Agreement between Sheriff and school made it illegal to arrest shooter for prior offenses

Red States:

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A Miami Herald article last week noted that, contrary to media reports, Cruz had never actually been expelled from the Broward County School system, despite a long and well-documented history of extremely disruptive and occasionally violent behavior:

At times, Nikolas Cruz’s behavior could be a school administrator’s nightmare: Teachers and other students said he kicked doors, cursed at teachers, fought with and threatened classmates and brought a backpack with bullets to school. He collected a string of discipline for profanity, disobedience, insubordination, and disruption.

In 2014, administrators transferred Cruz to an alternative school for children with emotional and behavioral disabilities — only to change course two years later and return him to a traditional neighborhood school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Cruz was banished from Douglas a year later for other disciplinary violations — then toggled between three other alternative placements, school records obtained by the Miami Herald show.

If the frequent transfers — records show there were six in three years — did little to stanch Cruz’s disruptive behavior, they eventually became the only option left in the school district’s toolbox. Contrary to early reports, Cruz was never expelled from Broward schools. Legally, he couldn’t be.

“Legally, he couldn’t be” expelled? Or arrested, apparently.
BCSD’s own written policies discouraged arresting students — even for violent or threatening behavior.

Some answers can be found in the “Collaborative Agreement on School Discipline,” which was approved and adopted at the Broward County School Board meeting on November 5, 2013, a year into Israel’s first term in office.

The Agreement’s abstract describes how it “symbolizes the support for Broward Schools’ efforts to reduce suspensions, expulsions and arrests (particularly among youth of color) from all of the groups which are signatories and/or mentioned in the agreement.” Besides the BCSD, among the signatories to the Agreement are the Broward State Attorney (the prosecutors), the Broward Public Defender’s Office, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice…and the BSO.

The introduction to the Agreement quotes Florida Statutes Section 1006.13(1), regarding the Florida Legislature’s intention “to encourage schools to use alternatives to expulsion or referral to law enforcement agencies by addressing disruptive behavior through restitution, civil citation, teen court, neighborhood restorative justice, or similar programs.”

Perhaps notably, the omitted first part of that subsection states that it is the Legislature’s intent “to promote a safe and supportive learning environment in schools” and “to protect students and staff from conduct that poses a serious threat to school safety.”

A footnote in this Agreement cites subsection (4) of this same statute:

(4)(a) Each district school board shall enter into agreements with the county sheriff’s office and local police department specifying guidelines for ensuring that acts that pose a serious threat to school safety, whether committed by a student or adult, are reported to a law enforcement agency.

(b) The agreements must include the role of school resource officers, if applicable, in handling reported incidents, circumstances in which school officials may handle incidents without filing a report with a law enforcement agency, and a procedure for ensuring that school personnel properly report appropriate delinquent acts and crimes.

And again, a perhaps notable omission: Subsection (8) emphasizes the importance of safety, stating (emphasis added):

(8) School districts are encouraged to use alternatives to expulsion or referral to law enforcement agencies unless the use of such alternatives will pose a threat to school safety.

Without getting too far buried in the weeds, the Agreement lists certain “Non-Violent Misdemeanors” (see page 3), and describes these offenses as “best handled outside the criminal justice system.” A “Discipline Matrix” is provided as Exhibit A that sets forth appropriate responses to various first-time and repeated misbehaviors, including when a law enforcement referral is recommended.
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There is much more.

This bad policy has been traced to an Obama-Holder effort to keep the records of juvenile delinquents clean which had the perverse effect of allowing the shooter to evade the background checks meant to keep guns out of the hands of people with a record of violence.

Or, in the words of the anti-gun left, Obama and holder have blood on their hands because of their policies which facilitated the shooter's acquisition of weapons.

This policy shows the mad dogging of the NRA by the left to be misplaced.  Don't hold your breath waiting for an apology from them or their media cohorts.

Will the administration and the Congress act to stop this failed policy?