Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Kevin Hendrick was looped in on a Feb. 24 directive from his police chief ordering campus officers to detain and question anybody they encounter with a federal deportation order and to alert U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, obtained through a public records request. Hendrick was also notified by district police Chief Luke Williams of plans to deputize school-based officers under a federal program that grants immigration arrest authority to local law enforcement agencies and that鈥檚 experienced since the beginning of Trump鈥檚 second term 鈥� in large part from new partnerships in Florida.

Immigrant rights groups and privacy advocates have for years warned that school-based police officers could share information about undocumented students and their families with federal immigration officials and that the program to deputize local cops, known as 287(g), could give immigration agents a foothold in schools. 

The revelations in Pinellas County, advocates said, offer clear evidence of collaboration on immigration matters between the law enforcement division of the country鈥檚 28th-largest school district and outside police agencies. The instructions given to school resource officers, they assert, could violate constitutional protections against unreasonable detention and children鈥檚 legal right to a free public education regardless of their immigration status. 

鈥淚t should alarm and enrage every parent, teacher, and taxpayer in Florida that school police are being pressured to become informants for ICE and unconstitutionally detain members of our school community,鈥� attorney Alana Greer, the director and co-founder of the Miami-based Community Justice Project, told 蜜桃影视. 

Greer noted the school district police department鈥檚 directive to assist ICE, and , were voluntary decisions that undermine community trust and its mission to promote campus safety. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 need or want armed cops in our schools doing ICE鈥檚 bidding. 鈥嬧�婽hese efforts do nothing to keep our kids safe.鈥�

The Florida Phoenix that the Pinellas County school district had applied to take part in 287(g), the nation鈥檚 first K-12 school district to take that step. In response to the resulting public outcry, Hendrick, the superintendent, said the district police chief acted in error and without his or the school board’s approval. The district didn鈥檛 respond to questions last week from 蜜桃影视 about emails Hendrick and other district leaders received from Williams outlining the police chief鈥檚 intention to participate. 

Records show the school district鈥檚 lawyers had planned to meet to discuss the 287(g) application before it became public and Isabel Mascaranes, the district spokesperson, was listed on the form as the point of contact for ICE 鈥渢o coordinate any release of information to the media鈥� regarding immigration enforcement actions. Asked by 蜜桃影视 what knowledge she had of the 287(g) application before it was submitted to ICE, Mascaranes responded, 鈥淐an I get back to you on that?鈥�

In a follow-up email, Mascaranes didn鈥檛 elaborate on when she first learned of the agreement, simply noting that she routinely handles 鈥渁ll media requests and releases.鈥� She acknowledged the district police chief 鈥渕aintains ongoing communication鈥� with the sheriff鈥檚 office and other local law enforcement agencies and his decision to submit the 287(g) application was 鈥済uided by state and federal directives, intending to remain fully compliant with the law.鈥� 

ICE and the Florida governor鈥檚 office didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment. The Pinellas County Sheriff鈥檚 Office also declined an interview request.

Voicemail records obtained by 蜜桃影视 show it was ICE 鈥� not the district 鈥� that withdrew Pinellas school police from 287(g) consideration. 

鈥淚CE will not be entering into an agreement鈥� with the district, Melanie White, an ICE deportation officer, said in a voicemail to Williams, adding that the immigration enforcement agency 鈥渨ill not extend the program in that way鈥� to include K-12 school district police departments 鈥渁t this time.鈥� 

鈥楢n absolute priority of the Governor鈥�

Perhaps nowhere more than Florida, home to an residents, has Trump’s immigration agenda been so forcefully embraced, with state and local officials looking for ways to bolster ICE enforcement. That includes Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who was tapped by Gov. Ron DeSantis to lead a new State Immigration Enforcement Council. The council was tasked with carrying out a state law extending immigration enforcement far into the realm of state and local police.

