HungryBlues

Jeb Bush Asks For Florida Department Of Law Enforcement Review Of Johnnie Mae Chappel 1964 Murder Case

Posted Friday, April 29, 2005
Florida, others reopen civil rights death cases
Gov. Jeb Bush asked state law enforcement officials to open the half-century-old civil rights murder case of Johnnie Mae Chappell, following a regional trend.
By AUDRA D.S. BURCH
[email protected]

William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation

Nearly a half-century after the civil rights movement, a new generation of prosecutors and state officials -- some born after the era ended -- is reexamining some of the South's worst hate crimes.

This week, Gov. Jeb Bush asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review the case of Johnnie Mae Chappell, a black woman murdered on her way home 41 years ago in Jacksonville. In February, state Attorney General Charlie Crist reopened the case of a Mims activist couple murdered in 1951.

Cases all over the Deep South -- Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and now Florida -- are being reopened despite aging suspects and witnesses. Over the past decade, more than a dozen white supremacists have been convicted in killings during the Civil Rights era.

''Time is running out,'' says Penny Weaver, spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based group that tracks hate crimes. ``There's just a few cases left, and time or age should not matter.''

Chappell's admitted shooter, J.R. Rich, was convicted and served time, but charges were eventually dropped against three other suspects, all of whom are still alive. For its brutality and suspicion of police corruption, the case came to symbolize the danger of the civil rights struggle in Jacksonville and the rest of the South.

The Poverty Law Center counts about 15 remaining known civil rights ''cold'' cases of crimes committed between 1954, when the Supreme Court outlawed school segregation, and 1968, the year Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Civil rights experts say this number is but a fraction, though, as it includes only cases with enough details to be investigated.

''Justice is one of those broad and interesting words that in real life sometimes means very little, but if you are talking about healing, you have to open these cases, pursue them and give the families a final chapter,'' said Susan Glisson, director of the University of Mississippi's William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation.

ASKS FOR `A REVIEW'

In a letter sent Wednesday to FDLE Commissioner Guy M. Tunnell, Bush asked for ''a review, investigation and determination as to whether enough evidence exists today to support the filing of criminal charges'' against three men who were indicted but were never tried for lack of evidence in the slaying of Chappell. Crist's office also is reviewing the case.

The FDLE was asked to review the Chappell case once before, in 1979, at the request of then-Gov. Bob Graham. The office concluded the case should be officially reopened, but no action was taken, and it is not clear why. Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre said he thought the FDLE examined allegations of police corruption, rather than details of the actual murder.

In December, state Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, asked Bush to appoint a special prosecutor to the case. A Herald article published April 19 brought new attention to the case. ''I am sure the governor is treading cautiously, making sure everything is in order, but we have been here before,'' Hill said. ``For the life of me, I cannot understand how four people were involved and only one person went to trial.''

In 1964, Johnnie Mae Chappell was walking along Jacksonville's New Kings Road, looking for a wallet she had lost while buying ice cream for her children. As race riots raged miles away, Chappell was shot, and Rich confessed he was the gunman.

Over the years, the Chappell family and Lee Cody, a sheriff's deputy who arrested the men, have fought for justice. Their efforts have largely stalled in state offices until now.

Hill said he is exploring filing a bill during the current legislative session to award the surviving Chappell children reparations.

Civil rights cold cases are typically an uphill battle for surviving family members and activists who help them. With decades gone by, prosecutors are hobbled by lost time, records and evidence.

(Whole thing.)

Accounts Of Police Involvement In Ja'eisha Scott Case Raise New Questions About Assist. Principal Dibenedetto's Intent

On Wednesday, St. Petersburg, FL Police Chief Chuck Harmon gave the fullest account so far of how police ended up at Fairmount Park Elementary School on March 14, 2005.

On March 7, a week before the handcuffing, Officer [Mark] Williams [who is Black] left his business card at Fairmount during a call unrelated to the girl.

The next day, school officials were struggling with disciplining Akins' daughter, Harmon said. They tried to call Akins and the girl's grandmother. They also tried to call Pinellas schools police, he said.

Getting no response, they called city police. But a police supervisor canceled the call, Harmon said, probably concluding the call was not appropriate for police to handle.

