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Community website for Millstreet, Co. Cork, Ireland

Presentation National School

Our school website is updated on a weekly basis with the latest photographs and news of upcoming events . We are proud to announce that our school website now features a language translation option to facilitate the many different nationalities of our school. Please visit our website at www.millpresns.weebly.com

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Upper School

As students continue to grow and mature, our program and school grows alongside them. The words Love Learn Lead become more meaningful as students put thoughts and ideas into action across all curricular areas. As students enter the upper school years (grades 5-8), our teachers challenge them intellectually, support them emotionally, and treat them individually as they undertake more complex academic and personal pursuits, culminating in their capstone year-long 8th grade service project.

The Upper School schedule incorporates longer class periods to allow for in-depth study and project-based learning. In addition to longer periods, students spend also have split classes for more individual attention and engagement in the curriculum. Our interdisciplinary curriculum ensures students go beyond learning a single subject, fostering an understanding of how all disciplines are related.

Education at Presentation School extends beyond the classroom and boundaries of the school, as students partner with local and international organizations to help address complex local and global problems.

Language Arts

The middle school years at Presentation School offer the best of all worlds: an exciting, dynamic curriculum with engaged and engaging teachers. Language Arts blocks are blended with Social Studies, creating an integrated Humanities approach to learning.

Students learn, create, and explore different writing styles through the use of technology and 6+1 Writing Traits curriculum. Writing is taught as a process, building upon the basic skills developed in Lower School.

Presentation Upper School teachers have developed school-specific benchmark language arts skills, in which student progress is measured. Language Arts Benchmarks include following:

5TH GRADE Narrator's point of view, character point of view, identify story impact, Information from printed sources, information from digital sources, technology to publish writing; metaphor, simile, verbs to convey time, states of condition verbs, multiple meaning words; report on a topic, sequence ideas, multimedia demonstrations of learning.

6TH GRADE Determine theme, central idea, summary, personal opinion v. judgment; edit process, research with multiple sources, Introduction to the 5 paragraph essay, compare and contrast; pronouns, correlative conjunctions; collaborative communication and presentations.

7TH GRADE Explicit and inferential analysis of text, citing evidence; analyze development of them, objective summaries, Identify character, setting, plot and how they interact; drama/poetry form and structure, form/structure effect on meaning, argumentative writing, valid reasoning, sufficient evidence, non formulaic introductions and conclusion, complex sentence structures, word position, context clues, Greek/Latin affixes and roots.

8TH GRADE Theme development, theme related to characters, plot, setting, dialogue/incident impact, informative/explanatory text, writing organization, transitions, conclusions, conventions, active and passive verbs, personification, pun, hyperbole, analogy and irony, denotation and connotation, word choice, presentations based on evidence, issues, and ideas, critical review of information and purpose.

Mathematics

Presentation’s Upper School Math Program provides tailored instruction and small class sizes to ensure the most appropriate and meaningful math experience and sequencing for students. All courses cover foundational math concepts, as well as building skills in estimation, logic and problem solving. Placement in the appropriate course sequence is determined by past math performance, placement exams, teacher recommendation, and student interest.

In addition to their math course placement, all Middle School students participate in a week-long, integrated STEAM project in the second semester. This dedicated project week explores the connected disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math, and challenges mixed-grade teams to plan, design and build a solution to a real-world challenge.

MATH 5 AND 6: FOUNDATIONS All students take Math 5 and Math 6. These two, year-long courses reinforce students' knowledge of operations of whole numbers including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and then extend those skills to decimals, fractions, and mixed numbers. Students are introduced to integers, percent, perimeter and area, and basic equations.

MATH 7 AND PRE-ALGEBRA SEQUENCE Algebra Readiness 7 and 8 is a two-course sequence that provides a deeper exploration of integers and rational numbers, numeric and algebraic expressions, and introduces methods to represent and solve multi-step equations and inequalities. Students are introduced to and deepen their understanding of percents, ratio and rates, area and volume, and probability and statistics. This sequence prepares students for Algebra 1 in freshman year.

PRE-ALGEBRA AND ALGEBRA 1 SEQUENCE Pre-Algebra and Algebra 1 are a two-course sequence that begins in Pre-Algebra by building the key foundations and problem-solving skills needed for success in Algebra. The Algebra 1 course introduces and deepens students' understanding of equations and inequalities, functions, systems of equations, polynomials and factoring, radical expressions, and data analysis and probability. This sequence prepares students for Geometry or Algebra 2 in freshman year.

Science/STEAM

6TH GRADE In Earth Science students study the Solar System, Water Cycle and Earth's Weather. Students return with fresh eyes to the Chabot Science Center and experience the "Mission to Mars" simulation.

7TH GRADE In Life Science Students study Plant and Animal Cells, Plant Structures and Functions, and learn the systems of the Human Body. The highlight in this unit is dissecting sheep hearts.

8TH GRADE In Physical Science we study Types of Matter and Changes in Matter. In the spring we take an overnight field trip to Occidental to study the Redwood Forest Ecology and Coho Salmon. STEAM  

(Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) education is essential for our future economy as well as our kids' successful leadership in the world. STEAM-related occupations are, and will continue to be, the fastest growing and highest paid jobs in the U.S. For elementary and middle school students, early STEAM education reinforces critical thinking and problem solving skills that set the foundation for greater learning in high school and beyond. By teaching our students through STEAM, they understand why and how Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math are tied together by classroom learning and through hands on experience.

Although STEAM is embedded throughout our curriculum, our middle school students all look forward to STEAM Week(s). During this time, regular classes press pause and students spend 5-10 days immersed in a mixed-grade team, working on a specific STEAM challenge.

