POLICING THE HALLWAYS: THE ORIGINS OF SCHOOL-POLICE PARTNERSHIPS IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN URBAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS By KENNETH A. NOBLE A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2017 © 2017 Kenneth A. Noble To Joy, for your love and support ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have had support and assistance from many individuals who I would like to acknowledge. First, I thank my mentor and committee chair, Dr. Sevan Terzian, for his guidance, expertise, attention to detail, motivation and unwavering support. From him, I have truly grown as a scholar and an educator. I also thank my committee members, Dr. Alyson Adams, Dr. Elizabeth Bondy, and Dr. William Link for their contributions to my scholarship, their insightful critiques, and their support beyond graduate school. To my friend and former officemate, Dr. Amy Martinelli, I thank for your advice and inspiration that led me to my dissertation topic. Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge the University of Florida’s Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere for selecting me for the 2016 Rothman Doctoral Fellowship. I am honored to have been chosen for the fellowship award and thankful for the funding I received that contributed to the completion of this dissertation. I also thank the staff and librarians from each research site. On a personal note, I thank my best friend and wife, Dr. Joy Elizabeth Noble, for her love, care, and support throughout my entire graduate school career. Joy is my inspiration, my motivation, and my rock. Lastly, I thank my Mom, Mary Jean Noble, for encouraging me to pursue my dreams. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... 7 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 9 2 IDEOLOGICAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ORIGINS OF THE SCHOOL-POLICE PARTNERSHIP PHENOMENON ........................................................................... 33 Ideology and Education Reform, 1800-1880 ........................................................... 37 Progressive Education Reform, 1890-1930 ............................................................ 43 The Social Construction of Juvenile Delinquency, 1890-1950 ................................ 50 3 “THE MOST PREDATORY BEASTS OF PREY ARE…THE CHILDREN THEMSELVES”: PHILANTHROPY, JUVENILE DELINQUENTS, AND FLINT’S POLICE-SCHOOL LIAISON PROGRAM, 1950s-1970s ......................................... 62 Industrial Growth in the Vehicle City, 1900-1945 .................................................... 65 Responses to Flint’s Rapid Growth and Delinquency Problem, 1920-1945 ............ 74 Police-School Liaison: Combating Delinquency in the Postwar,1945-1970s .......... 82 Socializing Students through Police Presence ........................................................ 96 4 “TUCSON’S DANGEROUS ALLIANCE”: STUDENT CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE ACLU INVESTIGATION OF TUCSON’S SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER PROGRAM, 1963-1970s ........................................................................................ 99 From Desert Presidio to Metropolitan Oasis: Tucson, 1775-1962 ........................ 102 Causes and Remedies: Tucson’s Juvenile Delinquency Problem, 1893-1963 ..... 114 An Experimental Method: Tucson’s School Resource Officer Program, 1962- 1970................................................................................................................... 125 Ethnic and Legal Implications of “Tucson’s Dangerous Alliance” .......................... 143 5 “MARAUDING BANDS OF NEGROES ROAMED THE HALLWAYS”: A CASE STUDY OF RACE, DELINQUENCY, AND CINCINNATI’S POLICE-ATTITUDE PROJECT, 1965-1968 .......................................................................................... 148 “The Most Northern Southern City”: Cincinnati’s Economic Growth and Racial Politics in the 19th and 20th Centuries ................................................................ 150 “Social Dynamite” in Cincinnati: Responses to Juvenile Delinquency in the Queen City, 1900-1960...................................................................................... 161 Responding to Delinquency or Black Activism? Cincinnati’s Police-Juvenile Attitude Project, 1965-1968 ............................................................................... 179 “Evolution of Disorder”: The Increasing Presence of Police in Cincinnati Schools during the 1960s ................................................................................................ 200 5 6 COMPARISONS AND IMPLICATIONS OF SCHOOL-POLICE PARTNERSHIPS IN FLINT, TUCSON, AND CINCINNATI .................................. 207 Urban Growth and Social Unrest: Flint, Tucson, and Cincinnati, 1860s-1960s ..... 209 The Rise of School Police Partnerships: A Municipal Response to 20th Century Juvenile Delinquency ......................................................................................... 224 Diminishing Students’ Rights and Marginalizing Minority and Low-Income Students in Early School-Police Partnerships .................................................... 237 7 CONCLUSION: SCHOOL-POLICE PARTNERSHIPS THEN AND NOW: HOW HISTORICAL STUDY INFORMS CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS IN EDUCATION ......................................................................................................... 251 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 271 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 294 6 Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy POLICING THE HALLWAYS: THE ORIGINS OF SCHOOL-POLICE PARTNERSHIPS IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN URBAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS By Kenneth A. Noble August 2017 Chair: Sevan Terzian Major: Curriculum and Instruction During the mid-twentieth century, urban police, educators, and civic leaders developed and implemented school-police partnerships in response to juvenile delinquency rates. These programs attempted to socialize adolescents into productive, virtuous, and law-abiding citizens. This was not a new endeavor for urban reformers. Nineteenth century child-savers believed that changes to urban society brought by industrialization, immigration, and political shifts affected youth adversely. However, during and after World War II social changes through wartime stress, Cold War anxiety, rising youth culture, and civil rights movements created an environment in which local and national leaders, parents, police, and educators believed juvenile delinquency was an urgent problem in need of reform. From this alarm, school-police partnerships emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. At face-value, partnerships increased police presence in schools and introduced curriculum programs designed to deter delinquent activity through education, counseling, and portraying an ideal image of law enforcement. Although programs garnered widespread support, conflicting beliefs and values concerning the roles of law enforcement and public education caused local controversy. Despite inconclusive evidence about the effectiveness of these partnerships, police 7 presence in urban public schools increased throughout the twentieth century. Through case studies, this dissertation comparatively analyzes Flint, Michigan’s Police School Liaison (PSL), Tucson, Arizona’s School Resource Officer (SRO), and Cincinnati, Ohio’s Police-Attitude Project. Each partnership began as a local initiative spearheaded by police, educators, and municipal leaders to address juvenile delinquency–an urban problem that gained nationwide attention in the post-WWII era. This dissertation argues that educators collaborated with municipal law enforcement to reduce juvenile delinquency, but did so in ways that challenged students’ rights and continued to marginalize minority and low-income urban youth. 8 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION On April 20, 1999, two high school students–Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18–entered Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado armed with guns and self- made pipe-bombs. In all, Klebold and Harris killed twelve students and one teacher before taking their own lives. On March 5, 2001, Charles Williams, 15, murdered two students and injured thirteen at Santana High School in Santee, California. On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza, 20, slaughtered twenty students and six adults before committing suicide at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut. Each of these incidents are extreme examples of violence, and reactions from media outlets, parents, educators, and politicians has sparked national concern for school safety in recent years.1 Between July of 2011 and June of 2012, there were approximately “45 student, staff, and nonstudent school-associated violent deaths” on school campuses.2 In 2013, there were approximately 1.4 million “nonfatal victimizations at schools.”3 Although non-violent crimes have decreased since the mid-1990s, violent crimes have remained relatively consistent.4 1 For current research on school-police partnerships from sociology, criminology, and education, see: Randall R. Beger, “Expansion of Police