In frustration, he said, the school used Williams' business card and called him on his cell phone. Williams responded and spoke to the girl about "good choices, bad choices, that sort of thing," Harmon said. "At some point he did display his handcuffs to her."

He said the department will look closely at the nature of that conversation. If the handcuffs were used to intimidate the girl, he said, "that's against our policy and we don't do that."

On March 14, the day of the taping, the school called city police again after Pinellas schools police could not come (emphasis added).

Williams heard the call, was familiar with the girl and "decided on his own to respond," Harmon said. Williams was with an officer in training. Another unit with two additional officers responded to the call officially, bringing the total to four.

Harmon said he did not know why a police supervisor did not cancel the call, as was done a week earlier.

Williams is the officer heard on the tape saying to the girl before her handcuffing: "You need to calm down. You need to do it now. Okay?"

This account raises further questions about how and why police got involved in Ja'eisha Scott's problems at Fairmount Park Elementary School. In the initial SP Times story, from March 18, before the release of video footage, Pinellas County school district Area III superintendent Michael Bessette, who oversees Fairmount Park and several other schools, agreed that the school should have called district campus police to intervene.

The assistant principal was in the process of doing just that, he said, but another in a series of outbursts by the girl interrupted her in mid call. When she asked the secretary to call for help, the secretary called city police instead.

Bessette's explanation is quite different from Harmon's, above, in boldface. Chief Harmon's explanation is simpler and easy to believe at face value. Bessette's explanation is complicated and sounds a little far-fetched. Both explanations deflect responsibility from Assistant Principal Nicole Dibenedetto. Where does Mr. Bessette's version of the story come from, if the Pinellas schools police were called but could not come.

The police report indicates that Ms. Dibenedetto was DISAPPOINTED when charges were not filed against the five year old girl. If Ms. Dibenedetto did not intend for the city police to be called, then she would not have had criminal charges in mind. I think there is reason to give further scrutiny to Nicole Dibenedetto's role in having city police come to Fairmount Park. Surely both the District Campus Police and the St. Petersburg Police must have phone logs that might clarify who called what agency when.

Discerning The Social Fabric Of St. Petersburg, Florida (III) (From The Comments)

HungryBlues commenter Blackwell Raines has a historically informed, clear-sighted perspective on the inexcusable treatment of Ja'eisha Scott.

The incident is St Petersburg, Florida is worthy of us reflecting deeply upon ourselves and the society as a whole. This blog allows a dialogue of the civilization to be effected, which is most often sorely missing. This topic of which I speak is the handicuffing by police of a 5-year-old kindergartener.

The handcuffing by strangers, regardless of a 5-year-old's behavior is a horrific, act of terror. In fact, if done by family members themselves, in a punitive manner, it would be such--even judged deeply disturbed. Why? Well, if every such young child was dealt with in a similar way, when behavior was described as inapprorpiate, imagine the lifetime of emotional scarring. And this is the reason behind middle class children never having to face such treatment--middle class white children, that is. But minority children seem to draw a particular harsh set of responses from those in charge--one of contempt, one of brutish reaction, and brooding resentment.

Historically, there is nothing new to to such traumatizing and coercive display of force, even against the very young, St Petersburg or anywhere in the state. Florida's past is littered with attacks on minority children, black children in particular. In the days of legal segregation, black children as young as 6-years-old could end up in "convict-lease" system, a conscripted prisoner system, in which work on private projects, such as road construction, was mandatory, six days a week. (PBS.org) Only black children, and latino children, and the occasional poor white kid, were effected. Such a thing was unthinkable to have happen to the middle class white child.

Individuals may not know their history, the state may elect to exclude such historical facts from hand-picked history books, but institutions, such as police forces, and schools, carry on business as usual, acting smugly and justifiably to criminalize whenever and wherever they deign to do so.

No unbiased, rational thought can justify criminalizing a 5-year-old in the name of orderliness. Equally, no society can support the brutalization of its youngest, and expect healthy adults. More, no society can call itself decent and democratic, and yet find ways to crush those of color.

Remember, one police officer, confidently stated that he had given the child's mother an earlier warning--next time, handcuffs. To make doubly good on that warning, the little girls's hands and feet were cuffed. Now, imagine a little blond white girls in those cuffs.