Our first, 2015 STEAM challenge was a teacher-designed Mini Golf Hole Design project. In 2016, Presentation expanded our STEAM project and began a partnership with the San Jose Tech Museum and did a comprehensive study of earthquakes and engineering, culminating in the Presentation Great Shake Down. The 2017 STEAM challenge theme was Taking Flight. Science, Technology and Engineering were applied to help understand how and why and what makes planes and gliders soar through the air. The middle school students took a STEAM field trip to San Mateo’s Hiller Aviation where they participated in a Physical Science program to learn about flight before competing in teams to engineer, develop, and construct a soaring glider that could clear an obstacle and land on a designated landing pad.

Dr. Greg Garrison or “Doc G” is always innovating and creating new fascinating and hands-on project for our students. There's no telling what interesting projects Doc G will come up with this coming year!

Social Studies

Upper School History is part of the Presentation Middle School Humanities Block and is integrated with English. Although each grade has specific benchmark learning and themes that run throughout the year, the emphasis is on learning these topics in a meaningful context, reflecting on the impact of historical events on our modern world. Students learn how to study original documents, analyze for accuracy and bias, and compare and contrast them with modern events.

6TH GRADE 6th grade social studies focus on the different ways humans interact with their environments through work, art, recreation, and thought. A comparative study of ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China develop a frame of reference to understand and appreciate cultural differences and contributions. The Roman Empire is studied during the year, with an emphasis on how Greek and Roman government systems heavily influenced the establishment of the United States legal and governing structures. Students augment their studies with a trip to the Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose, to examine artifacts in the largest Egyptian museum west of the Mississippi.

7TH GRADE 7th grade students explore Medieval Europe and Asia, while exploring the feudal system, the rise of towns, the social codes of knights and royal courts, castles, the historical influence of the Roman Catholic Church, the Crusades, and the development of arts and sciences during the Middle Ages. Students explore world religions in faith, including the rise of Islamic Empires, and continue on to the Renaissance and Reformation.

8TH GRADE Eighth grade Social Studies leaves the ancient past and turns to an exploration of our country’s origins. Students study the first expeditions of the United States, the pilgrimages that formed our nation, The French Indian War, the American Revolution, Civil War, and World War eras. The culminating experience for 8th grade students is the Washington DC trip, where they retrace the stories and steps of our Country’s remarkable history.

Children and their families are unique in their personal values and beliefs. At Presentation, these values and traditions are honored, while simultaneously providing a shared foundation for the exploration or moral values and the social and emotional development of our students.

Presentation School’s Values curriculum seeks to do the following:

• Introduce school traditions while valuing diverse individual religious perspectives
• Encourage students to think outside themselves
• Provide meaningful service opportunities on campus as well as in our local and global communities which are reinforced through sound instruction and reflection in the classroom
• Encourage compassion and understanding and develop leadership
• Invite staff, parents, and community to active participation in the shared values of our school.

Students take part in planning and leading assemblies each month, reflecting on a universal moral value. Woven throughout these assemblies are service-learning opportunities. These monthly assemblies are celebrated and are built upon a character or moral value, challenging the community to apply that value to their personal lives.

Middle school students expand on these monthly themes and learn to appreciate the connections made both in our community and worldwide. Our Humanities model allows students to explore the connections and complexities of shared values and multiple religions informed by the arts, sciences, literature and history. 

Sixth grade students complete study in values traditions within their study of ancient cultures, finding the correlations between faith traditions and recorded history. Seventh grade students are immersed in world religions as they study the fall of Rome through enlightenment, and study the ways cultural infusion and religious development influenced the rise, fall, and expansion of civilizations. Students in 8th grade complete their capstone community service project, while learning the importance  values have played in their lives. Being a person with moral values, and the actions required of us, is explored in the context of understanding what is uniquely American and required of us as citizens.

Presentation School strives to teach and guide students on responsible technology use to ensure that wisdom grows along with skill.

Students live in an increasingly technology-saturated world, and being able to navigate an ever-changing digital terrain is a critical academic and personal skill. At Presentation, technology is integrated within the curriculum, creating an authentic learning environment, where students learn to use the appropriate tools to support their classwork.

Students in grades 3-8 experience our 1:1 Chromebook program. Presentation is a Google Apps for Education School, allowing students an integrated, real-world platform for research, writing, collaborating, presenting, calendaring, and student organization. With a shared technology platform, students will:

• Prepare for 21st-century integration of digital work and creative tools
• Engage in collaborative teaching and learning
• Access new learning materials and methods
• Create a global learning initiative
• Increase their engagement in the learning process, allowing teachers to adapt curricula to make learning more engaging and interactive Will embody digital literacy and social responsibility

In addition to technology integration, Presentation School students learn keyboarding, and are offered technology electives that allow students to explore interactive programming, web design, video production, and introduction to robotics. Students are introduced to the foundational elements of computer science and reflect on ways that current and emerging technologies are shaping our world.

Learn how we've integrated and individualized technology at TPS here.   

Junior School

• 044 93 42166
• [email protected]

Senior School

• 044 93 40933
• [email protected]

Welcome to Presentation Schools Mullingar

Located in beautiful Mullingar or “An Muileann gCearr” as it is known in Irish, our school has a long and proud tradition of service to Mullingar town and the surrounding areas. Indeed the Presentation Sisters first came to Mullingar in 1825, almost 200 years ago and founded the present school. The school was originally a three story building and it remained so until 1937 when extensive renovations took place and the school took on a new face as a two storey building.

In 1957 Scoil na Maighdine Muire (The Presentation Senior School) opened and the then 4th – 7th standard moved to the Senior School and the Junior school retained Junior Infants to 3rd standard. A number of year’s later the 3rd standard also moved to the Senior School. Thus we have our current class system where our school has Junior Infants to 2nd class inclusive.

We’re holding an open morning at the school on January 20th from 11:30am until 1:30pm. We’d be delighted to welcome you and show you around.

