Maybe somebody can explain to me why we can have police in schools to take care of the physical health of young people, but not have a sufficient number of school counselors or social workers in schools to take care of the mental health of youngsters.
According to the Hechinger School Report, “According to the most recent federal data from the 2018-2019 school year, there are now almost 118,000 school counselors in U.S. public schools producing a ratio of 430 students from kindergarten through 12th grade for each school counselor.”( April 27, 2020)
There has been a growing number of school resource officers (SROs). In 1975, only 1% of schools reported having police officers on site, but in 2018, approximately 58% of schools had a least one sworn law enforcement officer present during the school week. This dramatic increase has been caused by the response to school shootings as well as available grant funding to create such a program. Over $14 billion dollars have been allocating federal and state spending for community policing. (https://education.uconn.edu)
There is a need for both police and counselors in schools. I am not asking for a cut in the number of SROs but an increase in the number of school counselors.