DNC Stiffs Black Press Over Election Ads In 2004 And 2000

Remember John Kerry, Hypocrite Opportunist? Here's another chapter from the same story:

“This is the first time I have ever known that the Democratic Party almost totally ignored the Black Press as far as advertising in its publications,” says Dorothy Leavell, publisher of the Chicago New Crusader. “They did this targeted kind of advertising in battleground states and ignored the rest of the Black Press.”

Two months before November’s election, NNPA Chairwoman Sonny Messiah-Jiles wrote a letter to DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe, pressing him about ad dollars that he’d promised the Black Press.

“Well, we are in the final 60 days and there is a lot of work to be done. Unfortunately, the National Newspaper Publishers Association has not heard from the DNC regarding its advertising plans. As a result, I am sending you the proposal previously submitted in June, 2004 by the National Newspaper Publishers Association to ensure The Black Press of America is a part of the strategic advertising campaign to educate and mobilize voters to go to the polls and vote in November,” she wrote. “During a meeting with the leadership of NNPA, [Democratic Presidential Candidate] Senator [John] Kerry and you both made a vow to advertise with The Black Press of America in a big way. Considering during the last presidential election, the Democratic candidate made a promise to advertise in Black newspapers and did not follow through, I am sending you another copy of our proposal in an effort to avoid history repeating itself and remind you of the commitment.”

(Whole thing.)

What Is Going On In The Pinellas County Schools??

Could anything like this be the background for what happened to Ja'eisha Scott at Fairmount Park Elementary School? As Marian Douglas has been saying, Ja'eisha's case and the large number of related incidents ought to be international HUMAN RIGHTS scandals.

Treazure And Erskine: Victims Of Troubled Discipline In Our Schools?
by Tracie Reddick
The Weekly Challenger

Challenger Correspondent
ST. PETERSBURG - Janice Arthur was not surprised by a videotape depicting a 5-year-old student at Fairmount Elementary School being arrested and handcuffed by police officers (emphasis added).

''Black kids are mistreated every day in Pinellas County schools,’’ she said (emphasis added).

Arthur recently filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Education against educators at Tyrone Elementary School, who she says routinely harass her grandchildren, Treazure Kitchen and Erskine Cross. She has a stack of referrals to back the allegations she cited that included:

• Both Treazure and Erskine were accused by Tyrone administrators of stealing. School officials referred the incident to the state attorney's office, which has recommended she attend a Juvenile Arbitrition Program. Arthur does not want her to become part of the criminal justice system.

• Treazure being suspended for choking a classmate, although she denied the incident. The victim recently confessed Treazure was merely hugging her but she was told by a teacher to say Treazure choked her (emphasis added).

• Children being allowed to hit Treazure, but when she retaliates, she is the only one disciplined. Last week, she was hit in the head with a rock (emphasis added).

• A teacher using profanity in the classroom.

• Administrators allegedly telling Treazure to enroll in another school.

• Erskine, who has cerebal palsy, being forced to wear wet clothes all day after being caught in a downpour while walking from one building to another during a recent rainstorm.

• Erskin being forced to participate in a regular physical education class where he is made to run laps despite notes from his physician stating it is causing discomfort and pain in his legs.

• A teacher calling Erskine a monkey in front of his classmates (emphasis added).

Arthur has relied on a cadre of community leaders to accompany her or make calls on her behalf in this case. They include NAACP Director Darryl Rouson, Retired Educator Adelle Jemison, Rev. Preston Leonard and Rev. Alvin Miller and KINFOLKS, an agency that advocates for black children in foster care and kinship care arrangements.

''They say they want black parents to get more involved in the schools and that's what I'm doing,’’ Arthur said ''But, it's like I'm being punished because I am questioning the way they are treating my grandchildren'' (empasis added).

Not so, said Area III Superintendent Michael Bissette, who does not believe Arthur’s grandchildren are being targeted by Tyrone teachers. ''They are not all bad people,’’ he said. ''Teachers don’t choose a career in education to pick on kids.’’

Nevertheless, Bissette noted preliminary investigations into Arthur’s allegations revealed a Tyrone teacher admitting to calling Erskine a monkey (emphasis added). He has since been disciplined, along with another teacher who used profanity in the classroom.

''It was not the worse of swear words,’’ said Bissette, noting the other incidents outlined by Arthur are under investigation.

