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Governor Murphy, NJ CEO Council, & Social Finance Launch New Jersey Pay It Forward Program to Prepare Students for Good-Paying Jobs in Health Care, IT, and Clean Energy

Governor Murphy, NJ CEO Council, & Social Finance Launch New Jersey Pay It Forward Program to Prepare Students for Good-Paying Jobs in Health Care, IT, and Clean Energy
PR Newswire
JERSEY CITY, N.J., Aug. 17, 2022

First-in-Nation Program Will P…

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Governor Murphy, NJ CEO Council, & Social Finance Launch New Jersey Pay It Forward Program to Prepare Students for Good-Paying Jobs in Health Care, IT, and Clean Energy

PR Newswire

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Aug. 17, 2022

First-in-Nation Program Will Provide Zero-Interest, No-Fee Loans to Enable Students to Train for Family-Sustaining Careers and Power NJ's Economy

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Aug. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Governor Phil Murphy, the New Jersey CEO Council, and Social Finance today announced the launch of the New Jersey Pay It Forward Program—a new and innovative workforce development program that furthers the Governor's ongoing commitment to helping residents obtain quality postsecondary education and training to advance their careers, as outlined in the New Jersey Higher Education State Plan and Jobs NJ. The Pay It Forward Program, which is the first of its kind in the nation, will help build a robust and talented workforce while supporting economic growth in the state. Participants in the program will receive zero-interest, no-fee loans at no upfront cost, as well as non-repayable living stipends and wraparound supports, to allow them to affordably prepare for good-paying, career-track jobs in the health care, information technology (IT), and clean energy sectors.

The loans will enable participants to enroll in credential, certificate, and degree programs at one of three inaugural training providers: Registered Nursing at Hudson County Community College, Cybersecurity at New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and Welding at Camden County College. Loan terms are designed to be more borrower-friendly than even federal student loans.

All loan payments will be recycled back into the fund to 'pay it forward' for subsequent students' training costs. The program aims to help participants find jobs while also helping employers fill in-demand positions in high-growth sectors to promote economic growth in New Jersey.

"With today's launch of Pay It Forward, New Jersey is the first state in the nation to model this innovative approach that will help residents obtain family-sustaining jobs and then pay their success forward by supporting future cohorts of students," said Governor Murphy. "This initiative is another way in which my Administration is working to give more residents access to high-quality education and training that will lead to good-paying jobs and successful careers. Investing in our residents will not only give them the opportunity to create a better life for themselves and their families, but will also help meet employers' needs and promote economic development throughout the state."

"I share the excitement of the Governor and my fellow council members about the launch of the Pay It Forward program," said Charles Lowrey, Chairman and CEO of Prudential Financial and Co-Chair of the NJ CEO Council. "I am confident this program will help under-resourced New Jerseyans develop valuable skills, access new job opportunities, and achieve financial security for their families they may have thought was unattainable." 

"On behalf of Verizon, I am proud to support this cutting-edge educational funding program," said Hans Vestberg, Chairman and CEO of Verizon and Co-Chair of the NJ CEO Council. "It will enable more people to participate in a future driven by mobility, broadband, and cloud computing, which are the essential pieces of infrastructure driving New Jersey's economy. This is good for the state, good for Verizon, and good for the country."

Participants who find jobs earning above a specific income threshold will repay the cost of their tuition over time. Any loan balance remaining after five years will be forgiven for borrowers in good standing. To help them succeed throughout the program, participants will also receive living stipends and free wraparound supports, including access to an emergency aid fund and mental health counseling services. Under the program, students will not have to repay the living stipends or wraparound supports. The loans are intended to be a last-dollar option, allowing students to maximize the free resources available to them to minimize the amount they need to repay.

"We're excited to partner with the State of New Jersey and the NJ CEO Council to launch this first-of-its kind public-private partnership that brings the state's economic and workforce development priorities together," said Tracy Palandjian, CEO and Co-Founder of Social Finance, the nonprofit designing and managing the fund. "This sustainable, innovative fund is helping to advance New Jersey's business goals while putting the learner's success at the center of the arrangement."

