Defunding / abolishing school police (consolidated thread)

School Suspension, Arrest Rates Highest For Black Students: Report

Black students in Maryland are consistently suspended from school and arrested on school grounds at higher rates than any other racial group. The Maryland State Board of Education presented a research report on school suspension and arrest rates at its board meeting on Tuesday — though the data were not made publicly available. Although teachers cannot suspend students for insubordination, some continue to do so, state Superintendent of Schools Karen B. Salmon said. "The data is absolutely, unbelievably disproportionate for our Black and Brown children," Salmon said. She later described the results as "horrendous." In 2017, 1,700 black students from ...

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https://patch.com/maryland/annapolis/school-suspension-arrest-rates-highest-black-students-report

 

'Reimagining' schools that don't include police officers

David Stovall, professor of African American studies and criminology, law and justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says that when it comes to safety, the wrong question is asking young people if police make them feel safe. “We need to be thinking about asking young people what makes them feel safe and wanted in a school,” Stovall said in a Save our Schools Zoom forum where over 70 people tuned in after 4 p.m. on Thursday. “If we center our work...in the expressed needs of people who are experiencing...the oppression, then we have a greater chance to move ...

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https://www.southcoasttoday.com/news/20200628/reimagining-schools-that-dont-include-police-officers

 

New Bedford group hosts forum 'reimagining' schools without police officers

David Stovall, professor of African American studies and criminology, law and justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says that when it comes to safety, the wrong question is asking young people if police make them feel safe. “We need to be thinking about asking young people what makes them feel safe and wanted in a school,” Stovall said in a Save our Schools Zoom forum where over 70 people tuned in after 4 p.m. on Thursday. “If we center our work...in the expressed needs of people who are experiencing...the oppression, then we have a greater chance to move ...

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https://www.heraldnews.com/news/202...m-reimagining-schools-without-police-officers

 

Why Are School Police Twice As Likely To Arrest Black Students In Indiana Than White Students?

As schools nationwide scrutinize their use of police, a Chalkbeat analysis of state data shows that school police are 2.5 times as likely to arrest Black Indiana students than white students. More than a quarter of the 1,217 arrests in Indiana schools in 2018-19 were of Black students, even though they only made up 14% of the state's student population, raising questions of racial bias and educational inequity. The consequences can be dire: Students who are arrested are less likely to graduate or succeed academically and more likely to be involved with the criminal justice system in the future, research ...

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https://patch.com/indiana/across-in...-arrest-black-students-indiana-white-students

 

Indiana School Police Are Twice As Likely To Arrest Black Students Than White Students

As schools nationwide scrutinize their use of police, a Chalkbeat analysis of state data shows that school police are 2.5 times as likely to arrest Black Indiana students than white students. More than a quarter of the 1,217 arrests in Indiana schools in 2018-19 were of Black students, even though they only made up 14% of the state’s student population, raising questions of racial bias and educational inequity. The consequences can be dire: Students who are arrested are less likely to graduate or succeed academically and more likely to be involved with the criminal justice system in the future, research ...

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https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/...-to-arrest-black-students-than-white-students

 

Madison School Board votes to pull police from high schools

Starting this fall, Madison’s four main high schools will no longer have police officers stationed inside them under a measure adopted Monday by the School Board and one set to go before the City Council in the coming weeks. The School Board on Monday voted unanimously to cancel a contract with the Madison Police Department for the school resource officers, or SROs. School Board President Gloria Reyes said the decision to have officers removed from schools is effective immediately. The city must also agree to terminate the contract if the district is to avoid covering the cost of the officers. ...

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https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/...cle_2e380157-371f-5a10-90a2-4f0b99a4feb3.html

 

Hundreds march to defund LAUSD school police

Over a hundred students, parents and teachers protested in front of Miguel Contreras Learning Complex on Tuesday morning for a march to defund Los Angeles Unified School District school police and fund psychiatric counselors, social workers, mental health resources and campus aid. The march was in collaboration with Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and L.A. Students Deserve, a youth-led organization of students, teachers and parents who seek justice in the education system. Joseph Williams, a Black Lives Matter-L.A. organizer, said they are calling for the defunding of LAUSD police department and reinvesting of funds to help Black students and, ultimately, ...

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https://sundial.csun.edu/158671/bla...hundreds-march-to-defund-lausd-school-police/

 

Black Youth More Likely To Be Detained By San Diego Unified Police

Laila Williams graduated last month from San Diego High School where she was the president of the Black Student Union. She spent her high school career fostering conversations among teachers and students about racism on the campus. She saw her work as progress. But she also remembers what she considers a heavy police presence at her school and the persistent feeling that campus police officers targeted Black students. “When you come onto campus, you want it to be a safe place. You want to know your staff has trust and faith in you,” Williams said. “But when you’re coming onto ...

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https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/jul/02/black-youth-more-likely-be-detained-san-diego-unif/

 

Unified, police say that COP model in Racine schools is working

While there are calls across the country for police officers to be removed from schools, Racine Police Department officers argue that their model in the Racine Unified School District is different than most, and that it’s working. “Our program is unique,” said Jerome King, Park High School’s Community Oriented Policing officer. “We’re not like Madison. We’re not like Milwaukee and I think our numbers show that.” Four years ago, the Racine Police Department began moving its COP model into Unified schools. Prior to that the high schools had been patrolled by part-time officers hired by the district. Now each of ...

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https://journaltimes.com/news/local...cle_444654da-2e8f-5c6f-96d4-c97104f2ea4d.html

 

Some Texas Students Want An End To School Policing. Here’s Why

So far, no Texas district has heeded calls to remove police from schools. But after the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, school systems in several U.S. cities have ...