Meanwhile, a breakdown in communication between Arthur and Tyrone officials is evident, Bissette said. ''It’s not working and we have to figure out how to fix it,’’ he said.

Part of the problem could be that Arthur no longer trusts Tyrone teachers and is relying too much on what her grandchildren are saying, Bissette explained.

On the flipside, there is a top administrator at Tyrone who is determined ''to teach these kids how to behave,’’ and she has been asked to remove herself from the discipline equation, he said (emphasis added).

On a recent visit to Tyrone, Bissette observed Erskine in the classroom. Other than being fidgety, the boy was not disruptive, he said.

Arthur explained Erskine’s leg brace causes his leg to cramp and she has asked teachers to allow him to stretch, but they want him to remain seated.

Texas A&M Professor Gwendolyn Webb-Johnson raised a similar point during a recent conference at the University of South Florida focusing on the black family and child.

''Our kids are socialized to be vibrant,’’ said Webb-Johnson. ''They are taught from a young age to move and shake. But when they go to school they are told to shut up, sit down and don’t move.’’

Webb-Johnson stated black children are victims of racial profiling in the classroom and schools need to adopt a ''culturally responsible pedagory’’ (emphasis added).

''It’s different teaching Moesha, Tameka, Pokey and Boo-boo,’’ added AME Bishop Vashti McKenzie. ''You cannot develop the same game plan for Pokey as you do for Myrum, Hyrum and William and Byrum. You have to take our kids from where they are before you take them to where you want them to go.’’

That’s all Arthur wants for her grandchildren Although Bissette believes it may be in her grandchildren’s best interest to enroll them at a different school, Arthur believes they have a right to remain at Tyrone.

''Treazure is a strong girl,’’ Arthur concluded. ''She may be the one that can stand there and take it so that other people can see how black kids are being mistreated at Tyrone.''

Discerning The Social Fabric Of St. Petersburg, Florida (II)

Judge expands school lawsuit

In giving the lawsuit class-action status, a judge rules Pinellas schools have failed to narrow the achievement gap for black students

By RON MATUS, Times Staff Writer Published July 2, 2004

ST. PETERSBURG - A lawsuit charging Pinellas County Schools with failing to educate black children was granted class-action status Thursday.

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge James Case made the ruling in a case filed nearly four years ago on behalf of William Crowley, who is black, and his son Akwete Osoka, then a second-grader at Sawgrass Lake Elementary School.

The decision means the suit now represents all 21,000 black students in Pinellas and all black children who attend the county's public schools in the future. . . .

The suit says the district has failed to narrow a yawning achievement gap between black and white students, in violation of the equal protection clause in the state Constitution. It asks the district to craft a solution. . . .

Lawyers for the school district also have argued that the lawsuit should not be granted class-action status because the circumstances of each child's success or failure can be different. But Case rejected that argument, concluding the plaintiffs are arguing that the system has failed to meet its constitutional duty to provide a "high-quality" education to black students.

"Although individual cases reinforce the statistical data, it is the system as a whole that is being challenged, not how that system has dealt with a particular student on an individual basis," the judge wrote.

Case wrote in his order that the plaintiffs "have cited an overabundance of statistical evidence indicating that black students are achieving far below white students in every category and are receiving statistically significantly more discipline referrals than their white counter-parts."

Discerning The Social Fabric Of St. Petersburg, Florida (I)

Racism and tourism have been persistent factors in St. Petersburg. Although, as social conditions changed, the city also altered its strategies to extract profits from tourists and to restrict African American contact with them. After the 1964 Civil Rights act dismantled the legal segregation of African Americans, the city of St. Petersburg could no longer pass blatantly racist resolutions. Therefore, city officials relied on subtle policies such as urban redevelopment schemes and interstate highways to discriminate against African Americans and attract tourists. Combined with hostile desegregation, the city either altered, destroyed, or divided the African American community to develop its tourist economy. Social networks and relations among African Americans were sacrificed. . . .