Now enrolling for Junior Infants September 2024

Our enrolment weeks: 8th – 26th January 2024

Pick up an application form in the office or phone or email us at 044 9342166 or [email protected]

© 2024 Presentation Schools Mullingar. PO Box 8. Harbour Street. Mullingar. Co. Westmeath.

ENROLMENT NOW OPEN FOR 2024/2025

Phone: (025)31550

Email: [email protected]

Notice Board

School calendar 2023-2024.

Christmas Newsletter 2023

Click on the link below to complete your application.

Maths Week 2023

At Presentation Primary School w e provide the children with lots of opportunities to develop a positive attitude towards maths. The school community works hard to instil a love of maths and encourages the children to become confident in using maths in their everyday lives.    

National Maths Week in Ireland takes place from the 16th to the 22nd of October 2023.This year we will be taking part in different fun-filled and interactive activities in school to develop our mathematical skills over a period of 2 weeks to allow the children more time to enjoy the activities.

We would like to encourage the whole school community to get involved, including completing maths activities at home, to promote the development of the children's maths skills. A number of activities which can be carried out at home have been attached to this email. Take a look at the maths week website on: https://www.mathsweek.ie/2023/  

Make sure you check out our Facebook and Instagram social media pages throughout the week to see all the fun activities which have been taking place. 

There are lots of fun activities which you can do at home available on 

https://www.mathsweek.ie/2023/maths-at-home-activities/

Hope you have lots of fun!

Easter Newsletter

Maths week 2022.

At Presentation Primary School we work hard to instill a love of Maths and encourage the children to become confident learners. We provide the children with lots of opportunities to develop a positive attitude towards maths. 

Maths Week takes place this week from the 17th to the 23rd of October. This year we will be taking part in lots of different fun-filled and interactive activities in school to develop our mathematical skills.

We would like to encourage the whole school community to get involved, including completing maths activities at home, to promote the development of the children's maths skills. A number of activities which can be carried out at home have been attached to this email along with a link to the Maths Week Ireland 2022 website. 

Keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram social media pages throughout the week to see the fun activities the children have been taking part in.

Creat a 2D Maths Scene

Get busy creating a 2D scene using different cololured pages or pencils. This is a fun activity for all children. You could create a 2D under water scene, city scene, garden or even create your own. 

Roll the dice

All you need is some paper, a marker, 2 dice and some objects to place on the numbers. This game is great for quick addition up to 12 and can have lots of players by taking turns. The person with the most number of numbers covered wins. 

Add or Subtract

Start with a total of 15. Shuffle your deck of card so that all of the cards are well mixed. Pick a card: 

When you pick a black card you subtract

When you pick a red card you add 

There are lots more fun activities available on 

https://www.mathsweek.ie/2022/maths-at-home-activities/#activity27addorsubtract

Discover Primary Science and Maths Award

Our School received a “Plaque of STEM Excellence for deeper engagement, whole school involvement and external science engagement” from Discover Primary Science and Maths in 2022.  

This award shows the dedication of our children and staff in the school and showcases the hands on, practical and enjoyable activities completed by the children in maths, science, engineering and technology., click on the button to take a look at our hard work .

DPSM Award 2022

We celebrate Presentation Day

School Library Project

150 brilliant books

A whole school Monster Doodle where every class will draw along with Chris Judge on a pre-recorded video for your school

Every class in the school will get an author or illustrator video to watch

A Champion of Reading will visit your school by Zoom over 3 days, meeting 2 classes each day

B ookmarks & stickers for each pupil, as well as tips on reading together and encouragement to talk about and share books

Presentation Primary School is a primary school in Fermoy. We are co-educational from infants to 1st and girls only from 2nd to 6th. 

We have five classes for children with autism. .

School policies and admission form

Welcome to the website of Presentation Convent N.S, Castlecomer Fáilte chuig Scoil Mhuire Gan Smál, Caisleán an Chumair.

Explore our website and learn about our school’s welcoming atmosphere, our free lunches for all pupils, fun daily indoor and outdoor activities, sports, and Active School journey, our Green and Amber Flags, our strong community links, and see photos of our fabulous school garden and grounds. Our school has an active and very supportive Parents council and it meets regularly. New parents are always encouraged to join. The Parents’ Council organized a very successful Fun Run in June 2023. School opening hours: Junior & Senior Infants 9:00 – 1:45 1st & 6 th Classes 9:00 – 2:45 Please note yard supervision is from 8:50.

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School Resource Officers (SROs), Explained

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The topic of school policing remains difficult and contested—from viral videos of police and student encounters gone wrong, to a seeming surge in violence that’s causing some districts to consider adding more cops in schools, to perennial fears about school shootings.

Our explainer outlines the definition of school resource officers, how they differ from other police and school safety personnel in schools, research on their effectiveness, and some of the difficult tradeoffs district officials and others must contend with as they examine their school policing programs.

What is a school resource officer? Are SROs armed?

A school resource officer is a sworn law-enforcement officer with arrest powers who works, either full or part time, in a school setting. Nearly all SROs are armed (about 91 percent, according to federal data), and most carry other restraints like handcuffs as well.

What does school resource officer training look like?

The main difference separating an SRO from other police officers is that, in theory, they have had some special training on how to work with youths. A membership group for SROs, the National Association of School Resource Officers, offers several such courses. NASRO’s basic 40-hour training includes some content on the adolescent brain, cyber safety, and violence prevention in schools, among other topics.

In practice, it’s not clear how many school police actually have had this training or similar types. States set different requirements for what training SROs need to have before working in schools, and some SROs report feeling unprepared for the job. In a 2018 Education Week Research Survey of SROs, about 1 in 5 respondents said they didn’t have sufficient training to work in a school environment, only 39 percent said they had training on child trauma, and about half said they hadn’t been trained to work with special education students.

What do school resource officers do?

As for daily duties, NASRO indicates that officers play a tripartite role of law enforcement, informal mentoring and counseling, and some in-person teaching. In this sense, the theory of school-based policing is aligned with that of community policing: using local partnerships with other public entities to bring more resources to bear on safety.