"Thanks to the leadership of Governor Murphy and a visionary group of business leaders, the Pay It Forward initiative will prepare job seekers for opportunities and strengthen New Jersey's economy," said David J. Socolow, Executive Director of the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority. "To boost students' chances of success, this first-in-the-nation program provides both living stipend grants and zero-interest loans that require affordable, income-based repayments only when students get hired at a family-sustaining wage after completing a training course. Because all loan repayments from graduates will be recycled to train future students, state funds and private donations will stretch further to reach more New Jerseyans."

"Hudson County Community College is honored to be selected as an inaugural provider for Governor Murphy's 'Pay It Forward' program," said Dr. Christopher M. Reber, President of Hudson County Community College. "Our RN program is one of the finest and most successful anywhere. We have committed, experienced faculty who assist students who come from diverse backgrounds and have a variety of learning needs, and we have affiliations with every major area hospital so students receive clinical experience that prepares them for today's nursing practice."

Members of the New Jersey CEO Council, a coalition of CEOs from some of the state's largest and most widely recognized companies, provided corporate contributions of approximately $5 million to the Pay It Forward Program. The State added to this commitment with appropriations of $5 million in Fiscal Year 2022 and $2.5 million in Fiscal Year 2023. The CEO Council is made up of the CEOs of BD, Campbell Soup Company, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Prudential Financial, PSEG, RWJBarnabas Health, and Verizon.

After a thorough due diligence process, the New Jersey Pay It Forward Program selected a set of inaugural training providers with high-quality, industry-recognized training programs and a track record of strong employment outcomes, employer relationships, and experience serving learners from diverse backgrounds.

New Jerseyans have the option to enroll in Hudson County Community College's Nursing Program, a two-year, full-time associate degree program in Jersey City designed to prepare learners for careers as  registered nurses. Participants complete clinical placements to gain on-the-job nursing experience and prepare for roles as nurses in hospitals and other health care settings. The program offers evening, weekend, and daytime class schedules to accommodate working learners and learners with families.

Learners can also enroll in New Jersey Institute of Technology's Cybersecurity Professional Bootcamp, a 10-month, part-time, online training program designed to prepare learners for cybersecurity careers. This course, which includes topics such as computer networking, cloud security, network security, and Python, takes place on nights and weekends to better serve the needs of working learners and learners with families.

Finally, New Jerseyans have the option to enroll in Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) or Welding courses at Camden County College. Classes take place at Camden County Technical School's Sicklerville Campus or Pennsauken Campus. Both programs, which meet in-person on weekday evenings, are nine-month, part-time courses with strong completion and job placement outcomes.

The New Jersey Pay It Forward Program plans to partner with additional training providers in the coming months. 

Supporting Quotes

"In order to create a stronger and fairer New Jersey, we must ensure that there are equitable opportunities for all to obtain high-quality credentials and secure economic stability," said Dr. Brian K. Bridges, Secretary of Higher Education. "Especially as we recover from the pandemic, the Pay It Forward Program allows individuals interested in acquiring industry-valued training opportunities to pursue upward economic mobility for themselves and their families without the burden of high-interest, overly burdensome student loans."

"Pay It Forward will pave the way for more equitable access to opportunities for New Jerseyans seeking to prepare themselves for lucrative careers in high-growth fields," said Tim Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of NJEDA. "This creative approach developed by Governor Murphy and the CEO Council will open doors to higher education that will enhance the lives of New Jersey workers by enabling them to advance their careers while avoiding crippling debt that can jeopardize economic security. This program will also add to New Jersey's ability to attract savvy companies that recognize the state for its skilled, talented labor pool."

"This innovative program is the latest example of the Murphy Administration's commitment to workforce development," said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. "Pay It Forward opens career paths to residents who otherwise could not afford them and prepares them for in-demand occupations. I am proud to be part of an administration that promotes economic opportunities for all."

"Over Campbell's 150 years in Camden, we've seen the benefits of businesses and government working together to serve the community," said Mark Clouse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Campbell Soup Company. "The Pay It Forward Program is an innovative workforce development investment that will support and train residents for critical jobs and help fuel economic growth in Camden County and throughout the Garden State."

