Capital City Alternative School Sued For Allegedly Shackling Students To Poles For Hours

JACKSON, Miss. — Civil rights advocates have filed suit against Jackson's public school district, claiming officials at one alternative school respond to minor violations by shackling children to railings and poles for hours at a time.

Critics of the Capital City Alternative School in Jackson say the allegedly excessive punishment at the schools makes such students more likely to drop out of school – and commit crimes later in life.

The Southern Policy Law Center filed suit on Wednesday in U.S. District Court. The suit names Jackson Public Schools and Capital City Alternative School officials and seeks class-action status on behalf of all of the school's students.

The complaint says the punishments violate the Constitution and school board policy.

School district officials said the agency takes the allegations seriously and will respond through legal channels.

Comments

[medic628]

11:40 AM on 06/13/2011

Plantation mentality. It is hard to eliminate.

[clayboggess]

10:01 AM on 06/13/2011

Shackling students is definitely wrong and is most likely done as a 'last resort'; however schools are limited on what they are able to do in order to enforce effective consequences for inappropriate behavior and the students know it. Part of the problem is that parents are no longer willing to stand by the schools when their children violate the rules. Instead, their children can do no wrong and all they have to do is threaten a lawsuit. In no way am I implying that is the case in this situation, but let’s make sure we have all the facts before we jump to any conclusions.

Clay Boggess
http://www.bigeventfundraising.com

[medic628]

07:45 PM on 06/10/2011

You do this to my child and we will have an up close and very personal conversation. Your explanation had better be good.

[happymomof3]

12:28 AM on 06/12/2011

Agreed, that explanation had better be REAL good.

[treetrunk123]

06:44 AM on 06/10/2011

This also violates fire codes as well. What if the school had to be evacuated in a short period of time?

Maybe I'll wake up in five minutes in my own bed.

[Glenda S Burnside]

07:38 PM on 06/09/2011

No doubt this 'Alternative' school is a hired gun type of place run by some private or publically traded corporation...give us your problem kids, we'll fix them up. Shivers of Hitler here. I'm glad someone had the courage to out this program.

[MaryfromIL]

05:47 PM on 06/09/2011

As we keep restricting teacher's unions, the schools will all become Mississippi.

[GraceNotes]

05:29 PM on 06/09/2011

Mississippi: bringing back slavery, one step at a time.

[fillin7heblank]

10:00 PM on 06/09/2011

Slavery: Gets shtt done.....

[mumi009]

05:14 PM on 06/09/2011

Sounds like a massive civil rights violation, and criminal offense. A student's civil rights and right to protection and due process under the law do not end when he or she enters the school house.

Some school official has to go to jail for this.

[Shannon Grow-Garrett]

04:57 PM on 06/09/2011

Dr Gabor Mate gives an excellent analysis of child behavior and anybody who deals with children, especially troubled youth should look into his work.

[Patriot86]

03:59 PM on 06/09/2011

So a private sector school that shackles children ...how not surprising..Mississippi is probably one of the worst states for education.

[Strywever]

05:55 PM on 06/09/2011

Ahem. It's an alternative school in a public school district.

[Bigrcube]

02:27 PM on 06/09/2011

Alternative Schools is gov't speak for privitization. THIS is how the private sector solves problems in the name of the $$MONEY$$ they are raking in from the public trough.

[Strywever]

06:00 PM on 06/09/2011

Huh? There are several public alternative schools in our school district. They provide alternatives to mainstream schools for children with special needs or issues -- for example, troubled kids who've had a hard time succeeding with mainstream education, kids with want to focus on specific subject matter they can't get enough of in a mainstream school (science, for example), and so on.

Maybe you're confusing "alternative" with "charter"?

[Greg34]

02:27 PM on 06/09/2011

If schools have a zero tolerence policy towards student it should be the same for the adminsitrators. Somebody head should roll over this and be charged criminally. We just better hope the shackler isn't a union job. There is no way they would get fired.

[George Schmitt]

04:52 PM on 06/09/2011

The privatized schools have NO UNION TEACHERS. The whole idea is to eliminate unions rights and childrens rights. Don't you think that chainning children to poles was done in a "privatized" manner? Tenure is only earned after a batchelors degree in education, a masters degree and usually five years of service at that school. Tenure only gives you a fair hearing, nothing more. Just a chance to let the accused teacher to make his case. After all that preporation most would think that would be only fair. By the way when I was teaching if I would have chained children to poles, I would have been hauled off to jail in a minute, also my tenure would not help me keep my job or protect me from parental lawsuits.
The conservative christian schools and privatized teachers would probably recieved a medal for having good christian dicipline and driving ut the devil.

[Endersdragon]

01:18 PM on 06/09/2011

Okay just a slight correction, altnerative schools are not always so horrible. When I was a student in undergrad in one for a semester, and while I had many of the same preconceptions coming in the reality wasn't that bad. The one area where they were truly worse than most schools was in attendance. This was largely due to babies getting sick, having to make money to make rent, etc., things happen when kids are on their own. Other than that, a lot of things were similiar. Student drive was greater if anything (because this was their absolute last chance). Discipline problems were about the same. Teachers actually seemed to care more about their students (obviously this school is an exception to that) and seemed to know just about every student individually. But yea, they do get a bad rap.

[Dscprlnt]

12:03 PM on 06/09/2011

If you treat young people like criminals you're pushing them into becoming criminals, this needs to stop. Zero tolerance policies, metal detectors and police presence in our public schools are a violation of students human rights. Students are being pushed out of public schools by the thousands due to poor funding, alienating class curriculums, systemic racism and disciplinary policies that focus on punitive measures rather than accountability and prevention. The DOE should make more of an effort to introduce restorative justice practices and positive behavior supports.

[grammasher]

04:23 PM on 06/09/2011

You articulate my thoughts much better than I would have.

[Fran Jaime]

09:50 PM on 06/09/2011

You are so right!

[Ariel Bonzai]

11:36 AM on 06/09/2011

Shackles? Handcuffs? The connotation may differ but I am betting these are children of Color
Mississippi is notoriously intolerant And anyone who thinks young people should be treated like a prisoner at school is a fascist fool Maybe students act out for good reason for one thing it is clearly an expectation with police on every campus except the ones in affluent hoods and if you were looking at the future they have inherited, I am betting you might be fatalistic and furious too We need stop this madness and demand the children in our community be treated with compassion rather than exploited by the systems our tax dollars fund There are other ways to educate students if I were a parent of one of these kids, I'd boycott that school and file complaints with the state, federal gov and ACLU There are plenty of alternatives incarcerating kinds on campuses of cruelty www.perdaily.com

[Ghoulish]

04:16 PM on 06/09/2011

"I am betting these are children of Color"

I am betting that at least half (probably more) of the teachers at that school are "of color" too. I would also bet that the majority of the administration at this alternative school is "of color" as well. Who are they being racist against? The public school in the Jackson area is almost 100% black students.

I'm sorry, but I don't think this is about race. HuffPost is using the term "shackles" instead of handcuffs to provoke the idea of racism. Yes, handcuffing students for hours is inappropriate but there is no evidence that racism is the issue.

[eye8urcake]

04:53 PM on 06/09/2011

I don't care if their 'color' is plaid, fucshia, or rainbow, human children should -not- be treated this way and when they are, said color should -not- play into the debate.

[Ariel Bonzai]

09:52 PM on 06/11/2011

Excellen point