Resource officers befriend kids, leave discipline to schools

Swarming the halls between classes at Clarke Central High School, hundreds of teenagers “cut up” with each other, stop off at their lockers and eventually make their way to class. Gliding among them is a watchful guardian.

No, not Batman — this guardian has a real heart for the students, and doesn’t need a mask to affect the community within which he works.

“You get one or two kids that are normally going to drop out of school, and you get them to graduate,” said senior police officer Tommy Barnett. “And you see them go across the stage. I think that’s my reason for coming back year after year after year, because I’m always hoping I can save just one more kid, one more kid — that’s the reason I wake up every morning and come here.”

Athens native Barnett is a school resource officer at Clarke Central High. Having been there for nine years, he knows well his role in the school.

“I think I’m a liaison between the police department and the teenagers, and also teenagers to the police department,” said Barnett. “I try to break down some of the barriers and not be so macho, or so rigid, but try to talk to the kids and get an understanding of what they’re going through, and why they’re acting the way they act.”

Each of the four middle and two high schools in the school district has a resource officer, with each high school getting an additional police officer from the Athens police department.

“It’s always exciting for me to play a part in a young person’s life,” said senior police officer Chris Brogden, school resource officer for Clarke Middle School. “Something maybe that I said somewhere down the road maybe touched them to where they wanted to go out and do and make something of themselves.”

Resource officer Chris Brogden on the job at Clarke County Middle School

For a resource officer, it’s all about being there for the students.

“I got cereal for kids who are hungry, I got yogurt for kids who are hungry. I know I got kids coming here that are coming from a pretty crappy environment in life, and [I] try to give them some kind of stability. And if I know a kid’s hungry then I’ll sit there and shoot them some cereal or, ‘Hey, got some yogurt. You need anything?’”

There are definitive boundaries, however, between schools and resource officers.

“Pretty much I leave everything up to the school, because it’s the school district — I’m here to just help them out,” said Brogden. “I help out in the hallways — you know, ‘Hey kids, y’all need to get to class.’ They see me in that role as somebody who will joke around with them, who will go in there and shoot ball with them. But they know I’m going to do my job, too, when it comes down to it, regardless of who it is.”

A resource officer doing his or her job “when it comes down to it” involves some pretty serious business.

“Having someone in the schools with the power to arrest and carry a firearm is important these days,” said Major Carter Greene, a superior officer in charge of the school resource officers. “You never know what is going to happen one day to the next. It can
also prevent and reduce the likelihood of another Columbine shooting.”

Becoming a resource officer has everything to do with finding the right fit for each school, and applying officers really have to show their interest.

“The SRO position is a voluntary decision on the part of the officer,” said Greene. “We open it up to any officer who is then interviewed by the school principal. The decision as to which officer is chosen is strictly up to the school administration.”

Although the resource officer acts as an authority figure, they don’t actually discipline students. If an officer finds a kid breaking school rules, they get that student to an administrator, according to senior police officer Barnett. It is up to the school to come up with a proper punishment.

The school district’s Code of Student Conduct contains 28 individual guidelines for addressing “prohibited behavior,” which encompasses “what students must not do.”

Discipline for violations ranges from detention to long-term suspension or expulsion. If the principal or assistant principal recommends the latter, the matter is turned over to the district’s disciplinary hearing officer.

“The hearing officer is a neutral party who listens to the evidence given by both sides and decides whether the student has broken the rules and what disciplinary consequences, if any, are needed,” said Sam Preston, who fills the position for Athens’ school district. “I find the work very rewarding because I get to use my skills and experience as an educator to help students get the most benefit possible from what our district has to offer.”

The school district wrote the student code with the help of lawyers, and although the whole disciplinary process may sound technical and wordy, one of the main goals of the code is quite clear: “to ensure an environment for learning which is protected from interruption and harassment.”

It is this code, along with a lot of heart and understanding, that resource officers use to do their jobs.