"We are proud to help advance this important program," said Robert M. Davis, CEO & President, Merck & Co. "As the world recovers from Covid-19, initiatives like Pay It Forward help job seekers by providing interest-free loans and removing barriers to continuing education and career advancement. We're a New Jersey-based company, and we're excited this first-in-the-nation initiative will help support other NJ-based companies and talent."

"Nurses are the backbone and heart of the healthcare system, which is why Johnson & Johnson has advocated for the nursing profession for 125 years," said Joaquin Duato, CEO of Johnson & Johnson. "Our support of New Jersey's Pay It Forward Program addresses the nursing shortage by helping new nurses finance their education, receive training and launch their careers."

"In today's economic environment, it is incumbent on businesses and communities to make the most of the skilled resources that exist," said Ralph Izzo, Chairman, President and CEO, PSEG. "Pay It Forward is a timely effort for individuals and also for companies like PSEG with opportunities across energy and infrastructure, today and well into the future. Thanks to the leadership of Governor Murphy and others, the training that takes place today will benefit our industry and communities for generations to come."

"New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is proud to have been selected as a training provider for the New Jersey Pay It Forward Program," said Dr. Teik C. Lim, President of New Jersey Institute of Technology. "Our university is a catalyst for STEM workforce development and for the upward economic mobility of students. In essence, NJIT is an engine for opportunity, and that is what NJ Pay It Forward is about."

"Once again New Jersey is leading the way in producing not just the best educated but also the best trained workforce," said Wesley Mathews, President & CEO, Choose New Jersey. "This innovative program from the Governor and the CEO Council will generate a strong, diverse talent pipeline to support the growth of key industries in New Jersey."

"RWJBarnabas Health is committed to creating career opportunities and economic growth throughout the State of New Jersey," said Barry H. Ostrowsky, CEO of RWJBarnabas Health. "We are proud to work with the Governor's office to launch the Pay It Forward initiative, which promises to develop New Jersey's most precious resource, its people, and drive employment in years to come."

"BD is proud to be part of this important public-private partnership to address education equity across the state," said Tom Polen, Chairman, CEO and President of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company). "BD is helping to drive the convergence of health care and information technology to accelerate smart, connected care to improve patient outcomes, enable new care settings, and address chronic disease—all with an emphasis on cybersecurity as an integral part of the process. The Pay It Forward program aligns with the real-world needs within the New Jersey business community, and we look forward to seeing the benefits of a diverse and well-trained workforce of the future."

Interested participants can learn more at njpayitforward.org.

About Social Finance

Social Finance is a national impact finance and advisory nonprofit. We work with the public, private, and social sectors to create partnerships and investments that measurably improve lives. Since our founding in 2011, we have mobilized $350 million in new investments designed to help people and communities realize improved outcomes in education, economic mobility, health, and housing. In addition to managing the investment program funded by the Google Career Certificates Fund, our economic mobility portfolio includes the UP Fund, place-based Pay It Forward Funds, and the Dreamers Graduate Loan Fund. Learn more at socialfinance.org.

Media Contacts:
Christi Peace
Deputy Press Secretary
Office of NJ Governor Phil Murphy
(609) 815-0391
christi.peace@nj.gov 

Carrie Benjamin
Director of Media & Communications
Social Finance
(857) 340-6064
cbenjamin@socialfinance.org

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The Grinch Who Stole Freedom

The Grinch Who Stole Freedom

Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Before President Joe Biden’s State of the…

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March 11, 2024

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The Grinch Who Stole Freedom

Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, the pundit class was predicting that he would deliver a message of unity and calm, if only to attract undecided voters to his side.

President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 7, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

He did the opposite. The speech revealed a loud, cranky, angry, bitter side of the man that people don’t usually see. It seemed like the real Joe Biden I remember from the old days, full of venom, sarcasm, disdain, threats, and extreme partisanship.

The base might have loved it except that he made reference to an “illegal” alien, which is apparently a trigger word for the left. He failed their purity test.

The speech was stunning in its bile and bitterness. It’s beyond belief that he began with a pitch for more funds for the Ukraine war, which has killed 10,000 civilians and some 200,000 troops on both sides. It’s a bloody mess that could have been resolved early on but for U.S. tax funding of the conflict.

