The following is a response to the Ed Weekly journal article, titled "High Court Case Focus on Police Questioning at School", (volume 30, article #21, published Feruary 23rd, 2011.
This article addresses police questioning in schools. It talks about a couple of cases where the administration and police have taken students out of class and questioned them about a criminal issue without the presence of their parents. In one case a nine year old girl was taken out of class and questioned by a DHS caseworker and a deputy sheriff. She admitted that her father had touched her inappropriately. Her statement was used in court but the father was dismissed of all charges. Another incident was with a 13 year old special education student who was questioned by police and school administration about some thefts that had occurred. The boy admitted to the thefts and was later convicted because of his testimony.
Personally, I would be furious if administration and the police questioned my child about anything without me being there. First of all children and most adults do not know when they might be incriminating themselves because of what they say. Most children do not know that they don't have to say anything at all. Any even more children do not understand that they are entitled to a lawyer and how important that representation can be.
There is one instance in which a child may need to be questioned without the presence of their parent and that is the case where the parent may be accused of physical or sexual abuse of that child. Understandably the child may not want to say anything in front of the accused parent. In this case I think it may be important for the school counselor and DHS to question the child, but not the police. Once possible abuse is mentioned by the child then and only then should the police get involved. I just think that any police contact with a child can be very frightening to them and should be done in a way that is the least traumatic as possible.