“A lot of people like to say it’s a sign of the times, and kids are bad,” said Clarke Central’s Barnett. “But that’s not the only service that we provide, to be here to stop fights. We’re here actually to provide a safe environment for the kids to learn.”

Local administrators help further students’ careers

Athens-Clarke County is one of the most poverty-stricken counties in Georgia, but the city’s economic recession has not deterred the local school system from preparing its students towards a better future.

Despite experiencing rapid population growth over the past 20 years, Athens-Clarke County has been plagued with all the troubles of becoming a middle-sized city.  Along with people, an increase in crime, poverty and congested city life has transformed the once sleepy southern town into an urban community.

As a result of these drawbacks, an exodus occurred among the county’s wealthy citizens to near-by Oconee County.   Oconee attracts people by boasting a better quality of life and wide-open development, along with close proximity to Athens and the University of Georgia.

“Athens has been hit by the flight of affluent, and it results in a snowball effect.  Oconee County offers lower crime rates and a better overall living environment, so Athens is left behind with lower income, education and citizen-involvement,” said University of Georgia Professor Conrad Fink.

One of the biggest causalities of this snowball effect is the public school system.  The average graduation rate from Georgia high schools in 2008-2009 was 78.9 percent, according to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.  Clarke-County’s numbers fell well below the average at 63.3 percent, and have remained sub-par over the past five years.  In contrast, Oconee County boasted a 91.7 percent graduation rate for its students.

Socio-economic status plays the largest role in determining the disparity that exists between these statistics.  According to the Governor’s Office, 58 percent of students in Clarke County fall under the category of economically disadvantaged, compared to only 12 percent in Oconee.

“Tax-payers are needed to fix to fix the public education as well as the influence of parents in the school system,” said Fink.  “Neither of these can occur effectively when so many people are economically challenged however.  People look at the numbers and say we need to improve education here in Athens, but in order to do that, you have to turn around the entire basic structure of the city first.”

Doctor Maxine Easom, who served as principal for Clarke Central High School for nine years and worked within the school district for more then 35 years, believes that the numbers for graduation rate do not represent the quality of education at schools, but rather the economic hardships that many students face.

“Many students must help their families survive by contributing financially at whatever age they can, so people have different opinions on what success is,” Easom said.  “Sometimes finishing school is not part of that plan. Kids with financial issues have more responsibilities and less flexibility. Both these factors contribute to kids not finishing school on the eight-semester plan, although many still graduate at some point.”

Although there is no sugar-coating the numbers, do not be quick to assume that quality of education students are getting is any lesser then in Oconee or anywhere else.  Clarke County has created several programs to help students future their education.  As a result, the school system produces some of the best minds in the state of Georgia.

Over the past decade, Clarke Central High School has consistently sent students to Ivy League schools along with other prestigious universities around the country, said Clarke Central guidance counselor Lenore Katz.

Clarke Central’s diverse student bodies have been the recipients of multiple merit awards and scholarships, such as the Belk Scholarship from Davidson College.  Similar scholarships have been awarded in recent years from the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Spelman College and the University of North Carolina.

One of the school’s newest programs, called the Scholarship Club, helps students research and apply for collegiate scholarships.  As a member of the club, the student must fill out a minimum of 25 applications that could potentially reward them with financial aid.

Katz and other counselors try to help their students further their education by providing individualized career advisement to upperclassmen.  Students meet twice a month with a counselor to help them recognize opportunities in specialized subjects, such as English, art, business and technical studies.

Clarke County administrators are not the only ones doing their part to help students take the necessary steps toward college.  The University of Georgia in recent years has taken on a pro-active role in reaching out to the local school systems with multiple programs to help students.

The Young Dawgs Program provides high school students with internships in their desired study of interest.  Within the corresponding department, University staff members each mentor a individual student and assign them several different projects to give them a taste for the major as well as build their resume.

