MPS considers ending use of school resource officers
Group says posting police at schools adds tension
Milwaukee Public Schools would end the use of school resource officers outside its buildings under a proposal to be taken up Thursday, becoming the latest district to consider severing contracts with local police in the wake of protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody last month.
On Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the district’s north side administrative offices to voice their support for the plan during a rally organized by the youth advocacy group Leaders Igniting Transformation.
“Our voices need to be heard, and this movement needs to bring change,” said Roshonti Smith, a 16-year-old student and member of LIT.
Posting police officers outside schools “is not making us feel safe or protected. It’s adding tension and aggression to the situation,” she said. “The tension between police and
students is very bad. On the streets, you’re killing us and now you’re (at) our schools, which is supposed to be our safe haven.”
The resolution, which will be taken up by the school board, calls for MPS to terminate all contracts with the Milwaukee Police Department for school resource officers, as they’re called. It would also end the practice buying and maintaining “criminalizing equipment,” such as metal detectors, and facial recognition and social media monitoring software.
Those funds, nearly $500,000 a year for the police contracts alone, would be invested in such things as training in restorative practices and Violence Free Zone programming and mentors.
“It’s come to the point with demands across the country that policing has to be approached in a different way,” MPS School Board President Larry Miller, who has endorsed the proposal, said Wednesday.
“Saving this funding will help the district head in the right direction,” Miller said. “It doesn’t come close to giving us the investment our children deserve in these areas. But it’s a step.”
MPS is the state’s largest district, serving almost 75,000 mostly low-income children of color.
Unlike many districts that employ school resource officers, MPS does not post them inside its buildings. It ended that practice in 2016 in response to complaints about the “over-criminalization” of student behaviors.
Today, it funds the salaries and benefits of several officers — the Milwaukee Police Department funds others — who patrol the neighborhoods around some schools, respond quickly if called and stand watch outside buildings at the end of the school day.
Those officers are supposed to have specialized training in de-escalation and restorative practice techniques and working with young people, according to Miller.
Terminating at least some of the MPD contracts appears to require a change in state law. MPS is required by statute to fund at least four police officers under what’s known as the TABS, or Truancy Abatement Burglary Suppression, program. The resolution calls for MPS’ lobbyists to begin working to overturn that law.
Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales was not available to discuss the resolution, but said through a spokeswoman that “MPD will continue to support MPS and MPS students.”
Superintendent Keith Posley would not say Wednesday whether he supports the resolution, but said it was a difficult issue with strong feelings on both sides.
“I understand the cries of the community and our nation around police departments and the injustices that have taken place . ... And I understand as a person of color what people of color have gone through in this country,” he said.
At the same time, he said: “Paramount is the safety of all students and staff. I want to make sure every single day I am able to provide a safe and wholesome environment ... in all 158 of our schools.”
Other cities have terminated contracts
Social justice advocates have long pushed for the removal of police from public schools, saying they often escalate what would normally be considered disciplinary issues into criminal matters, disproportionately affecting students of color and perpetuating what’s derided as the school-to-prison pipeline.
Those calls have been amplified in recent weeks as national attention has focused on the militarization of police agencies and use of excessive force by officers, particularly against people of color.
School districts in several cities have terminated police contracts in recent weeks or taken steps toward that end, including Minneapolis; Denver; Portland, Oregon; and Oakland.
The introduction of the MPS resolution follows calls by local groups, including LIT and the Black Educators Caucus MKE, for the district to end its use of school resource officers.
“Schools should be environments that are safe and welcoming for our students,” said Angela Harris, chairwoman of the Black Educators Caucus. “Having police officers outside of school at the end of the day does not make them feel safe. They feel over-policed. And we want to start to have a conversation where we’re looking at safety and discipline in a different lens.”
Passage of the resolution would be a victory for LIT, which has lobbied against the over-policing of Milwaukee Public schools in recent years. In October, it successfully blocked an administration plan to spend $217,600 from a state safety grant to upgrade X-ray scanners at several schools, arguing they are primarily used in schools that serve students of color, and do nothing to ensure safety.
“This has been a goal for LIT since we started as an organization in 2018,” Cendi Tena, LIT’s high school organizing director, said of the resolution.
She said she’s heartened by the sudden swelling of support for their efforts, but that it comes with mixed emotions.
“On one hand, it’s really unfortunate that it took the death of another Black person to be shared all over social media for a lot of people to finally realize, you know what, we don’t need police. But at the same time, a lot of people are on board, and it’s really important for us to build on this momentum.”