Ellington

Handcuffing and shackling children is despicable. Yes, children break rules and need discipline. Yes, they can be rude and annoying. Yes, they can push your limits even if you are a trained professional. None of this means you can handcuff children to a stair railing and leave them unattended for hours.

You wouldn't treat a dog that way. Some might not care, but you do. You get upset when you see a dog chained on a short leash trying to eat. If you notice it's been a few hours, you might really get upset at the unfeeling and neglectful owner. You might be brave enough to free the dog or to confront the owner.

Each of us should care that Jackson children are treated worse than dogs for not adhering to a strict dress code or sassing back. It's not uncommon for kids to do things like that. You did it yourself, or your own kids do it now. These acts are not crimes.

After gathering stories from many students in different grades who attended Capitol City Alternative School at different times, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a class-action suit in federal court asking Jackson Public Schools to stop excessive and extreme punishments for minor offenses. Students said school security guards handcuffed and shackled them for wearing the wrong shoelaces, talking too loud or having a smart mouth.

You wouldn't treat your great-grandmother that way. Someone might, though, if she were locked away in a nursing home and no one ever visited. It's hard to imagine someone preventing her from going to the bathroom. If you knew, you would at least speak up. You might even take action.

Alternative schools are not prisons. They are schools. Teenagers are not scary monsters or thugs we must eliminate. They are children. Their brains aren't fully developed. Dehumanizing an entire demographic doesn't solve any problems. It makes all of us less human.

Zero-tolerance, tough-love policies that make life unbearable for children who misbehave frequently turn out to be class and race related. Rich kids, white kids, preachers' kids—all kids act up, sass their elders and push the limits of any dress code you impose.

We suspect it was similar repeated infractions of dress-code violations and back-talk that sent these students to alternative school in the first place. But alternative schools shouldn't be a holding pen where one assumes its students are only going to jail anyway. With that assumption, school administrators might act as if the children in their care are only there to learn what they can expect in prison.

Except prisoners get legal counsel, and children don't always have an advocate. Their parents don't always know what happens at school.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says Capitol City Alternative School and JPS violated the constitutional rights of these Jackson children. If they are right, this abuse must stop.