Caleb Hayes, a junior at Clarke Central, currently interns at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communications, where he spends three mornings a week helping create a magazine about high school journalism programs.

“It’s a really cool experience just to be able to spend time at the University and around the professors,” Hayes said.  “But the work they have me do also helps me grow as a writer and helps me prepare for college.  I imagine interning at UGA also doesn’t look to bad on a college application.”

Katz said a great relationship has developed between Clarke Central’s counselors and UGA administrators to help underprivileged minorities. Programs such as Multiple Initiatives and C.A.R.E. help minority students with their college applications.  The University has even started to help out both formally and informally at the local middle schools.

UGA students have also gotten involved in the process with local fraternities forming the Collegiate Candidates Program, which helps underprivileged students with tutoring and college applications after school.

“I realize we might not have the best scores necessarily, but I don’t feel a lack of quality in the education at all and I think the exposure to so much diversity among the students help prepare us for real world experiences,” Hayes said.  “Our administration team puts forth a huge effort from the time we are freshmen to help us graduate and get into college.  I also believe we benefit from UGA being right down the street.  They give us lots of opportunities to be involved and make an effort to recruit students from right here in Athens.”

Teen sexuality remains taboo topic in Athens

By Joe Williams

aThEENs staff

The topic of sex remains in an awkward “gray area” for many Athens teenagers – a fitting conversation between pals in the back of the bus or at an overcrowded lunch table, but socially taboo with parents and school officials.

Unfortunately, many teens hold the perception that adequate protection from sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) and unwanted pregnancy can be found with the aid of a crinkly, two-year-old condom stuffed semi-neatly in a wallet next to a frequent buyer card from Little Caesars.

Teen Matters, across from Clarke Central

Jordan Shapiro, a 17-year-old from Dallas, Ga., learned how the true consequences of misinformed sex come at an unexpected cost.

“I remember before I got pregnant, I would see pregnant teenagers at my school and think, ‘How could they get pregnant? How stupid,’” Shapiro said. “But you don’t have to be stupid to get pregnant. I was an honor’s student, active in JROTC, had a part time job and was in [the] Student Government. I still go pregnant – life will find a way.”

Many teenagers see sex as a goal to reach, which once achieved guarantees immense popularity and respect amongst peers.

“All teenagers have a sense of invincibility,” Shapiro said. “Often times girls, and even guys, get involved in promiscuous circumstances and have the notion they’ll walk away unscathed.”

Unfortunately, the metaphorical trophy earned by tearing up a “V-card” outweighs any real possibility of bringing a screaming, kicking baby in to the world – a notion that is instantly forgotten once that first “time of the month” is missed.

Although pregnancy prevention methods are readily available to those in need, it’s the misconception of “it could never happen to me” that often leads many down a road they were not prepared for.

“We did not use a condom,” Shapiro said. “I had been in a relationship with the biological father for over a year – I trusted him. We had practiced other natural forms of birth control but he ‘slipped up.’”

According to a 2005 Clarke County survey of local teenagers, 65 percent admitted to having engaged in sexual activities – a number that might shock parents, but actually seems relatively low to students. In fact, the birth rate in Athens-Clarke County is eight times that of the country of France.

With so many teens admitting to being sexually active, the topic of teenage pregnancy is nearly impossible to tackle from any particular angle. Many professionals point to the notion of simply being misinformed as a potential cause of many teenage pregnancies.

“It’s a state law that anyone of reproductive age, whether or not they’re over the age of 18, can seek reproductive services and birth control without the need for parental consent,” said Sarah Peck, a public information officer for the North East Health District.

Teen Matters, an off-shoot of the public health department that has been around since the 1990s, offers teens the security of sensitive services at a price that any teenager can easily afford without sacrificing their daily trip to the vending machine.

“All the services at Teen Matters are free,” Peck said. “They offer pelvic exams, pap smears, testing for sexually transmitted infections – including HIV – and a variety of different types of birth control methods.”