Similar to the debate about whether community policing truly improves trust in law enforcement and safety—or merely increases surveillance—critics question whether it’s possible for the same officers to play all those roles at once.

A recent NASRO survey underscores this potential tension. It found that two-thirds of SROs responding said they most identified with law enforcement, and just over a quarter most identified with being a mentor. (These findings are generally consistent with prior research on school police officers’ own perception of their roles. ) Yet the officers also reported that they spent the greatest amount of their time—48 percent of it—on mentoring activities.

School resource officer statistics: How many SROs are there?

SROs are not required to register in any kind of national database, so there are only estimates of their numbers—no firm tally.

Federal data estimate that in the 2015-16 school year, there were some 52,000 full or part-time SROs in schools at least once a week, plus another 15,500 sworn law enforcement officers in schools who were not SROs.

Another way to examine this picture is to look at the proportion of schools that employ an SRO.

The most recent federal data available, from the 2017-18 school year, show that about 45 percent of schools had an SRO in place at least once a week. (Another 13 percent of schools reported hosting police who were not SROs.)

This represents a steady growth over the last few decades; only 32 percent of schools reported having an SRO in 2005-06.

As these data suggest, an SRO may not be stationed in just one school; some are responsible for several campuses. The Maryland Center for School Safety found , for instance, that there were 439 SROs serving schools in that state as of 2020, but only 328 were assigned to just one school.

Why has the number of school resource officers grown?

Although school policing has been around since at least the late 1950s, it expanded notably in the 1990s due to three major factors: concerns about rising rates of juvenile crime in the 1990s, the federal government’s funding of community policing programs beginning with the 1994 crime bill and its establishment of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring program, and the 1999 Columbine shooting in Littleton, Colo.

In 1999, the U.S. Department of Justice began specifically making grants to increase the number of SROs in schools through the COPS in Schools program, resulting by some estimates more than $700 million being granted to districts to hire SROs between 1999 and 2005. That grant has ended but districts can still receive federal grants through the broader COPS funding.

Traditionally, SROs have been more common in secondary schools than in elementary schools, but there are indications that the proportion working in elementary schools has risen. This appears to be a relatively recent phenomenon caused by several high-profile school shootings in the late 2010s, as states began to pass laws requiring SROs or other armed personnel in schools.

The end result is that more districts have added SROs in lower grades. Florida saw a dramatic increase in police presence between 2017-18 and 2018-19 after passing legislation developed in response to the 2018 school shootings in Parkland, with much of that due to increases in the the elementary grades .

Besides school resource officers, are there other police officers or armed individuals who work in and around schools?

Yes. These can be campus security officers, regular beat cops who are assigned to school areas, and even laypeople.

A 2018 Maryland law, for example, requires schools to have SROs or “adequate police coverage,” which can include sheriff’s deputies, patrol officers, or others who can access school grounds in response to calls or to conduct other business.

And a Florida law passed the same year required all schools to hire either an SRO or to have an armed guardian, a layperson who carries a firearm and participates in a state training program.

Do districts get to select school resource officers?

This depends on the arrangement that school districts have with law-enforcement agencies. Some have little say in selecting the officers, while in other districts, central office administrators or even principals can interview the officers and select or reject candidates.

A handful of large districts, including Miami-Dade, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Houston, among others, have their own in-house police forces, presumably because they can more directly control hiring and train them for the nuances of their own schools, though there is little to suggest that an in-house police force yields different outcomes for safety. Other districts, including Shelby County, Tenn., are expressing new interest in these arrangements.

What is an MOU? What do they govern?

A memorandum of understanding or MOU is an interagency agreement that theoretically documents how SROs are selected and trained, prescribes their duties and limitations, details how the agreement can be renewed or modified, and specifies how costs are apportioned among the agencies.

Only about two-thirds of districts in 2017-18 reported having such a document. And even then many respondents were unsure whether theirs specified their SROs’ role in disciplinary matters, on the use of firearms, or on arrests.

Some districts, including Chicago and New York City, have recently modified these documents to clarify that SROs should not be involved in routine discipline matters (like a student interrupting or refusing to follow directions in class). New York’s also calls on them to use diversionary tactics for low-level crimes and only to arrest in the case of violent crimes or felonies.

It’s not clear how such changes might affect outcomes for students, because researchers haven’t yet attempted to analyze a large sample of MOUs or to correlate specific features of MOUs to things like student safety, behavioral incidents in schools, juvenile-justice referrals, or other outcomes.

What do we know about school resource officers and their effectiveness on schools from research?

Studying SROs is a difficult task. They usually aren’t managed by schools, but by police departments, which makes it difficult to track which schools have officers. Until this decade, cause-and-effect research on SROs was virtually nonexistent, despite the millions of dollars spent hiring, training, and placing them in schools.

Now that’s starting to change. Newer studies have used complex statistical methods to link the presence of SROs to both student behavior patterns and their consequences. The emerging picture suggests that while school police do mitigate some types of violence in schools, their presence also increases certain kinds of disciplinary outcomes, including suspensions and expulsions, as well as arrests. (See the next header for details.)

Despite these advances, many holes remain in the research. For one thing, even the best empirical studies don’t offer a lot of insight into what happens in the black box of school culture. Principals, for example, are the ones who ultimately make decisions about school discipline and suspensions, suggesting some of these patterns are not merely due to police officers’ presence but because educators are asking them to intervene. The findings point, in other words, to a larger problem of the cultural context of schools. (In its own survey of SROs, for example, NASRO officers reported that more than a third of arrests they made were referred to them by school staff.)

We also know less about how other differences in SRO characteristics shape school policing. For example, how does an SRO’s age, experience, type or intensity of training, or other factor influence how they work with principals, teachers, and educators?