Records obtained by 蜜桃影视 show Gualtieri threatened Williams and others to get on board or face the governor’s wrath.

While 鈥渋mmigration stuff is confusing,鈥� Gualtieri said in a Feb. 25 email to Williams and the heads of other Pinellas County law enforcement agencies, 鈥渋t is also at the forefront of Florida politics and an absolute priority of the Governor.鈥�

鈥淭he new law puts legal obligations on all of us to ensure we do certain things and the consequences for not doing so include removal from office by the Governor, including his power to remove police chiefs, city managers, mayors and commission/council members,鈥� he continued, adding that he would hold a call to 鈥渙n how to best comply with the new Florida law.鈥�

DeSantis, who claims he鈥檚 created for mass deportations, signed the law in February that establishes prison sentences for undocumented immigrants who cross into Florida after illegally entering the U.S. and requires jails and sheriff鈥檚 offices in the state鈥檚 67 counties to participate in the 287(g) program and facilitate arrests. A police agencies to stop enforcing the state law in April, saying it likely violates the Constitution鈥檚 Supremacy Clause and 鈥渦nlawfully encroaches鈥� on the federal government鈥檚 authority to enforce federal immigration laws. DeSantis and the Florida state attorney general are  

Florida lawmakers failed to pass a stricter bill this year which would have required all law enforcement agencies with at least 25 officers to form ICE partnerships. That law would have required Pinellas County school district police and other law enforcement agencies outside of sheriff’s and corrections departments to join forces with ICE. Even though that more far-reaching mandate did not pass, dozens of Florida law enforcement agencies voluntarily formed federal immigration enforcement partnerships, including the police departments at .

Pinellas County Schools Police Chief Luke Williams signed the 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement under pressure from the county sheriff, public records obtained by 蜜桃影视 show. (Source: Pinellas County Schools)

And even though the Pinellas school police were not legally required by the law that did pass to pursue 287(g) or to act in concert with ICE when coming into contact with someone with a deportation warrant, Williams, the police chief, told the superintendent, the school board’s attorney and other districts leaders that they were.

Gualtieri 鈥済ave instructions on how deputies and officers should respond to the new law with respect to immigration and immigration enforcement,鈥� Williams wrote in a March 5 email outlining his decision to submit the 287(g) application. 鈥淎s you know we are bound to follow the law and during the conversation we were all advised that the expectation is that we do so.鈥�

In that same email, Williams said he related Gualtieri鈥檚 directions about filing the 287(g) form to school board attorney David Koperski and 鈥渁nd we both agree we must follow the law.鈥� The chief filed the form on Feb. 26.

Even without 287(g) arrest authorities, Williams told the superintendent that school-based officers would follow procedures outlined by Gualtieri to question and detain for up to an hour anyone they encounter with a federal arrest deportation order but who was not otherwise wanted on a criminal charge. 

Gualtieri鈥檚 Feb. 24 order came after ICE added some 700,000 people with federal deportation orders to the massive National Crime Information Center, a centralized database that law enforcement agencies nationwide use to track and act on criminal warrants. Without 287(g) powers, the sheriff wrote, local officials lacked authority to arrest people with deportation orders alone. Instead, local officers should contact the local ICE office 鈥渢o have someone respond to the scene.鈥� 

More than 1.4 million people nationwide have 鈥� a third of whom live in Texas or Florida and include longtime residents, people without criminal records and those with U.S.-born spouses and children. A heightened focus on people with final deportation orders regardless of their criminal histories is part of the Trump administration鈥檚 broader immigration crackdown. 

鈥淚f an ICE officer cannot arrive at the scene within one hour, then collect as much information from the person as you can and release the person and ICE will have to try to find them through their fugitive operations,鈥� Gualtieri said. After forwarding the message to school-based officers, Williams told the superintendent that 鈥淪chools Police will do the same.鈥� 

Schools have for decades been considered a safe haven for undocumented students and their families after the 1982 Plyler v. Doe Supreme Court decision enshrined childrens鈥� access to public schools regardless of their immigration status 鈥� a right Trump-aligned conservatives in several states are now actively trying to undo. 