Almost twenty years after the Supreme Court outlawed segregated schools in Brown vs Topeka Board of Education, Pinellas county desegregated its schools. African Americans considered a major barrier to an open society had fallen. However, their children and communities would pay a heavy price for challenging the power structure of St. Petersburg and the county. Laws changed de jure segregation, but did not alter the years of conditioning that led whites to assume that African Americans were inferior. Therefore, their children were suspended, expelled, disproportionately placed in "emotionally handicapped classes" and given few opportunities to see African Americans in positions of importance. In 1980, nine years after the schools were desegregated, Doreatha Bennett, a parent, observed that in her granddaughter's school, there were no black students in leadership. She and others in the community concluded that black students were treated unequally in the schools. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ensured that they would forever be a minority by limiting their population in each school to a maximum of 30 percent. By 1980, eleven of the 33 middle and high schools did not have black administrators and black teachers comprised 11.6 percent of the population (the affirmative action goal was 15.8 percent). On June 23, 1992, thirty-two retiring African American teachers were interviewed by Peggy Peterman, a St. Petersburg Times journalist. Twenty-one years after desegregation they reported that there continued to be a dearth of black role models in the schools and a climate of cultural tensions. They observed that many white teachers are afraid of black students, and black students do not feel comfortable in the predominantly white schools. Even Howard Hinesley, superintendent of schools, acknowledged that whites don't have a significant understanding or appreciation for differences in cultures and a respect for African Americans. "We have culturally ignored some of the issues that bother the (black) students," reported Hinesley. The school board undermined the ability of African American community to transmit its cosmology through the school and endangered African American students by not addressing cultural differences between blacks and whites. The burden of desegregation fell unequally on African American children. Perhaps more devastating, the city's development plans destroyed communities. The preservers and anchors of culture were scattered and estranged by the planned destruction of the community. Hence, the African American community faced tremendous odds. As early as 1975, the African American community was physically separated by an interstate highway. . . .

The transmission of indigenous knowledge by a community to its youth endows them with the values of the group. Without a sense of continuity, the individual exists without appropriate skills for living. . . . When traditional means are no longer available to affirm one's sense of identity, alternatives are sought. . . . [T]he current rise in crime among youths is directly related to the disruption of their neighborhoods. African Americans, perceived as a threat to tourism, led city officials to create buffers between downtown and the black community. However, the city's plans backfired. The Suncoast Dome, renamed Thunder Dome is without a team. And many of African American youths the city sacrificed are creating havoc. They are endangering their own lives and the safety and security of citizens and tourists. However, it was the city's love for tourist dollars and its hate and fear of African Americans that created the problems the community faces.

(Evelyn Newman Phillips, Bus To Destiny: An Ethnohistorical Analysis of the Political Economy of Ethnicity Among African Americans in St. Petersburg, Florida, CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS, emphasis added.)

Some Questions About The Ja'eisha Scott Case (III)

Why did the SP Times wait six days to introduce thoughtful, professional comments about understanding Ja'eisha's behavior?

"A normal tantrum would be verbal refusal to obey, to cry or scream and to do that for a brief period of time, maybe five or 10 minutes," said Patricia J. Shiflett, a St. Petersburg clinical psychologist with 20 years' experience.

This?

This was "an example of extreme fight or flight," a response in which "you either run from or you fight with what you perceive as dangerous," Shiflett said.

In "extreme fight or flight," the stress of the situation is too overwhelming for the child to manage.

"It may be the collective stress in the child's life, not just stress at the school," she said.

None of the psychologists went as far as to diagnose the girl. Ethically, they could not.

"It really is a snapshot," Pinto said. "We don't know anything about the particulars of the child, the classroom and the adults that are available to serve as resources."

Because of student confidentiality, no one, except Pinellas County Schools, knows.

That piece of information, Shiflett said, is key to understanding the best way to deal with unusually agitated children.

"It's important to evaluate the child and the stressors in the child's life, any medical problems or other reasons why the child is having this kind of reaction," she said.

And about what might have been an appropriate response from the assistant principal, Nicole Dibenedetto?

Midway through the tape, the girl makes her first and only declarative statement: "I want to go with my teacher." She was told no, that she had made the room "unsafe" for her teacher and classmates.

Weinberg said this "was an interesting moment of opportunity" for assistant principal Nicole Dibenedetto and teacher Patti Tsaousis.

"I would have liked to have thought that they would've said, "Would you like to see your teacher?' and see what she said and to try to give her successive choices where she could get what she wanted as long as we sort of staged those choices in a way that got her to calm down," he said. . . .