Despite the push from the higher ends of conservative commentary, average Republicans have turned hard against this war. The United States is in a fiscal crisis and every manner of domestic crisis, and the U.S. president opens his speech with a pitch to protect the border in Ukraine? It was completely bizarre, and lent some weight to the darkest conspiracies about why the Biden administration cares so much about this issue.

From there, he pivoted to wildly overblown rhetoric about the most hysterically exaggerated event of our times: the legendary Jan. 6 protests on Capitol Hill. Arrests for daring to protest the government on that day are growing.

The media and the Biden administration continue to describe it as the worst crisis since the War of the Roses, or something. It’s all a wild stretch, but it set the tone of the whole speech, complete with unrelenting attacks on former President Donald Trump. He would use the speech not to unite or make a pitch that he is president of the entire country but rather intensify his fundamental attack on everything America is supposed to be.

Hard to isolate the most alarming part, but one aspect really stood out to me. He glared directly at the Supreme Court Justices sitting there and threatened them with political power. He said that they were awful for getting rid of nationwide abortion rights and returning the issue to the states where it belongs, very obviously. But President Biden whipped up his base to exact some kind of retribution against the court.

Looking this up, we have a few historical examples of presidents criticizing the court but none to their faces in a State of the Union address. This comes two weeks after President Biden directly bragged about defying the Supreme Court over the issue of student loan forgiveness. The court said he could not do this on his own, but President Biden did it anyway.

Here we have an issue of civic decorum that you cannot legislate or legally codify. Essentially, under the U.S. system, the president has to agree to defer to the highest court in its rulings even if he doesn’t like them. President Biden is now aggressively defying the court and adding direct threats on top of that. In other words, this president is plunging us straight into lawlessness and dictatorship.

In the background here, you must understand, is the most important free speech case in U.S. history. The Supreme Court on March 18 will hear arguments over an injunction against President Biden’s administrative agencies as issued by the Fifth Circuit. The injunction would forbid government agencies from imposing themselves on media and social media companies to curate content and censor contrary opinions, either directly or indirectly through so-called “switchboarding.”

A ruling for the plaintiffs in the case would force the dismantling of a growing and massive industry that has come to be called the censorship-industrial complex. It involves dozens or even more than 100 government agencies, including quasi-intelligence agencies such as the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which was set up only in 2018 but managed information flow, labor force designations, and absentee voting during the COVID-19 response.

A good ruling here will protect free speech or at least intend to. But, of course, the Biden administration could directly defy it. That seems to be where this administration is headed. It’s extremely dangerous.

A ruling for the defense and against the injunction would be a catastrophe. It would invite every government agency to exercise direct control over all media and social media in the country, effectively abolishing the First Amendment.

Close watchers of the court have no clear idea of how this will turn out. But watching President Biden glare at court members at the address, one does wonder. Did they sense the threats he was making against them? Will they stand up for the independence of the judicial branch?

Maybe his intimidation tactics will end up backfiring. After all, does the Supreme Court really think it is wise to license this administration with the power to control all information flows in the United States?

The deeper issue here is a pressing battle that is roiling American life today. It concerns the future and power of the administrative state versus the elected one. The Constitution contains no reference to a fourth branch of government, but that is what has been allowed to form and entrench itself, in complete violation of the Founders’ intentions. Only the Supreme Court can stop it, if they are brave enough to take it on.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, and surely you have, President Biden is nothing but a marionette of deep-state interests. He is there to pretend to be the people’s representative, but everything that he does is about entrenching the fourth branch of government, the permanent bureaucracy that goes on its merry way without any real civilian oversight.

We know this for a fact by virtue of one of his first acts as president, to repeal an executive order by President Trump that would have reclassified some (or many) federal employees as directly under the control of the elected president rather than have independent power. The elites in Washington absolutely panicked about President Trump’s executive order. They plotted to make sure that he didn’t get a second term, and quickly scratched that brilliant act by President Trump from the historical record.

This epic battle is the subtext behind nearly everything taking place in Washington today.

