Every year, school district administrators must set budgets that can educate students and keep taxpayers happy. This sometimes proves to be a difficult task, as evidenced by the budgets that were struck down this year. Several of the school districts in Nassau County think that they may have found a way to keep the budget low and provide solid education. These districts have struck a deal with the Nassau County Correctional Facility that will allow prisoners to teach students.
The deal has the district superintendents and the Correctional Facility administrators very excited because it has the potential to cut costs all around. The deal is set to work like this: NCCF will bus the prisoners to the different schools, where they will teach classes all day. The school districts will then pay NCCF a fee for the teaching services provided by the prisoners. The fees will be much lower than the average teacher’s salary, thus saving the districts money; while at the same time, NCCF will be making money on prisoners that would otherwise sit idle.
Many parents have voiced their concerns about student safety. The planners have not yet figured out how they will keep the students safe from the prisoners, and in some school districts, the prisoners safe from the students. A few ideas have been floated around, and each is being analyzed.
One of the ideas involves putting collars around the necks of the prisoners. The collar would then be attached to a chain that would be stuck in the wall. This would keep the students safe by minimizing the mobility of the prisoner. Darryl Hedgington, a school district employee, has likened this method to, “Those big dogs that are really scary, but they can’t go past a certain point, so it’s kinda fun to watch it run after you and get pulled back by its neck.”
Another idea has been to use collars that could send an electric current through the prisoners’ bodies, generating a painful electric shock, if they cross a certain point in the classroom. There are those, however, who are fearful that some prisoners may be able to resist the shock enough to harm a child.
A third idea involves putting up a large glass wall, behind which the prisoner can stand, at one end of the classroom. The wall would be similar to the glass enclosures found at gas stations; it would have a microphone on it so the students could hear the prisoner, and a drawer through which the students can hand in work. Administrators point out that students could be told the glass is not very strong, thus ensuring that they do not get out of hand during class.
Proponents of the plan say the benefits far outweigh the risks, and that no one should be worried. “Not only will the districts involved save money, but the prisoners will be treated with respect. It will be a humanizing process for them, and it will make reentry [into freedom] that much easier for them. We think the number of returnees will go down sharply,” said Robert Pommer, an enthusiastic supporter of the plan.
The plan is opposed by the teacher’s unions and the local Democrats who support them. It seems, though, their opposition will prove fruitless, as support for the deal grows on a daily basis. One of the plan’s most ardent supporters is Michael Vicking, a convicted child molester. He has signed up for the plan and been assigned to a high school history class. Of his assignment, Vicking said “I was really hoping to get elementary school kids. I feel that I could really make a difference in their young lives with my very hands-on approach.”
Out of the prison and into the classroom.