Case studies, observations and interviews of SROs paint a more qualitative picture of SROs’ beliefs and attitudes about their roles. These tend to be based on non-nationally representative samples, though, which could introduce bias into the results.

Some advocates, including Black Lives Matter activists, argue that school resource officers contribute to a ‘school to prison pipeline.’ Why?

Analyses of federal education data by the EdWeek Research Center and other news organizations have detailed large, persistent disparities in arrests at schools by student race .

Education Week found, for instance, that in 43 states and the District of Columbia, Black students were arrested at school at disproportionately high levels—sometimes at shockingly high rates. In 10 states, it found that the share of arrested Black students was 20 percentage points higher than these students’ share of enrollment. (These figures were most disproportionate for Black students, but, to a lesser extent, also show up for other students of color.)

Such patterns have long been highlighted by civil rights advocates as a product of systemic racism in schools. Those advocates have also pointed to larger structural problems affecting Black students including higher suspension and disciplinary rates, as well as to reduced access to quality teachers and advanced coursetaking.

Research on implicit bias shows that, for example, Black boys and girls as young as 10 are viewed as older, more worldly, and more likely to be perceived as guilty by police than other students. Thus advocates for Black students argue that the police presence tends to subject these students to harsher discipline and to funnel more of them into the penal system.

While suggestive, these data weren’t conclusive evidence that police in schools were directly responsible for these patterns; perhaps SROs were simply more likely to work in schools with more problems.

But now a growing body of new empirical research shows a consistent link between the presence of police officers in schools and these discipline patterns. Most of this research is based on analyses of districts that have participated in the COPS grant program. Researchers have found ways to compare discipline outcomes between schools in districts that received the grants to those that didn’t, while controlling for demographics. Some of these analyses focus on student-level outcomes.

In one study released just this year, for example, researchers found that the presence of SROs in schools that received those grants saw a higher proportion number of suspensions, expulsions, police referrals, and arrests of students compared to those that missed out on the grants; the effects were two times larger for Black than for white students. This study inches closer to a cause-and-effect model than most prior research.

It’s consistent with some other recent studies, one of which found that adding police led to more arrests among children under age 15 as a result of the grants. A study in Texas, found that middle school disciplinary rates rose by 6 percent after schools received the grants and that the increases were concentrated among Black and Hispanic students.

Recent research based on structured interviews with several dozen SROs have found that race was a key factor in their perception of threatening behavior. Those working in an urban, diverse district tended to see students themselves as the greatest threat to safety, citing fights, bullying, and aggression, while those working in a suburban, majority white district tended to view intruders from outside the school as the greatest threat to safety.

Do school resource officers help make schools safer?

In a sense, the answer to this question truly depends on how communities defines a “safe school.” Is a safe school one that has few or no violent incidents? One replete with bulletproof glass and metal detectors? One that values strong, warm relationships among faculty and students? Opinions differ, school communities prioritize different ideas about safety, and not all of the different notions are easily compatible.

That said, by at least one definition, they do appear to make a difference in one dimension of safety. A series of recent studies conclude that the presence of SROs does appear to lead to declines in violent incidents in schools, such as rape, robbery, and physical attacks.

On the other hand, it is far from clear that SROs do much to prevent school shootings—the very phenomenon that prompted a large increase in their numbers in the past decade.

In fact, one recent study found some preliminary though not conclusive evidence that the presence of SROs increased , rather than decreased, the odds of firearm-related incidents on campuses. This could be because having SROs, by definition, increases the number of guns at school. (The researchers urge caution about the finding because the number of school shootings in the sample was so small.)

These safety improvements seem to come at a significant cost for some students, as discussed in the previous section.

Have any districts taken steps to remove school resource officers?

Yes. EdWeek published a database of districts that have either cut funding to their school police programs or removed SROs from buildings.

Even in those cases, though, police may be called in the case of a violent incident or may work with schools in other arrangements.

How are we supposed to interpret these findings overall?

That’s the huge challenge facing school district leaders, school boards, and principals.

One way is to consider whether the safety benefits of SROs still justify the cost, given the documented harms of exclusionary discipline, suspensions, and juvenile justice referrals. In general, violence and crime rates in schools have declined over the past 20 years, raising questions about salience: Is it still necessary to have so many police officers in schools?

High profile school shootings, including Sandy Hook, Conn., in 2014 and Parkland, Fla. in 2018 have complicated the discussion—though there’s little to suggest that the presence or absence of school police might have prevented these.

Thus the larger question seems to be sociological. Uniformed officers and panda cars, along with metal detectors and bulletproof glass, are powerful signifiers for parents and community members that something’s being done to address safety regardless of whether they actually make students safer.

And there remains much uncertainty—as well as considerable doubt from advocates—about whether tweaks, including better-written MOUs and more district control over SRO programs can fundamentally reshape the school policing conversation.

Many research studies and white papers examine the role and impact of school resource officers. Here are some of the most important to get you started.