The idea, Weinberg said, is to get children to verbalize their feelings, rather than act out.

"If the student says something, we know that if you can take the feelings and the anger and the angst, and put those feelings and thoughts into words, rather than channel it into behavior, then you're onto something."

Why did the SP Times only excerpt the parts of the video that sensationalize the conflict between Ja'eisha, the teachers, principal and police?

Why didn't the SP Times include the beginning of the video to shed some light on the possible causes of Ja'eisha's reaction to her teacher?

RELATED POSTS:
Arresting Children Under 12 In Florida
It's a statewide epidemic, and Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, leads the state, along with Hillsborough County, in arresting children under 11 years old.

What's Race Got To Do With It?

Focus On Pinellas County Schools
• "Black kids are mistreated every day in Pinellas County schools"

• Class Action Suit: "the district has failed to narrow a yawning achievement gap between black and white students, in violation of the equal protection clause in the state Constitution."

• Criminalizing Children In Florida

Things You May Not Have Read About The Ja'eisha Scott Case
• Accounts Of Police Involvement In Ja'eisha Scott Case Raise New Questions About Assist. Principal Dibenedetto's Intent

• "I think they were good people . . . [Ja'eisha] didn't act like that over here."

Some Questions About The Ja'eisha Scott Case (II)

The St Petersburg Times, which was first to make the video of Ja'eisha publicly available and has provided some of the most detailed coverage of the story, is the same newspaper that in the year 2000 ran a six article series on the epidemic proportions of police arrests of children under twelve years old.

Six-year-olds in handcuffs are taken in police cars to assessment centers, where they often wait for hours. Kids as young as 7 spend the night in detention centers. Kids as young as 10 are sent away for a year or more.

And in a very few cases, children enter the justice system at even younger ages, such as a 5-year-old St. Petersburg boy charged this year with burglary; and incredibly, a preschool arson suspect who went through a pretrial diversion program in South Florida at age 3.

More than 4,500 kids 11 and under were charged with crimes in Florida during the fiscal year that ended in June -- including 413 in Pinellas County, 372 in Hillsborough, 61 in Pasco, 23 in Citrus and 17 in Hernando -- and many were arrested more than once.

In fact, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties lead the state in cases of under-12-year-olds charged with a crime (emphasis added).

Another article from the same series emphasizes that African American children are disproportionately represented among those who are arrested at these young ages.

The data show 40.5 percent of juveniles 12 and older charged with crimes are African-American. But for children under 12, the percentage jumps to 55 percent African-American.

And for youths in detention centers, the juvenile version of jails, 57.2 percent were African-American.

This is in spite of the fact that roughly 21 percent of school-age children are African-American, according to state Department of Education figures.

Pinellas County, where Ja'eisha's school, Fairmount Park Elementary School, is located, leads the state with Hillsborough county in these incidents.

Why hasn't the St. Petersburg Times mentioned any of these trends—which it reported on in its own pages—as part of the context for what happened to Ja'eisha Scott?

We have a great deal of information about bad conduct of police towards very young children inside and outside of Pinellas County Schools and zero information about the causes of Ja'eisha's behavior and the nature of Inga Akins' parenting.

Why is there such a rush to blame a vulnerable African American girl, who is ONLY FIVE YEARS OLD and "by reason of . . . physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care" (Unicef Convention on the Rights of the Child, via Marian Douglas)?

Why are there so few questions being asked about the role of the responsible adults who were present at the time of the incident?

Why is there so little acknowledgment of the age- and race-related power imbalances?

Why is it so little acknowledged that the only person who was ever in any genuine physical danger was Ja'eisha Scott?

Why have none of the reporters in the mainstream press bothered to seek expert opinions on the traumatic effects of such police behavior on small children?

Why have none of the news reports discussed what prevention resources are, in fact, available for children in Pinellas County, Florida?

Why have none of the news reports acknowledged the lack of funding for mental health treatment for children in Florida?

"This is what kids need. They need to be engaged," said Panacek, executive director of the Hillsborough Children's Board and a specialist in special education.

Panacek is a strong critic of the "real idiotic, knee-jerk response" she believes schools and police display by arresting young children who don't intend to hurt anyone.

So what would she do?