Condoms are also available free of charge, as well as counseling if teens want to discuss any aspects of their lives.

“A lot of teens are unaware that the services are confidential,” Peck said. “They don’t understand exactly what confidentiality means, and that that’s a state law we’re observing.”

Although parental involvement is by no means required at Teen Matters, it is still encouraged and should begin in the home. At a time when kids and teens are being exposed to things of explicit nature in the media (“bags of sand” means more to students than their unsuspecting parents), the “birds and the bees” should not be left for R-Rated comedies to explain – it’s the responsibility of the parent.

“Parents are the first sex educators for all children,” said Katy Janousek, sexual health coordinator at the University Health Center. “The first line of education needs to come from the primary care giver, which in many cases is a single parent, a guardian, maybe a grandparent, so it’s not always just parents that are able to be there and have that type of discussion with their children.

According to Janousek, the barrier between safe sex and uninformed decisions often times begins when teens try to purchase contraceptives.

“I had noticed since I moved to Georgia from Virginia that many places that sell condoms actually lock them up,” Janousek said. “When I asked about it, they said it was because they were having problems with theft. So there again we’re seeing that just the stigma surrounding buying condoms is causing people to be too embarrassed to take them to the cash register, maybe even to go through self check-out. The alternative then is someone who’s too embarrassed to buy them now has to ask somebody else to open the case.

The obvious issue that arises when teens are unable to attain contraceptives is unplanned pregnancy, however, a new pill is helping to change that.

Plan B, a hot and controversial topic amongst health officials and the FDA, is sold at local pharmacies such as Kroger and Wal-Mart as an emergency contraceptive to be ingested immediately after unplanned pregnancy.

“Seventeen and older can get it without a prescription, though parental consent is required for those 16 and younger,” said Dr. Kerri Wenslow, a 2006 University of Georgia alumna and head pharmacist in Albany, Ga.

Taken with water in one and two pill doses, the active ingredient is 75 mg of a single active steroid, levonorgestrel, which is essentially a high dose of birth control and prevents the fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall.

If taken within three days, the pill can be highly effective, though sooner is always better. Once implantation has occurred, Plan B will no longer work.

“If you’re already pregnant, it won’t do anything,” Wenslow said. “Timing is very important.”

It may seem that erasing a mistake is as easy as popping a pill, but that is not the case. Plan B comes with risks.

“If you took too much Plan B, you could theoretically throw off your hormone balance,” Wenslow said. “It could be harder to get pregnant later on when you’re actually ready to have a family.”

Wenslow stressed teenagers who smoke should be extra cautious when using Plan B, since there is an increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease and stroke.

Ultimately, the decision to start having sex is up to the teenager and should be thought  about far before an innocent night of ice cream and Redbox leads to missing graduation due to labor pains.

“I think it’s important for anybody, regardless of their age, to think about what they value and what they believe in,” Janousek said. “They need to ask themselves questions like, Am I ready to have sex? Do I want the same thing that my partner wants out of having sex? Is this a relationship or a one-time thing? Do I know how to prevent pregnancy? Do I know how to prevent STI’s? Am I comfortable getting ways to have protection such as buying condoms or having birth control?”

For Shapiro, the ultimate decision to engage in unprotected sex came with it a slew of bigger problems she had never considered.

“People seem to forget that in teen pregnancies, it’s not about the teen, it’s about the baby,” Shapiro said. “That baby is going to demand all of his or her basic essentials in life – food, shelter, clothing, a car seat, a Halloween costume, a surgery for a broken bone, lunch money, a car when they’re 16, and a college fund. Ask yourself if you’re ready to provide all of that and good parenting skills. If not, then just wait.”

Fighting poverty, one student at a time

By Taylor Merck

aThEENS staff

Despite the high rates, poverty does not define the teens of Athens — the school system refuses to let it.

