Another cops and schoolchildren controvesy

wcbstv.com - 13-Year-Old Arrested In School For Writing On Desk:

"CBS 2 contacted both the NYPD and the Board of Education for a response. The police say the arrests followed a request by the school's principal. The Board of Education said the matter is under investigation, adding that graffiti was found on several desks."

There are certainly circumstances where children as young as the 13-year old girl at the center of this story, and even younger, may need to be arrested. And even some circumstances in which they may properly be placed in restraints although not technically under arrest on any criminal charge. I don't know how they do things in New York, but this sounds like the sort of matter that might well be handled by writing a citation and sending the defendants on their way.

Making some allowances for the usual defects in news stories, the quote above raises two questions. The first is: What do the police mean when they say they took action at the request of the principal? Does this reply indicate that whether or not to initiate proceedings via arrest was a matter of discretion and, if so, why did police defer to the principal to make that call? Are there other classes of non-police officials that have such power over police officers in determining how they carry out their duties?

The second question is: What does the Board of Education mean when they say this case is "under investigation"? Do they mean that they (through the authority they grant to the principal) ordered arrests to be made before they were in possession of the relevant facts? That doesn't sound like a responsible way to exercise such power.