On the second day of Trump鈥檚 second term, the president scrapped that instructed immigration agents to avoid making arrests at schools and other  

Trump border czar Tom Homan defended the policy shift in February, claiming Central and South American gang activity in the nation鈥檚 schools required there be 鈥渘o safe haven for public safety threats and national security threats.鈥�

鈥淧eople say 鈥榃ell, will you really go into a high school?鈥� Homan said in . 鈥淲ell, people need to look at the MS-13 members and Tren de Aragua members who enter this country, a majority of them between the ages of 15 and 17. Many are attending our schools and they鈥檙e selling drugs in the schools and they鈥檙e doing strong-armed robberies of other students.鈥� 

On the same day that the Pinellas schools 287(g) application became public, Chief Williams wrote that he had no desire to ferret out the immigration status of students and families, despite his stated intention to facilitate ICE arrests.

鈥淚 do not know the status of any of our students, or parents and do not care to,鈥� Williams said in his March 5 email to Hendrick. 鈥淚 do not want to place yourself or the School Board under scrutiny because I followed my beliefs but failed to follow the law.鈥�

鈥楢 new chilling dimension鈥�

A week after Trump鈥檚 inauguration, dispelling social media posts claiming immigration agents had visited a Pinellas high school and outlined how school principals should respond if they were to show up in the future. 

Certain educational records should not be released to federal officials without a subpoena, the memo noted, but ICE agents were in their authority to 鈥渂ring a student to the front office for an interview鈥� and make arrests. 鈥淲e recommend cooperating鈥� with ICE鈥檚 requests, the memo advises, and educators 鈥渟hould make an effort to contact the student鈥檚 parents before the school makes the student available to the Agent, unless the Agent directs the staff otherwise.鈥�

Other districts have adopted starkly different policies. In April, the Department of Homeland Security said agents to conduct wellness checks on unaccompanied minor children who arrived at the border without their parents. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told NPR the officials were denied entry onto the campuses and that school principals followed 鈥渁 fairly rigid set of protocols specific to these types of actions.鈥�

Renata Bozzetto, the deputy director of the nonprofit Florida Immigrant Coalition which filed the lawsuit against the state immigration law, said the communications between the school district police chief and the county sheriff were 鈥渁bsolutely horrible鈥� and could deter children from enrolling. She said she was particularly alarmed to learn that school district law enforcement officials had access to data about people with deportation orders and questioned to what degree 鈥減arents are being run through the system.鈥� 

Federal law restricts the types of student information that public school districts can share with third parties. However, records , like logs of campus crimes, . 

School districts have for decades been navigating how much information they should share about students with law enforcement 鈥渂ut adding ICE to the mix is a new chilling dimension to that relationship,鈥� said Cody Venzke, a senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union focused on surveillance, privacy and technology. 

That Williams acted on the 287(g) application without formal approval from the superintendent or school board, Venzke said, highlights a lack of district control over its police department to ensure a 鈥渟tudent鈥檚 right to an education is protected.鈥� The directive to detain anyone with an administrative deportation order absent evidence of a crime, he said, 鈥渞aises significant equity and constitutional concerns.鈥� 

If school-based officers are 鈥渞oaming school hallways looking for students that have administrative warrants out against them,鈥� Venzke said, 鈥渢hat is not an educational atmosphere in which students can feel safe and can learn.鈥�

In 1975, only . Today, 44% do. A large reason for the increase is the , which led to the creation of the federal Community Oriented Policing Services to oversee funds for the hiring of police in schools. Another reason is the in 1999. From the federal government down to individual districts, the idea that schools need police officers to keep kids safe is prevalent.