Fisher, Benjamin W., Ethan M. Higgins, Aaron Kupchik, Samantha Viano, F. Chris Curran, Suzanne Overtreet, Bryant Plumlee, Brandon Coffey. “Protecting the Flock or Policing the Sheep? Differences in School Resource Officers’ Perceptions of Threats by School Racial Composition.” (2020). Social Problems, 00, 1-19. Meister, Craig, and Jeyan Jebari, “Annual School Resource officers/Adequate Coverage Report.” (2020). Maryland Center for School Safety. Mielke, Frank J., Jeremy Phillips, and Beth Sanborn. Measuring the Strategic Fit of the School Resource Officer with Law Enforcement Leaders, the Education System, the Community and Other Interested Parties. (2021). National Association of School Resource Officers. Musu-Gillette, L., Zhang, A., Wang, K., Zhang, J., Kemp, J., Diliberti, M., and Oudekerk, B.A. (2018). “Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2017" (NCES 2018-036/NCJ 251413). National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Washington, DC. Na, C. & Gottfredson, D. C. “Police Officers in Schools: Effects on School Crime and the Processing of Offending Behaviors.” (2011). Justice Quarterly, 30(4), 1-32. Sorensen, Lucy C., Yinzhi Shen, and Shawn D. Bushway. “Making Schools Safer and/or Escalating Disciplinary Response: A Study of Police Officers in North Carolina Schools.” (2021). Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Petrosino, Anthony, Trevor Fronius, and Darius Taylor. “Research in Brief: School-Based Law Enforcement.” (2021). WestEd Justice & Prevention Research Center. Sorensen, Lucy C., Montserrat Avila Acosta, John Engberg, and Shawn D. Bushway. The Thin Blue Line in Schools: New Evidence on School-Based Policing Across the U.S. (2021). Annenberg Institute at Brown University. Stern, Alexis, and Anthony Petrosino. “What Do we Know About the Effects of School-Based Law Enforcement on School Safety?” (2018). WestEd Justice & Prevention Center. Weisburst, Emily K. Patrolling Public Schools: The Impact of Funding for School Police on Student Discipline and Long-term Education Outcomes. (2019). Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.

A version of this article appeared in the December 01, 2021 edition of Education Week as School Resource Officers Explained

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Juneteenth Digital Toolkit

On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas with the news that the more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free.

This day came to be known as Juneteenth , now officially a federal holiday. Juneteenth is a time to celebrate, gather as a family, reflect on the past and look to the future.

Enjoy the Tastes, Sounds and Experiences of Juneteenth

Juneteenth celebrates African American resilience and achievement, while aiding in the preservation of those historical narratives that promoted racial and personal advancement since Freedom Day. Join the museum’s Juneteenth celebration – spanning the entire month of June – and embrace the rich history of Freedom Day each week. 

Juneteenth and the Color Red

The Juneteenth 2023 Red List Notebook is among Juneteenth commemorative collection available in the museum store. 

Each year when my family celebrates Juneteenth, our flyers boldly request that each quest bring something "Red." We then add examples, like red soda pop, watermelon, apples, or even red beans. Folks bring these items without much thinking about their origin. In fact, the roots of the symbolic efficacy of the color red can be traced to West Africa, where it has been associated with strength, spirituality, life, and death. Furthermore, culinary historians, trace the color to certain foods that traveled to the Americas along with the Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, such as hibiscus and the kola nut. 

So, this year at Juneteenth, as you take a long swallow from a cool drink of hibiscus iced tea, or red punch, remember the ancestors who sacrificed, remember the blood shed in the struggle, remember the collective strength of people of the African diaspora, and finally remember the spirituality and transcendent joy that enabled us to overcome. ~  Kelly Navies, museum specialist and oral historian

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On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas with the news that the more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free. This day came to be known as #Juneteenth, now officially a federal holiday. Celebrate with @NMAAHC: nmaach.si.edu/Juneteenth

Do you know the story of #Juneteenth? Learn more and join in the celebration with @NMAAHC: nmaahc.si.edu/Juneteenth

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Children & Youth Resources

Discover Juneteenth resources to share with young children.

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Juneteenth: A Time of Celebration, Reflection

Join us in-person and online for our Juneteenth programming highlighting community, culture and freedom.  

Discover Educational Resources

Press Play on History: Juneteenth

Connect songs to themes of the historical experience of African Americans and Juneteenth and create a playlist through this Learning Lab activity.

Juneteenth: Connecting the Historic to the Now

Scholars discuss the historical and current political significance of the holiday.

Explore More

As you celebrate Juneteenth this year, the museum offers additional resources to help you embrace the rich history of Freedom Day.

Juneteenth: Cause for Celebration

This 1925 film, recorded by the Rev. Solomon Sir Jones, captures a Juneteenth celebration in Beaumont, Texas. Learn more about Reconstruction, rights and retaliation by visiting our Searchable Museum.

Embrace a Rich History 

Watch museum videos that celebrate culture, family and freedom. 

We use the video player Able Player to provide captions and audio descriptions. Able Player performs best using web browsers Google Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. If you are using Safari as your browser, use the play button to continue the video after each audio description. We apologize for the inconvenience.

NMAAHC Oral History Specialist Kelly Navies talks about the history of Juneteenth.

Rochelle Rice sings "Lift Every Voice and Sing."

What is Juneteenth, and why is it important? - Karlos K. Hill and Soraya Field Fiorio

Juneteenth Reading List

Check out our museum's top picks and explore the books on our expert's must-read list — curated just for you. 

Titles for Younger Readers

A IS FOR ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE A JOYFUL ABC BOOK

A IS FOR ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE: A JOYFUL ABC BOOK Anna Forgerson Hindley and the National Museum of African American History and Culture This alphabet board book celebrates what makes us unique as individuals and connects us as humans. This lively and colorful book introduces young readers to 26 key traits they can explore and cultivate as they grow. The book supports understanding and development of each child’s healthy racial identity, the joy in human diversity and inclusion, a sense of justice, and children’s capacity to act for their own and others’ fair treatment.

Our Skin A First Conversation About Race

OUR SKIN: A FIRST CONVERSATION ABOUT RACE Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli The premiere book in the First Conversations board book series, Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race, offers children and adults in their lives supportive examples for holding honest conversations about race and racism told in a read-aloud format. Backed by research in early childhood development, this vibrantly illustrated picture book equips readers with clear language, and historical context to learn about skin color, race, and racism and gives examples of ways young children can use their unique voices to stand for fairness.

Get Up Stand Up

GET UP, STAND UP Bob Marley and Cedella Marley This children’s book adaptation of the empowering Bob Marley lyrics, Get Up, Stand Up, encourages young readers to use their voices to stand up for themselves and others. Through the perspective of a young girl’s day at school, this lyrical story showcases how injustice can appear in children’s everyday lives and each child’s unique and collective power to fight against it.

