Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey ignited a furor recently in a dramatic call for increased discipline in the Florida county’s schools.
On Nov. 28, standing outside of a prison, Ivey issued a call for tough discipline against students to address unchecked violence against adults taking place in schools, according to Fox News.
“Quite frankly, they’re not worried about getting in trouble. They know nothing’s gonna happen to them. They know they’re not going to be given after-school detention, they’re not going to be suspended,” he said.
“They’re not going to be expelled or, like in the old days, they’re not gonna have the cheeks of their a** torn off for not doing right in class.”
“If you are a little snot coming to our classes to be disruptive, you might want to find somewhere else to go to school because we are going to be your worst nightmare starting right now,” Ivey said, according to WESH.
Ivey’s comments appalled some parents and school board members.
School Board Chair Matt Susin said tweaking the policy is possible, but ruled out a return to discipline from a prior era.
“There will be no talk of bringing back corporal punishment. Period,” Susin said, according to Florida Today.
He said any new disciplinary policy would take a “holistic approach,” and involve groups including the NAACP and Hispanic Chamber of Conference.
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“What everybody’s fears are is not actually what’s going to happen,” he said.
Board member Jennifer Jenkins said a video of Ivey’s comments was “very alarming” for many parents.
“How do you think a child feels watching it?” she said.
“That video with Ivey, when the community hears him say ‘clowns,’ they hear black kids. When they hear him say ‘snots,’ they hear students with disabilities. It’s very concerning,” she said.
Education officials and concerned parents addressed comments Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey made last month outside a prison demanding harsher student discipline. https://t.co/65sgEN6DkB
— News Pug (@news_pug) December 10, 2022
At a special school board meeting Thursday, Ivey did not back down.
“I’ve seen photographs of bus drivers with bites on the back of their neck. I’ve seen teachers with broken bones, so that stuff needs to be brought to us,” Ivey said, according to Spectrum News.
“We got to get to these kids before they get to me. I picked that backdrop because if we don’t get to these kids, that’s where they end up at. Then we are dealing with a different level,” Ivey said, according to WESH.
Ivey said the issue is not what policy is on the books, but what is actually done to curb violence.
“There are measures in place that can fix this problem. It’s just not being dealt with. It’s just not being administered, there’s a failure on several levels,” Ivey said.
Parent Jabari Hosey said Ivey came across as too harsh and threatening.
“When you threatened our students with the first thing of discipline as going to jail, that’s a problem,” Hosey said. “We’re missing a lot of teachers, we’re missing a lot of psychologists, social workers.”
Some said the problem is real.
“I’ve watched dozens of my peers and friends leave their classrooms, schools or the profession entirely. An almost universal reason is the deterioration of student behavior over the past several years,” said Matt Yount, a union representative and 2014’s Brevard Teacher of the Year, according to Florida Today.
Ivey said his job is to deter crime.
“Our job is to deal with the criminal element that happens on our school campuses,” Ivey said. “But what’s happening is that line is becoming blurred, because many of those issues you’ve about sitting at this table that should have been handled as a criminal issue never got to us.”
During Thursday’s meeting, South Brevard NAACP Vice President Bennie Jackson lashed out at Ivey.
“Our children are not clowns. They’re not snot-nosed. And your threats, your bullying, your scare tactics … ” Jackson said. Board chair Susin tried to cut off Jackson, but Ivey made a motion for him to stop.
“Let him ramble,” Ivey said.
“My question to Sheriff Ivey is: what was the message you were sending?” Jackson said.
“The message I sent is what put everyone in this room today. The message I sent was that our teachers and students deserve to have a safe environment in our schools,” he said.
“I beg to differ,” Jackson said.