Aside from the vicious moment of directly attacking the Supreme Court, President Biden set himself up as some kind of economic central planner, promising to abolish hidden fees and bags of chips that weren’t full enough, as if he has the power to do this, which he does not. He was up there just muttering gibberish. If he is serious, he believes that the U.S. president has the power to dictate the prices of every candy bar and hotel room in the United States—an absolutely terrifying exercise of power that compares only to Stalin and Mao. And yet there he was promising to do just that.

Aside from demonizing the opposition, wildly exaggerating about Jan. 6, whipping up war frenzy, swearing to end climate change, which will make the “green energy” industry rich, threatening more taxes on business enterprise, promising to cure cancer (again!), and parading as the master of candy bar prices, what else did he do? Well, he took credit for the supposedly growing economy even as a vast number of Americans are deeply suffering from his awful policies.

It’s hard to imagine that this speech could be considered a success. The optics alone made him look like the Grinch who stole freedom, except the Grinch was far more articulate and clever. He’s a mean one, Mr. Biden.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Tyler Durden Mon, 03/11/2024 - 12:00

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Vaccine-skeptical mothers say bad health care experiences made them distrust the medical system

Vaccine skepticism, and the broader medical mistrust and far-reaching anxieties it reflects, is not just a fringe position in the 21st century.

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March 11, 2024

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Women's own negative medical experiences influence their vaccine decisions for their kids. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

Why would a mother reject safe, potentially lifesaving vaccines for her child?

Popular writing on vaccine skepticism often denigrates white and middle-class mothers who reject some or all recommended vaccines as hysterical, misinformed, zealous or ignorant. Mainstream media and medical providers increasingly dismiss vaccine refusal as a hallmark of American fringe ideology, far-right radicalization or anti-intellectualism.

But vaccine skepticism, and the broader medical mistrust and far-reaching anxieties it reflects, is not just a fringe position.

Pediatric vaccination rates had already fallen sharply before the COVID-19 pandemic, ushering in the return of measles, mumps and chickenpox to the U.S. in 2019. Four years after the pandemic’s onset, a growing number of Americans doubt the safety, efficacy and necessity of routine vaccines. Childhood vaccination rates have declined substantially across the U.S., which public health officials attribute to a “spillover” effect from pandemic-related vaccine skepticism and blame for the recent measles outbreak. Almost half of American mothers rated the risk of side effects from the MMR vaccine as medium or high in a 2023 survey by Pew Research.

Recommended vaccines go through rigorous testing and evaluation, and the most infamous charges of vaccine-induced injury have been thoroughly debunked. How do so many mothers – primary caregivers and health care decision-makers for their families – become wary of U.S. health care and one of its most proven preventive technologies?

I’m a cultural anthropologist who studies the ways feelings and beliefs circulate in American society. To investigate what’s behind mothers’ vaccine skepticism, I interviewed vaccine-skeptical mothers about their perceptions of existing and novel vaccines. What they told me complicates sweeping and overly simplified portrayals of their misgivings by pointing to the U.S. health care system itself. The medical system’s failures and harms against women gave rise to their pervasive vaccine skepticism and generalized medical mistrust.

The seeds of women’s skepticism

I conducted this ethnographic research in Oregon from 2020 to 2021 with predominantly white mothers between the ages of 25 and 60. My findings reveal new insights about the origins of vaccine skepticism among this demographic. These women traced their distrust of vaccines, and of U.S. health care more generally, to ongoing and repeated instances of medical harm they experienced from childhood through childbirth.

girl sitting on exam table faces a doctor viewer can see from behind
A woman’s own childhood mistreatment by a doctor can shape her health care decisions for the next generation. FatCamera/E+ via Getty Images

As young girls in medical offices, they were touched without consent, yelled at, disbelieved or threatened. One mother, Susan, recalled her pediatrician abruptly lying her down and performing a rectal exam without her consent at the age of 12. Another mother, Luna, shared how a pediatrician once threatened to have her institutionalized when she voiced anxiety at a routine physical.

As women giving birth, they often felt managed, pressured or discounted. One mother, Meryl, told me, “I felt like I was coerced under distress into Pitocin and induction” during labor. Another mother, Hallie, shared, “I really battled with my provider” throughout the childbirth experience.