The found that when 鈥渞ace, gender and disability statuses overlap鈥� 鈥� a concept often known as intersectionality 鈥� students 鈥渃an experience even greater adverse consequences.鈥�

鈥淩ace, gender and disability all figure prominently when it comes to arrests, but they matter differently for different groups of students,鈥� report author Jacqueline Nowicki, the GAO鈥檚 director of education, workforce and income security, told 蜜桃影视.

The GAO鈥檚 analysis of federal student arrest data found that Black and indigenous students faced school-based arrests at rates two to three times higher than those of their white counterparts. Among demographic groups, the report found, the arrest rate was particularly stark for boys with disabilities.听

Students with disabilities are arrested at higher rates than students of the same gender who did not receive special education services, researchers found, however, Black girls without disabilities are arrested at a greater rate than white girls with disabilities. 

The GAO report adds the latest insight into the ongoing debate over whether police make schools safer or whether their presence feeds the school-to-prison pipeline, particularly for students of color and those with disabilities. After a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020, some school districts cut ties with their local police agencies in the face of student and community protests. But many of them brought cops back after students returned post-pandemic with heightened mental health and behavioral issues. 

The report, which was mandated by Congress, found that student arrests were particularly high in schools where police officers engaged in routine student discipline 鈥� something that education and law enforcement leaders say is outside the scope of how school-based police should function. 

To reach its conclusions, the federal watchdog analyzed recent, pre-pandemic data on student arrests nationally collected by the U.S. Education Department and conducted site visits at three unidentified school districts in California, Maryland and Texas. It was on the site visits that researchers 鈥済ot a flavor for what it looks like to have police in schools,鈥� Nowicki said. On paper, the officers were not supposed to participate in routine student discipline, like acting out in class, she said, but researchers found that school officials often lacked a clear understanding 鈥渙f what it means to involve police appropriately.鈥� 

鈥淭here were districts that explicitly were not supposed to have police involved in discipline but the police were telling us that teachers and administrators were calling them for discipline issues,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not necessarily a common or a clear understanding all the time about the roles and responsibilities of police in schools, even in districts that have police.鈥� 

Mo Canady, executive director of the nonprofit National Association of School Resource Officers, said that while school policing models differ in districts across the country, they鈥檙e generally trained to refrain from getting involved in student disciplinary incidents. However, he noted that there are no national rules that specify how officers are trained or selected.

鈥淭here are national best practices or recommendations, but there are no required national standards,鈥� said Canady, whose group provides training to school-based officers. 鈥淚 think this speaks more loudly to the lack of national standards than anything else.鈥� 

Research has for years called attention to longstanding racial disparities in student suspensions, expulsions and arrests. In one recent report, researchers found that officers perceived students as more threatening in schools where students of color made up the largest share of enrollment compared to officers who worked at campuses where students were predominantly white. 

Among academic researchers, officers’ role in preventing campus crime and violence is an ongoing question. Another paper found that placing school resource officers on campuses led to a marginal decline in some forms of school violence including fights, and a stark uptick in student disciplinary actions, especially among Black students and those with disabilities. 

In Chicago, the removal of police officers in some of the city鈥檚 high schools beginning in 2020 has shown promising results, according to new , which found that taking school cops out of the equation 鈥渨as significantly related to having fewer high-level discipline infractions.鈥� 

To the GAO鈥檚 Nowicki, the gap in arrest rates is unlikely explained by 鈥渢he idea that police are just responding to significant behavioral incidents more鈥� often in schools with a regular police presence compared to those without one.

鈥淚 am not convinced,鈥� she said, 鈥渢hat the answer is, 鈥榃ell, there鈥檚 just more crime in schools with police.鈥� 鈥�

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Police officers are employed to keep their communities safe. Since the 1960s, 鈥溾�� has assured children that the police are there to help. 

But reveals how cops routinely subject children to sexual abuse, with little accountability. Between 2005 and 2022, reporters identified 1,800 officers across the country who were charged with child sexual abuse. 