Find ways to prevent kids from being so disruptive that they wind up in handcuffs.

It sounds easier said than done, but several experts on children say there are ways to accomplish it. Here are some of their suggestions:

Provide more mental health treatment for children. Funding for some mental services is so low that children are virtually required to commit crimes before they qualify for certain programs, some say (emphasis added). "In general, the solution to decreasing the arrests of school-aged children is to provide a much better funded, more comprehensive mental health service to the community," said Dr. Mark Cavitt, medical director of psychiatry at All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

RELATED POSTS:
Arresting Children Under 12 In Florida
It's a statewide epidemic, and Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, leads the state, along with Hillsborough County, in arresting children under 11 years old.

What's Race Got To Do With It?

Focus On Pinellas County Schools
• "Black kids are mistreated every day in Pinellas County schools"

• Class Action Suit: "the district has failed to narrow a yawning achievement gap between black and white students, in violation of the equal protection clause in the state Constitution."

• Criminalizing Children In Florida

Things You May Not Have Read About The Ja'eisha Scott Case
• Accounts Of Police Involvement In Ja'eisha Scott Case Raise New Questions About Assist. Principal Dibenedetto's Intent

• "I think they were good people . . . [Ja'eisha] didn't act like that over here."

Some Questions About The Ja'eisha Scott Case (I)

Why have none of the news outlets noted that the case was reported on previously, close to when it occurred, before video of the conflict was released?

Why do none of the news outlets reporting on Ja'eisha Scott and her mother, Inga Akins, make reference to the police report that was included in the earlier coverage?

Ja'eisha was released from police custody after the officers called the pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office.

They were told prosecutors would not charge the girl with battery on a school employee or anything else.

``To think we would consider charging a child of that age with a crime is almost comical,'' said Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant state attorney. [The school principal,] Di Benedetto, 31, was disappointed charges were not filed because it was the third time the girl had behaved violently, the police report says. Di Benedetto declined to comment Thursday.

Why was Di Bendetto "DISAPPOINTED charges were not filed"?

Why is any school principal anywhere invested in having any five year old of any race or gender charged with battery?

If there was a pattern of violent behavior, why didn't the principal respond by having her evaluated and developing an appropriate program of interventions?

Did Ja'eisha need counseling?

Did Ja'eisha have special needs?

Should she have been placed in a different class?

In the more recent St. Petersburg Times coverage, reporter Thomas C. Tobin notes that Ja'eisha

had a history of problems at the school, though the full extent is not known because student records are not public.

District officials have discussed an incident several weeks before the handcuffing in which a city police officer was called to the school because of a behavior problem with the girl. The officer said something to her about the possibility of being handcuffed if her behavior continued.

Akins later objected to that conversation, part of an ongoing feud with the school over her daughter's treatment.

Was the incident "several weeks before the handcuffing" time number one or time number two that "the girl behaved violently?

If it was time number one, why was the school's first recourse to call the police?

Why didn't the school pursue other avenues that would be likely to help Ja'eisha (and her mother) a) address the causes of her behavior, where ever they might reside and b) develop strategies for self-control, if they are needed?

If the "incident" mentioned was time number two, and a pattern of behavior was becoming evident, why was this not an occasion to help Ja'eisha and her mother?

WHY ARE POLICE OFFICERS GOING AROUND PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA THREATENING LITTLE SIX YEAR OLD CHILDREN WITH HANDCUFFS?

UPDATE:
Original, post-videotape-release SP Times article now has a link to the earlier SP Times article that covered the Ja'eisha Scott story when it first came out in March.

What's Race Got To Do With It?

RELATED POSTS:
Arresting Children Under 12 In Florida
It's a statewide epidemic, and Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, leads the state, along with Hillsborough County, in arresting children under 11 years old.

Focus On Pinellas County Schools
• "Black kids are mistreated every day in Pinellas County schools"

• Class Action Suit: "the district has failed to narrow a yawning achievement gap between black and white students, in violation of the equal protection clause in the state Constitution."

• Criminalizing Children In Florida

Things You May Not Have Read About The Ja'eisha Scott Case
• Accounts Of Police Involvement In Ja'eisha Scott Case Raise New Questions About Assist. Principal Dibenedetto's Intent

• "I think they were good people . . . [Ja'eisha] didn't act like that over here."