On Thursday, the Chicago Board of Education voted unanimously to remove school resource officers from Chicago Public Schools (CPS).
Schools will be required to remove uniformed police officers before the next school year starts.
CPS students gathered outside CPS headquarters to rally against keeping officers in schools before the vote.
Former CPS student Essence Jade told WGN, “We are here today again to demand the removal of Student Resource Officers and to demand the investment in Restorative Justice Practices and overall, more sustainable practices that support a better learning environment for the students.”
“We want to get the cops out of the school building so we can get the programs that we need,” added Hyde Park Academy student Makayla Acevedo.
The decision drew criticism from several members of the City Council.
“It’s still very important for me to come to speak out against this, I feel, reckless idea,” 38th Ward Ald. Nicholas Sposato said.
Other City Council members argued that the decision should ultimately be left up to individual schools on whether to maintain school resource officers or not.
“Every school doesn’t have to have them, but some schools need them,” 24th Ward Ald. Monique Scott said.
16th Ward Ald. Stephanie Coleman expressed a similar sentiment.
“I plead with this board to give the principals an option to have security resource officers,” Coleman said.
The board says the approximately $10 million budgeted for the officers can now be redirected to programs that have a ‘holistic’ approach to school safety.
Watch:
Retired Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Gene Roy shared on X, “I’d like to point out that I had a number of CPS High Schools in my District. The School Officers were not oppressive figures of intimidation and over-policing. To the contrary, they were volunteers for that assignment and became actively involved in the schools and kids they served and protected. In every school they built relationships with community, students and faculty alike, and actually developed information about gang conflicts that prevented several shootings. In one other school, one of the officers VOLUNTEERED to serve as the football coach while his partner VOLUNTEERED to serve as the wrestling coach.”
“Security is needed in High Schools, no matter what part of the US they’re located in. Magnetometers are critical to violence prevention to keep guns out of schools. But remember, they are only as good as the operators and they must be plugged in to work.”
“And do you really want to entrust the safety and security of your children to an entity that can’t even keep track of laptop computers?”
“Take the politics and progressive posturing out of the School Security Program and focus on the safety of the students and the staff.”
Picking up from my post on another platform regarding the ill-advised decision by the Chicago Board of Education to remove CPD School Resource Officers (School Patrol) from CPS High Schools.
I’d like to point out that I had a number of CPS High Schools in my District. The…
— Gene Roy (@GeneRoyChicago) February 23, 2024
