Children's Law Center of MA Comments on Model Memo of Understanding between MA Public Schools and Police Departments
JULY 31 - Children's Law Center of Massachusetts submitted formal comments to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Commission reviewing the Model School Resource Officer (SRO) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
The line between school discipline and law enforcement is meant to be clearly separated, but often isn't in practice. Student disciplinary interviews can end up feeding police reports. Students with special needs, who have additional protections under the IDEA, may also have their due process rights affected in discipline matters. The presence of a Police Report, often provided to the school administration by the SRO, can unfairly prejudice their rights in a Manifestation Determination Review. SRO investigations can shape disciplinary outcomes even without SROs sitting in the hearing room. Students have faced the threat of delinquency charges as pressure in what should be a school disciplinary process.
The consequences reach further for immigrant students in particular. An arrest can mean fingerprints uploaded to a national database, increasing the risk of ICE involvement, regardless of a municipality's sanctuary status.
In our comments, we recommended the Commission:
Let superintendents request that SROs be assigned off site, rather than forcing an all or nothing choice
Define vague standards like "immediate intervention" and "imminent threat" with objective criteria
Require written justification whenever a disciplinary matter escalates to SRO involvement
Strengthen joint training for school staff and SROs on the boundaries between discipline and law enforcement
Require data collection and public accountability when MOU violations occur
Every student deserves a school community where clear standards guide when law enforcement gets involved, so that support and discipline stay in the hands of educators first.