Together with the convoluted bureaucracy of for-profit health care, experiences of medical harm contributed to “one million little touch points of information,” in one mother’s phrase, that underscored the untrustworthiness and harmful effects of U.S. health care writ large.

A system that doesn’t serve them

Many mothers I interviewed rejected the premise that public health entities such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration had their children’s best interests at heart. Instead, they tied childhood vaccination and the more recent development of COVID-19 vaccines to a bloated pharmaceutical industry and for-profit health care model. As one mother explained, “The FDA is not looking out for our health. They’re looking out for their wealth.”

After ongoing negative medical encounters, the women I interviewed lost trust not only in providers but the medical system. Frustrating experiences prompted them to “do their own research” in the name of bodily autonomy. Such research often included books, articles and podcasts deeply critical of vaccines, public health care and drug companies.

These materials, which have proliferated since 2020, cast light on past vaccine trials gone awry, broader histories of medical harm and abuse, the rapid growth of the recommended vaccine schedule in the late 20th century and the massive profits reaped from drug development and for-profit health care. They confirmed and hardened women’s suspicions about U.S. health care.

hands point to a handwritten vaccination record
The number of recommended childhood vaccines has increased over time. Mike Adaskaveg/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images

The stories these women told me add nuance to existing academic research into vaccine skepticism. Most studies have considered vaccine skepticism among primarily white and middle-class parents to be an outgrowth of today’s neoliberal parenting and intensive mothering. Researchers have theorized vaccine skepticism among white and well-off mothers to be an outcome of consumer health care and its emphasis on individual choice and risk reduction. Other researchers highlight vaccine skepticism as a collective identity that can provide mothers with a sense of belonging.

Seeing medical care as a threat to health

The perceptions mothers shared are far from isolated or fringe, and they are not unreasonable. Rather, they represent a growing population of Americans who hold the pervasive belief that U.S. health care harms more than it helps.

Data suggests that the number of Americans harmed in the course of treatment remains high, with incidents of medical error in the U.S. outnumbering those in peer countries, despite more money being spent per capita on health care. One 2023 study found that diagnostic error, one kind of medical error, accounted for 371,000 deaths and 424,000 permanent disabilities among Americans every year.

Studies reveal particularly high rates of medical error in the treatment of vulnerable communities, including women, people of color, disabled, poor, LGBTQ+ and gender-nonconforming individuals and the elderly. The number of U.S. women who have died because of pregnancy-related causes has increased substantially in recent years, with maternal death rates doubling between 1999 and 2019.

The prevalence of medical harm points to the relevance of philosopher Ivan Illich’s manifesto against the “disease of medical progress.” In his 1982 book “Medical Nemesis,” he insisted that rather than being incidental, harm flows inevitably from the structure of institutionalized and for-profit health care itself. Illich wrote, “The medical establishment has become a major threat to health,” and has created its own “epidemic” of iatrogenic illness – that is, illness caused by a physician or the health care system itself.

Four decades later, medical mistrust among Americans remains alarmingly high. Only 23% of Americans express high confidence in the medical system. The United States ranks 24th out of 29 peer high-income countries for the level of public trust in medical providers.

For people like the mothers I interviewed, who have experienced real or perceived harm at the hands of medical providers; have felt belittled, dismissed or disbelieved in a doctor’s office; or spent countless hours fighting to pay for, understand or use health benefits, skepticism and distrust are rational responses to lived experience. These attitudes do not emerge solely from ignorance, conspiracy thinking, far-right extremism or hysteria, but rather the historical and ongoing harms endemic to the U.S. health care system itself.

Johanna Richlin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Is the National Guard a solution to school violence?

School board members in one Massachusetts district have called for the National Guard to address student misbehavior. Does their request have merit? A…

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March 11, 2024

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Every now and then, an elected official will suggest bringing in the National Guard to deal with violence that seems out of control.

A city council member in Washington suggested doing so in 2023 to combat the city’s rising violence. So did a Pennsylvania representative concerned about violence in Philadelphia in 2022.

In February 2024, officials in Massachusetts requested the National Guard be deployed to a more unexpected location – to a high school.

Brockton High School has been struggling with student fights, drug use and disrespect toward staff. One school staffer said she was trampled by a crowd rushing to see a fight. Many teachers call in sick to work each day, leaving the school understaffed.

