OPINION: Too Many Questions Swirl Around School, Police Agreement

A memorandum of understanding between Dedham Police and the Dedham School Committee may help control the when they are out of the schools’ control, but some problems still exist with the arrangement.

Does a public school committee have the power to enforce its policies outside its grounds and outside its school year?

Not sure.

What, meanwhile, happens to a student at Ursuline Academy or Noble and Greenough School, both private schools in Dedham, gets into trouble with Dedham Police over the summer? Neither private school would get word from police. Same case with a Dedham teen who goes to Xaverian High School in Westwood; police would not notify the school under this memorandum. So what would happen to any of those students?

Not sure.

In any of these situations, the memorandum could bring more confusion than understanding.

Sooner or later a student will suffer serious academic damage if charged in the summer and punished in school the following fall. He or she might sue the school committee.

A student could be disciplined under this memorandum, but the student who sits next to him or her is charged by another police department with something far worse and the wrongdoing is there not reported to Dedham Police or the Dedham School Committee. How is that handled?

Not sure.

How about a student transferring in from another state. Does he or she have to bring along all police records with him or her – or rather have records sent by their former police department, even though it does not have a memorandum of understanding?

Not sure.

What happens when a bunch of students has a wild party to celebrate graduation and dozens are arrested, but many of the students are now graduates? Do police report only the undergraduates? If police notify the School Committee about former students (graduates), what do School Committee members do: write a letter to the student’s new college spelling out the wrongdoing?

Not sure.

How about a student found innocent in a summer incident but still receives a school penalty. Not sure.

Perhaps this is why the memorandum has been so difficult to phrase. Committee members will look it over next year and work some changes then.

Cracking down on violence, alcohol and drugs is a year-round job. The Dedham School Committee is trying valiantly to fight these evils all the time. This is laudable.

As written, however, the memorandum of understanding raises too many questions and could put the town in a legal tangle.

Parents should be heard, too. Yes, they will be heated and may dislike the memorandum. But better to hold the battles in the School Committee meeting than in the courts.