resource officers have received scrutiny from activist groups such the American Civil Liberties Union because they are attributed with the trend known as the school-to-prison pipeline (ACLU, 2013). This trend poses that strict policies and the presence of law enforcement in schools pushes minority children out of school and into the prison system.

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore school administrators’ perceptions of school resource officers’ preparedness to work with Black girls in an urban school district in New Jersey. School administrators and district officials play critical roles in developing and implementing policies that safeguard children as well as the employees. School administrators are responsible for training and supervising all personnel including law enforcement officials when they are working on school property.

This study involved two visits with participants: (1) a 30-minute one-on-one interview with each school administrator and school resource officer and (2) a 30-minute one-on-one follow-up interview in which participants can check their responses for accuracy.

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