As a researcher who studies school discipline, I know Brockton’s situation is part of a national trend of principals and teachers who have been struggling to deal with perceived increases in student misbehavior since the pandemic.

A review of how the National Guard has been deployed to schools in the past shows the guard can provide service to schools in cases of exceptional need. Yet, doing so does not always end well.

How have schools used the National Guard before?

In 1957, the National Guard blocked nine Black students’ attempts to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. While the governor claimed this was for safety, the National Guard effectively delayed desegregation of the school – as did the mobs of white individuals outside. Ironically, weeks later, the National Guard and the U.S. Army would enforce integration and the safety of the “Little Rock Nine” on orders from President Dwight Eisenhower.

Three men from the mob around Little Rock’s Central High School are driven from the area at bayonet-point by soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division on Sept. 25, 1957. The presence of the troops permitted the nine Black students to enter the school with only minor background incidents. Bettmann via Getty Images

One of the most tragic cases of the National Guard in an educational setting came in 1970 at Kent State University. The National Guard was brought to campus to respond to protests over American involvement in the Vietnam War. The guardsmen fatally shot four students.

In 2012, then-Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California, proposed funding to use the National Guard to provide school security in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting. The bill was not passed.

More recently, the National Guard filled teacher shortages in New Mexico’s K-12 schools during the quarantines and sickness of the pandemic. While the idea did not catch on nationally, teachers and school personnel in New Mexico generally reported positive experiences.

Can the National Guard address school discipline?

The National Guard’s mission includes responding to domestic emergencies. Members of the guard are part-time service members who maintain civilian lives. Some are students themselves in colleges and universities. Does this mission and training position the National Guard to respond to incidents of student misbehavior and school violence?

On the one hand, New Mexico’s pandemic experience shows the National Guard could be a stopgap to staffing shortages in unusual circumstances. Similarly, the guards’ eventual role in ensuring student safety during school desegregation in Arkansas demonstrates their potential to address exceptional cases in schools, such as racially motivated mob violence. And, of course, many schools have had military personnel teaching and mentoring through Junior ROTC programs for years.

Those seeking to bring the National Guard to Brockton High School have made similar arguments. They note that staffing shortages have contributed to behavior problems.

One school board member stated: “I know that the first thought that comes to mind when you hear ‘National Guard’ is uniform and arms, and that’s not the case. They’re people like us. They’re educated. They’re trained, and we just need their assistance right now. … We need more staff to support our staff and help the students learn (and) have a safe environment.”

Yet, there are reasons to question whether calls for the National Guard are the best way to address school misconduct and behavior. First, the National Guard is a temporary measure that does little to address the underlying causes of student misbehavior and school violence.

Research has shown that students benefit from effective teaching, meaningful and sustained relationships with school personnel and positive school environments. Such educative and supportive environments have been linked to safer schools. National Guard members are not trained as educators or counselors and, as a temporary measure, would not remain in the school to establish durable relationships with students.

What is more, a military presence – particularly if uniformed or armed – may make students feel less welcome at school or escalate situations.

Schools have already seen an increase in militarization. For example, school police departments have gone so far as to acquire grenade launchers and mine-resistant armored vehicles.

Research has found that school police make students more likely to be suspended and to be arrested. Similarly, while a National Guard presence may address misbehavior temporarily, their presence could similarly result in students experiencing punitive or exclusionary responses to behavior.

Students deserve a solution other than the guard

School violence and disruptions are serious problems that can harm students. Unfortunately, schools and educators have increasingly viewed student misbehavior as a problem to be dealt with through suspensions and police involvement.

A number of people – from the NAACP to the local mayor and other members of the school board – have criticized Brockton’s request for the National Guard. Governor Maura Healey has said she will not deploy the guard to the school.

However, the case of Brockton High School points to real needs. Educators there, like in other schools nationally, are facing a tough situation and perceive a lack of support and resources.

Many schools need more teachers and staff. Students need access to mentors and counselors. With these resources, schools can better ensure educators are able to do their jobs without military intervention.

F. Chris Curran has received funding from the US Department of Justice, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the American Civil Liberties Union for work on school safety and discipline.

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