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https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/education-news/2020/07/09/377613/some-texas-students-want-an-end-to-school-policing-heres-why/

 

More Than Reduced Police Presence: Schools Must Commit to Implementing Restorative Justice

In this historic moment, cities across the nation are recognizing the damage caused by police presence in schools. From disproportionate action in response to small offenses, to police involvement in tantrums and dress code violations, officers militarize school environments in ways that harm all students, but especially students of color. In New York City, the schools chancellor recently announced that police will no longer be called to respond to low-level incidents; districts from Minneapolis to Denver to Portland, Oregon, are taking police out of schools altogether. But the goal must be broader than removing police from school. When students return ...

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https://www.law.com/nationallawjour...t-commit-to-implementing-restorative-justice/

 

It's time to reconsider police in our schools | Opinion

The killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by police officers, and the many Black people who met the same fate before them, are a call to action at the intersection of two institutions with deep histories of racism and anti-Black actions: schools and the criminal justice system. The terrifying reality is that being Black puts you at risk of police brutality and loss of life. Black children are at risk, too, in the schools where they go to learn, grow and thrive. Of acute concern is the placement of police — school resource officers (SROs) — in our children’s ...

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/its-time-to-reconsider-police-in-our-schools-opinion/ar-BB16A5yW

 

NOVA Equity Agenda Coalition: School Resource Officers Violate Student Rights, Studies Find

NOVA Equity Agenda Coalition 07/03/2020 Re: School Resource Officers Violate Student Rights, Studies Find To: Fairfax County Public School Board and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors In the Summer of 2018, prompted by a Fairfax County NAACP-led coalition which included several advocacy organizations, teacher’s unions, and parent teacher associations, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) School Board and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors implemented sweeping measures intended to restrict School Resource Officers (SRO) from getting involved in disciplinary matters that should be handled administratively. Among other goals, the new guidelines were supposed to ensure the following: a. Draw a distinct ...

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https://bluevirginia.us/2020/07/nov...-officers-violate-student-rights-studies-find

 

Marchers want to break school-to-prison pipeline

A Break the Pipeline protest in downtown St. Louis called for police to be removed from schools and have that money spent on resources like counseling and teacher pay. Reverend Doctor Dietra Wise Baker from Metropolitan Congregations United led a march with families, who said there is a school-to-prison pipeline in St. Louis, and they want to close it. Metropolitan Congregations United’s Break the Pipeline campaign is starting with getting police officers out of K-12 schools. They want to start by getting police officers out of K-12 schools. “When they’re present in the building, we know from the data that ...

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https://fox2now.com/news/marchers-want-to-break-school-to-prison-pipeline/

 

Do police officers belong in NJ schools? Racial justice protests stir debate

In schools across New Jersey, police officers can be found walking hallways, leading discussions about bullying and drugs and responding to fights or threats. But as a racial justice and police reform movement swells across the United States, many are calling for police to be removed from school-based jobs, arguing that their presence leads to harsher discipline and feeds the so-called school-to-prison pipeline. “It’s about how we treat our kids and how we view our kids,” said Zellie Thomas, a Paterson teacher and Black Lives Matter activist. “The physical presence of police officers adds to the view that our kids ...

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/d...cial-justice-protests-stir-debate/ar-BB16Fm2r

 

Coalition Pleads for Removal of Fairfax County SROs

"While schools' primary role is to serve as an institution for learning, it must also remain a suitable place for young people to mature and sometimes err, without being subjected to the ...

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http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2020/jul/14/coalition-pleads-removal-fairfax-county-sros/

 

Why Some San Antonio Students Want An End To School Policing

San Antonio Independent School District was set to approve its upcoming annual budget. But then trustees were inundated with calls to get rid of the district’s police department. When Marsha Madrigal was in middle school, she thought it was normal to see her classmates in handcuffs. But she knows now that not all schools have a significant police presence, and the odds of seeing your classmates arrested go up if you are Black, like she is. The 2018 Fox Tech High School graduate wants the San Antonio Independent School District to remove police from its schools so future middle schoolers ...

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https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/why-some-san-antonio-students-want-an-end-to-school-policing/

 

Inside Chicago's decade-long fight to defund police in schools

In the fall of 2017, not long after Derrianna Ford began her freshman year at Mather High School on Chicago's North Side, she was standing at her locker when an older student approached her. Unprovoked, the junior started throwing punches, she said. The fight lasted an exhausting three minutes. Two police officers were usually stationed in that very hallway; that day, they were nowhere to be found, Derrianna said. Their absence instilled a skepticism of school police that was magnified by what she described as the arbitrary arrests of friends and other students during her sophomore year. "They were arresting ...

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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...ade-long-fight-defund-police-schools-n1233391

 

Inside Chicago's decade-long fight to defund police in schools

In the fall of 2017, not long after Derrianna Ford began her freshman year at Mather High School on Chicago's North Side, she was standing at her locker when an older student approached her.

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https://news.yahoo.com/inside-chicagos-decade-long-fight-190749798.html

 

History is ‘white-washed,' police don’t belong in schools, say city and suburban teens in chat about race

Students from Parkland, Emmaus and Allentown’s Dieruff and Allen high schools joined a virtual town hall Tuesday to discuss school resource officers and how American history is taught. The students ...

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/history-is-e2-80-98white-washed-police-don-e2-80-99t-belong-in-schools-say-city-and-suburban-teens-in-chat-about-race/ar-BB16LGKV