Prince William leads state in 'school disorderly conduct,' a charge Virginia lawmakers just eliminated

The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-9^th, prevents students from being charged with disorderly conduct if they misbehave at school or on the school bus. Disorderly conduct is a Class I misdemeanor under Virginia law, punishable with up to 12 months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. 

Virginia law currently contains a separate disorderly conduct charge that applies specifically to students who disrupt school or school-sponsored activities.

McClellan’s bill effectively removes that charge from the state code in an effort to stem the flow of students from Virginia’s public schools to the state’s criminal justice system. The bill now heads to Gov. Ralph Northam’s desk for final approval.

The effect of the change will likely be felt in Prince William County, where the number of students charged as a result of school-based incidents has led the state in recent years.

Starting in 2016, the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice began collecting information about juvenile charges filed specifically by school resource officers and school officials. Prince William police logged 212 school-based disorderly conduct charges between 2016 and 2018 – the highest number of any Virginia locality during that time, according to a January 2019 DJJ report. 

Black students in Prince William County schools were disproportionately charged with school-based disorderly conduct, according to DJJ data obtained via Freedom of Information Act request.

Between 2017 and 2019, black students accounted for half of all school-based disorderly conduct charges in Prince William County, despite making up only 20% of the school system’s total population.

Additionally, the data show the total number of school disorderly conduct charges levied against Prince William County students more than doubled between 2018 and 2019, from 56 to 125.

Local data reflects statewide charges

The data on school-based disorderly conduct charges filed in Prince William County mirrors that of the state as a whole, according to report compiled by the Legal Aid Justice Center in October 2019.

The report showed that 62% of the state’s school-based disorderly conduct complaints were filed against black students even though they make up only 22% of Virginia’s school population.

“This is a charge that is applied heavily to black students, and black girls in particular, at disproportionate rates to their white peers,” said Amy Woolard, an attorney for the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville.

Woolard said the school-based disorderly statute, a specific provision in Virginia code, typically involves any disruptive behavior that can’t be charged as something else.

In one case, a Virginia student was charged with disorderly conduct for listening to loud music on a school bus. In another instance, a student was charged for cutting in line in the cafeteria, Woolard said.

“What we have is a whole group of kids in a school building, surveilled by law enforcement, who are at times annoying or causing inconvenience or disruption. This low-level behavior should not be criminalized, especially for kids,” Woolard said. “That doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be addressed, but it shouldn’t be addressed with an arrest and a criminal charge.”

Rev. Cozy Bailey, president of the Prince William NAACP, said there has been a noticeable increase in the number of African American students in Prince William County schools referred through School Resource Officers to the justice system over the last few years. But until now, there hasn’t been any statistical evidence to support the claim. 

“The anecdotal evidence we have indicates a rise over the past couple of years of people who come to us and tell us, you know, ‘My child was referred through the SRO to the justice system,’” Bailey said. “It creates the anecdotal evidence that gives us the sense that there is a problem here in Prince William County.”

As an example, Bailey referred to a 2016 incident at Graham Park Middle School in which a 14-year-old black student was charged for stealing a 65-cent carton of milk in the school cafeteria. The student maintained he initially forgot to pick up his milk and returned to the lunch line to retrieve it. A school resource officer charged him with disorderly conduct and petty larceny. A Prince William County judge ultimately dropped the charges.

“He ended up in the justice system because of that,” Bailey said. “A middle school student referred to the justice system over a carton of milk is ludicrous. And this was an African American youth.”

Prince William County Police Department spokesman 1^st Sgt. Jonathan Perok said the department typically encourages the schools to handle incidents without police involvement. But, he said, some matters require police intervention. 

“Disorderly conduct can cover different incidents, unlike other charges that are somewhat more specific. These types of incidents can include involvements in [fights] and even in some of our threats-of-violence cases,” Perok said. “The cases can go through the court process, but most are handled unofficially through diversion programs.”

All school resource officers assigned to Prince William County schools are sworn Prince William County police officers. The county bolstered its SRO ranks in recent years in response to high-profile school shootings around the U.S. The police department’s SRO unit currently has 36 uniformed officers assigned to the county’s middle and high schools, including five who cover elementary schools.

Prince William County School division spokeswoman Diana Gulotta declined to comment on the number of students charged with school-based disorderly conduct in local schools, noting the school division is not involved in reporting such incidents to the state.

School Board Chairman Dr. Babur Lateef said he had not seen the data regarding Prince William students charged with disorderly conduct for school-based incidents but said he is concerned about a trend toward criminalizing student misbehavior. Lateef said there needs to be “a community conversation” about the issue.

“My concern is, are we criminalizing things that were not criminalized before,” Lateef said. “…Forgiveness is an important part of our culture, and if we’re not going to forgive our kids, who are just learning to be grownups, what are we teaching them?”

Rev. Keith Savage, a community activist and senior servant at First Baptist Church of Manassas, said he’s concerned about school divisions’ “over-reliance" on law enforcement for disciplinary actions among black and brown students. 

Savage said disorderly conduct matters are better handled in the schools and should not be the purview of local law enforcement. 

“Senator Jennifer McClellan’s bill is a welcomed call to reexamine the purpose, fairness and effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the school systems increasingly relying upon law enforcement and SROs in our public-school systems, including in Prince William County,” Savage said. “It is a reminder that the courtroom is not a place for school discipline.”

Reach Daniel Berti at dberti@fauquier.com