It Starts at the Cradle’: Examining the School-to-Prison Pipeline

The Nashville Organized for Action and Hope coalition states on its website that the organization is “campaigning to replace SROs with money for counselors, social workers, and positive discipline methods.” But that’s not something MNPS can fully control. While the SRO and safety ambassador program is a collaboration between the school system and the police department, Battle tells the Scene that “MNPD leads the hiring, the placement, the training and so on for the officers that are in our schools and are patrolling.” The safety ambassador program will rely on education-oriented federal COVID-19 relief money, though it’s not clear how it will be sustained after that funding runs out. The same is true for some of the district’s mental health initiatives.