Our Children Can Soar

OUR CHILDREN CAN SOAR Michelle Cook Our fight for racial justice is one that has been carried on by people for generations. Through beautiful illustrations, this rhythmically told picture book celebrates the diverse pursuits and accomplishments of Black leaders throughout history and showcases how each generation's work enables the following to reach new heights.

Freedom, We Sing

JUNETEENTH FOR MAZIE Floyd Cooper Mazie is ready to celebrate liberty. She is ready to celebrate freedom. She is ready to celebrate a great day in American history. The day her ancestors were no longer slaves. Mazie remembers the struggles and the triumph, as she gets ready to celebrate Juneteenth.

Juneteenth for Mazie

Ruth and the Green Book

RUTH AND THE GREEN BOOK Calvin Alexander Ramsey with Gwen Strauss Ruth and the Green Book is the story of one Black family’s trip from Chicago to Alabama by car in the late 1940s. Along the way they encounter prejudice, but they also discover The Green Book, a real guide to accommodations which was published for decades to aid African American travelers as they faced prejudice on the roads across the country.

TAR BEACH Faith Ringgold Cassie Louise Lightfoot has a dream: to be free to go wherever she wants for the rest of her life. One night, up on “tar beach,” the rooftop of her family’s Harlem apartment building, her dreams come true. The stars lift her up, and she flies over the city, claiming the buildings and the city as her own.

Love Twelve Miles Long

LOVE TWELVE MILES LONG Glenda Armand This story, inspired by the life of Fredrick Douglas, imagines a poignant bedtime conversation between a young Fredrick Douglas and his mother about her twelve-mile journey to see him. Through the book, readers follow the life of a family separated by slavery and explore questions about resilience, the injustice of slavery, and the hope and promise of freedom.  

ABCs of Black History

ABCs OF BLACK HISTORY Rio Cortez Letter by letter, celebrate a story of big ideas––P is for Power, S is for Science and Soul -- of significant moments––G is for Great Migration-- and of iconic figures––H is for Zora Neale Hurston, X is for Malcom X. In addition to rhyming text, the book includes back matter with information on the events, places, and people mentioned in the poem, from Mae Jemison to W. E. B. Du Bois, Fannie Lou Hamer to Sam Cooke, and the Little Rock Nine to DJ Kool Herc.

Harriet Tubman Conductor on the Underground Railroad

HARRIET TUBMAN: CONDUCTOR ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD Ann Petry Harriet Tubman was born a slave and dreamed of being free. She was willing to risk everything–including her own life–to see that dream come true. After her daring escape, Harriet became a conductor on the secret Underground Railroad, helping others make the dangerous journey to freedom.

Stamped (for kids_ Racism, Antiracism, and You

STAMPED (FOR KIDS): RACISM, ANTIRACISM, AND YOU. Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi Adapted from the groundbreaking bestseller Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, this book takes readers on a journey from present to past and back again. Kids will discover where racist ideas came from, identify how they impact America today, and meet those who have fought racism with antiracism. Along the way, they’ll learn how to identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their own lives.

Brown Girl Dreaming

BROWN GIRL DREAMING Jaqueline Woodson A memoir in verse about what it was like to grow up in the 1960s and 1970s living with the remnants of Jim Crow and a growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement.

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Facts about juneteenth.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture’s curator of women’s history Angela Tate and museum specialist and oral historian Kelly Navies provide history and insight on Juneteenth.

The Historical Background of Juneteenth:

​​​​​​​ Kelly Navies, museum specialist and oral historian: “Throughout the war, Texas remained largely free of the presence of Union troops. A year after General Granger’s announcement, Texans celebrated the first Juneteenth. However, African Americans had to overcome many challenges in the years after learning of their ‘freedom.’ Many states, including Texas, passed stringent laws curtailing the movement and actions of the newly freed men and women. Those in power also attempted to thwart the observance of Juneteenth by denying large groups of African Americans access to land on which to celebrate. In response to this strategy, in 1872, Black Houstonians, under the leadership of Rev. Jack Yates, a formerly enslaved man, formed the Colored People and Emancipation Park Association to purchase a plot of land that could be used for Juneteenth celebrations. This plot of land became known as Emancipation Park and throughout the era of segregation it was the only public park open to African Americans in Houston, Texas. In other towns throughout the South, similar strategies were used to secure safe spaces for Juneteenth observance."

The Meaning of Juneteenth Through Social Justice Movements

Juneteenth gained popularity during the Civil Rights Movement with the increased emphasis on Black history and empowerment. At the end of the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign, held on the National Mall, there was a ‘Solidarity Day,’ held on Juneteenth. Many who attended had never heard of Juneteenth and subsequently took their new knowledge to their hometowns across the United States. The significance of Juneteenth is part of a continuum of moments where African Americans have advocated for their full participation in American citizenship and commanded the maintenance of the memory of our history and culture in the face of resistance and racism.

What is the significance of Juneteenth?

Angela Tate, museum curator of women’s history : “The holiday did not exist when Frederick Douglass delivered his stirring speech about Independence Day. By the turn of the twentieth century, Black leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois focused efforts on commemorating anniversaries of Emancipation Day (1913, 1933). Black History Month grew out of Negro History Week, which Carter G. Woodson founded February 7, 1926, to commemorate the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Martin Luther King’s birthday was not made a federal holiday until 1983. The significance of Juneteenth is, thus, part of a continuum of moments where African Americans have advocated for their full participation in American citizenship and commanded the maintenance of the memory of our history and culture in the face of resistance and racism.”

How is Juneteenth celebrated?

