Many of you know of the failure on the part of
the FBI to follow up on credible tips regarding
confessed murderer Nikolas Cruz, but did
you know that Broward County Public Schools
(BCPS) was the poster child for reducing
school-based arrests so that troubled students
could avoid blots on their record? This
Obama era lax school discipline policy known
as PROMISE (google it) appears to have allowed
Cruz to buy a gun since his school offenses
were among those that could no longer
be reported to police.
Nikolas Cruz was known to be a disciplinary
nightmare. Between him and his brother they
had 45 run-ins with the law. He was transferred
6 times in 3 years according to the Miami
Herald but never expelled, taken into custody
or arrested. Although his in-school problems
have been kept very quiet, it has been reported
to have included assault, threats and bringing
bullets to school on one occasion. He was
not supposed to be allowed on campus with a
backpack and yet he had a clean record?
Deputy Sheriff Jeff Bell, president of the Broward
County Sheriffs’ Association told the
Washington Times that deputies working as
school resource officers have had their hands
tied after the school district overhauled its student
conduct code in 2013. “If he had gotten
arrested just once for disorderly conduct or
trespassing or something like that, that would
have shown up on his criminal record, and
could have sent up some red flags before he
was ever allowed to buy a firearm.” Said Officer
Bell. “They were basically paying us not
to make arrests,” he said.
The PROMISE program is in 53 major school
districts. Failure to go with the program means
the district loses millions in funding and is subject
to scrutiny. Obama and BCPS failed progressive
idea was that if a kid makes threats
or gets into fights we should keep it out of the
system because it might come as a cost if they
cannot get a job, get into college or into the
military.
Under PROMISE students charged with misdemeanors, including
assault, are “disciplined” through “healing circles,” obstacle courses
and other “self-esteem building” exercises.
In Broward County, school-based arrests dropped by 63% from
2012 to 2016 and the district received $54 million dollars in federal
grants based in part for keeping high risk students in school. The
Superintendent, (who had previously worked for Obama’s Education
Secretary Arne Duncan in Chicago’s Public Schools) was hailed
as a hero and invited to Washington in 2015. PROMISE was designed
to stop the “school-house to jail-house pipeline” but most
people I know would say that if the situation warrants it, the “pipeline
from school-house to jail-house” should be a 3” pipe with a one-way
valve. Schools in these big cities have become more violent and
there may be a few young adults who should be getting flushed
down that pipe instead of sitting in healing circles. Other violent
adult offenders belong in a mental institution but they really don’t
exist anymore and that is a whole other topic.
In the meantime, instead of putting the blame on failed progressive
ideas and lenient discipline they blame guns.
Sincerely,
Charles Rush, President
Ohio Gun collectors' Association