Poverty has a well-known presence in Athens. 13.4 percent of all families live below the poverty level, according to the 2006-2008 American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Our district believes that each student can succeed at his/her highest level,”said Anisa Jimenez, director of public relations and communications for the Clarke County School System. “Teachers, counselors, social workers, administrators, graduation coaches and others establish relationships with students so they know supports are in place to help them succeed.”

In many cases, poverty is seen as just a number, with those on one end of the spectrum forgetting to consider those on the other end.

“We often forget that Athens, home of UGA and famous musicians, faces a huge gap between those who are financially stable and those who are not,” said David Ragsdale, a teacher at Clarke Central High School.

Inside each of those unnamed families in many cases is a teenager trying to get through the Clarke County School System as best they can.

“All families and teens struggle with themes common across all age groups no matter the economic status, “said Robin Weinrich, work-based learning coordinator for Clarke County.

The opinion that students are not statistics is spread over the Athens-Clarke County School System.

“Ultimately, kids from across the economic spectrum want to do well in school and want to be considered as individuals and not statistics,” Ragsdale said. “Sensitivity to this condition, not pity or condescension, is critical in helping our students find the means to battle poverty.”

Still, teenagers in poverty face different situations at home that can sometimes affect their schooling.

“Some students have increased responsibilities at home when faced with an economic crunch,” Ragsdale said. “These may include babysitting younger siblings or being a primary care-giver to an ill parent, as hospital or hospice care may not be available. How would these responsibilities make a child behave differently?”

Ragsdale answered as an imagined Athens teen in poverty: “I’ve been babysitting my younger brothers all night, I may not have time to finish my homework, which leaves me unprepared for class and I’m potentially a little edgy when I get to class because I know I’m not ready.”

The external circumstances of students can be hindering, but Ragsdale offered a solution.

“Reaching out to kids on a personal level and engaging them on an individual basis certainly helps bridge the gap,” Ragsdale said.

Bridging the gap and addressing the individual needs of students is Clarke County School System’s goal.

Pairing poverty’s limitations with the idea that “kids just want to be kids,” the Clarke County School System delivers programs that work toward meeting the needs of teens at risk.

Each program is designed to foster parent and student engagement no matter the economic status, however, teens at risk can benefit.

Weinrich works with Ombudsman Educational Services, which provide accelerated academic programming for students who are referred based on behavior or academic recovery.

Students who are referred choose to attend the program. As part of their academic package, “we include a work-based component that teaches them basic employability skills for any work site. Once they demonstrate these skills during their academic work, they are then placed into actual work sites,” Weinrich said.

“This allows the student to experience connections between their academics and what is happening daily in the adult world of work,” Weinrich said. “My goal with this program is to show [students] there are ways to rise above poverty with their education and making job choices that appeal to them.”

There are also organizations and programs outside the Clarke County School System designed to help families in need in Athens. For instance, the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia provides a “Food 2 Kids” program for several counties across Northeast Georgia, including Clarke County.

“The Food 2 Kids program is committed to eliminating child hunger in America,” said Tanya Pass, the Athens Food 2 Kids program coordinator. “We provide children identified as being chronically hungry with nutritious, easy-to-prepare meals during times outside school, such as summer holidays and weekends.”

The program provides child-friendly foods that do not require an oven, such as ravioli, cereal, juice, milk, chicken noodle soup, peanut butter, bread and fresh produce.

Another organization, One Athens, is a group with a community initiative created to eliminate persistent poverty by creating jobs and building community.

Although each of these programs exist, poverty is still not eliminated. It will not be just one program or a few caring people that will defeat the problem.

“I don’t have the answers, but instead of getting bogged down by the big scale of the problem, if we each contribute in ways we are able in our own circles—we will make changes that affect lives,” Weinrich said.

Reaching out to students living in poverty situations will make a potential difference in an individual student’s life—Weinrich and Ragsdale have both seen it. What may seem a “small scale” way to face the problem makes all the difference.