Kelly Navies, museum specialist and oral historian : “Juneteenth is celebrated in a variety of ways throughout the United States and world, but consistent themes are an emphasis on family, freedom, activism, and resilience. Most communities celebrate with a feast centered around a barbeque. Often there are historic-themed performances and poetry readings. You might also see African drumming and dancing. The color red is an important symbol of the sacrifices made in the past, and many people wear red and bring red side dishes to the feast, like red beans, watermelon, and red soda pop.”

Why is the day called Juneteenth?

Kelly Navies, museum specialist and oral historian : “The holiday’s name Juneteenth is a combination of the month of June and the 19th day, representing the date in 1865 General Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas with a force of almost 2000 troops to inform the enslaved African Americans in Texas that they were now “free.” June + 19 = Juneteenth.”

How has the holiday evolved over the years?

Angela Tate, museum curator of women’s history : “As with many things involving African American history and culture, Juneteenth is not without its own debates and detractors. Recent efforts to generate support for making it a national holiday have been met with resistance. Several Black Texans have been critical of how the state and Southern culture have been excised from the conversations and commemorations. Chaédria LaBouvier, the first Black curator at the Guggenheim Museum, tweeted in late 2020 about the lack of specificity when discussing Juneteenth and the Southern roots of African American culture: 

‘Histories, practices, etc that traceably originate or were developed as we currently iterate them in places that we are not living descendants of said history or ppl — we are doing the toxic, colonial thing to each other that has been done to us.’

“This sharp reminder of Juneteenth’s cultural roots is echoed in a letter to the editor sent to the Atlanta Daily World in 1983, when Texas State Representative Al Edwards reminded Atlanta readers that ‘Juneteenth celebrations originated here in Texas...In 1979 the 66th Legislature passed and the Governor signed my H.B. 1016 which going into effect next year made Emancipation Day an official state holiday.’ When digging even further into Black newspapers, the evidence of Texas being at the heart of Juneteenth is clear: newspaper articles from the first half of the twentieth century characterize it as a strictly Texas holiday, whereas in the second half of twentieth century, it has flourished in a variety of cities, with Los Angeles being the most prevalent city of celebration.

“This is no coincidence: California was the destination for African Americans from Texas and Louisiana in the 1940s-70s, undoubtedly drawn by the continuous sunshine and the similar ethnic populations (it was split amongst black, white, and brown, as opposed to the black and white binary in the rest of the South). However, even Black newspapers from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento reveal how often Juneteenth was merely an excuse to gather over food, drinks, and music. At one celebration held in 1988, the usual red soda and funk was swapped out for finger foods as guests listened to classical music! Later, in the early 2000s, Black leaders saw in Juneteenth a piece of the overall push for reparations and federal acknowledgement and redress for the harms of slavery and Jim Crow.”

What is the significance of the color red and Juneteenth?

Kelly Navies, museum specialist and oral historian : Each year when my family celebrates Juneteenth, our flyers boldly request that each quest bring something “Red.” We then add examples, like red soda pop, watermelon, apples, or even red beans. Folks bring these items without much thinking about their origin. In fact, the roots of thesymbolic efficacy of the color Red can be traced to West Africa, where it has been associated with strength, spirituality, life, and death. Furthermore, culinary historians, trace the color to certain foods that traveled to the Americas along with the Africans during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, such as hibiscus and the Kola nut. So, this year at Juneteenth, as you take a long swallow from a cool drink of hibiscus iced tea, or red punch, remember the ancestors who sacrificed, remember the blood shed in the struggle, remember the collective strength of people of the African diaspora, and finally remember the spirituality and transcendent joy that enabled us to overcome.

Test Your Knowledge: Crossword Answer Key

Savor the Flavors of Juneteenth

Louis armstrong's red beans and rice, hibiscus and ginger sweet tea, commemorative merchandise.

Help Represent Juneteenth

Shop this limited-edition collection that honors Juneteenth as celebrated for over 150 years. Purchases support the museum’s artistic, community and education programs.

Transcribe Freedmen's Bureau Records

Learn about the post-Civil War transition of enslaved people by volunteering to transcribe the records of the Freedmen's Bureau, which is accessible online, through the Smithsonian Transcription Center.

Subtitle here for the credits modal.

Registered sex offender tried to kidnap child from Colorado elementary school, police say

by KRISTINA WATROBSKI | Crisis in the Classroom

AURORA, Colo. (CITC) — A registered sex offender was arrested in Colorado Friday after attempting to kidnap an elementary school student on school property, police say.

33-year-old Solomon Galligan was arrested after walking up to multiple children at Black Forest Hills Elementary School, according to the Aurora Police Department. Authorities say Galligan attempted to grab a young boy and fled school grounds before officers arrived.

It is not immediately clear what prompted Galligan to leave the school's property. He was later caught by police and charged with one count of attempted kidnapping, with his next court appearance set for Thursday.

In an email to families, the Cherry Creek School District said it increased security and police presence at Black Forest Hills Elementary School during dismissal Friday, according to 9News .

“We take all safety concerns very seriously and have launched an investigation into the incident that happened Friday," a spokesperson for the district told Crisis in the Classroom (CITC). "We are committed to being transparent and accountable to our community, and the school is in communication with families.”

READ MORE | Chicago school dean forced student to get abortions after impregnating her, lawsuit says

In October, an Oklahoma police department arrested a registered sex offender who was discovered hiding inside a Catholic school. Staff at St. Joseph Catholic School in Enid contacted the Enid Police Department after finding Michael Eugene Steele sleeping underneath a piano. The 44-year-old man was allegedly near a student at the time.

Steele entered the school through an unlocked door, according to the Enid Police Department. He allegedly told the school's principal he was there because people were after him.

“Sex offenders who think they can violate their sex offender registration need to be mindful that they are being watched and will be charged accordingly,” Investigative Services Division Lt. Bryan Hart said at the time.

Have something for the Crisis in the Classroom team to investigate? Call or text the national tip line at 202-417-7273.

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Russian missiles damaged residential buildings and injured six people in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, early on Wednesday, Governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.