The officers routinely spent months grooming kids, documents revealed, and many used the threat of arrest to force compliance. 

Among perpetrators were school resource officers, who 鈥渉ave unparalleled access to children, often with very little supervision.鈥� 

Go deeper: I previously reported on a dataset of misconduct incidents involving school-based cops, including 285 cases where students were injured or killed. 

In the news

This again? The Los Angeles Unified School District has confirmed that student records were stolen and are for sale on the dark web following a cyberattack on SnowFlake, a cloud service the district and other companies have relied on to store their data. The data breach appears separate from a similar incident at LAUSD that I reported on earlier this month. |

More from America鈥檚 second-largest district: LAUSD will ban students from using cell phones during the school day beginning next year. It remains unclear how the district plans to enforce the rules, but apparently some schools have begun to require students to keep their phones in 鈥渕agnetically locked pouches.鈥� |

Read more from 蜜桃影视: The bans have been a boon for a company that makes locked phone pouches. 

57 shootings a day: In schools nationwide, children are traumatized 鈥渘ot from bullets fired within, but from violence happening outside.鈥� This must-read investigation by The Trace maps out the 188,080 shootings that unfolded within 500 yards of a school over the last decade. |

The Supreme Court will review a Biden administration effort to block state laws that ban transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming health care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy. |

Meanwhile, the justices will not take up a case challenging a New Orleans school resource officer鈥檚 decision to tase a high school student with an intellectual disability during a violent outburst. A lower court rejected the student鈥檚 claim of excessive force. |  

鈥楧oes he speak good English?鈥� My colleague Jo Napolitano is out with a groundbreaking investigation into the frequency with which schools nationwide reject enrollment to older immigrant students. | 蜜桃影视 

Violent incidents are significantly less common in schools with anonymous tip lines than those without them, new federally funded research found. |

Editorial Board: 鈥淲ithout a visible presence like guards or weapons detectors, school security does indeed feel performative.鈥� |

Design firms ponder what a surgeon general鈥檚 warning on social media could look like. |

Ohio lawmakers have approved legislation that would protect students from discrimination on the basis of their hairstyle. |

ICYMI @The74

• 鈥楢stonishing鈥� Absenteeism, Trauma Rates Root of Academic Crisis
  
• ACLU Urges Six WV Schools to Review Student Policies Violating First Amendment
  
• More Weapons Showing Up in Washington鈥檚 Schools

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Illinois state lawmakers filed two bills last week aimed at reversing the Chicago Board of Education鈥檚 decisions to rethink school choice policies and remove school resource officers from campuses.

The bills focus on board moves that have drawn both support and sharp pushback in recent months from school communities and elected officials. Those decisions include a plan to reconsider the 鈥� including charter, selective enrollment, magnet, and gifted schools 鈥� and to create a , or on-campus police.

The new state bills would significantly curtail both board decisions. One bill would prevent the closure of selective-enrollment schools and any changes to admissions policies at those schools for the next three years. The other would let local school councils retain the power to decide whether they want on-campus police 鈥� a right they would lose by next school year under a new safety plan.

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Both bills have gathered support from other Chicago-based state lawmakers and powerful allies, including House Speaker Chris Welch.

The legislation is an example of lawmakers seeking to use state power to override Chicago鈥檚 authority over its schools. It comes just days after the Illinois and passed a bill governing elections for Chicago鈥檚 first-ever elected school board.

That power dynamic drew criticism from Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates, who has supported the board鈥檚 moves around school choice and resource officers.

鈥淚 remember being told by (Illinois General Assembly) members that they would *not* circumvent local control of CPS BOE,鈥� Davis Gates in response to a tweet about the resource officer legislation. 鈥淭hat was in 2013 when Rahm Emanuel closed down 50 Black schools impacting nearly 20K Black children. Can anyone help me define irony?鈥�

Dwayne Truss, a longtime activist on the West Side who has opposed the board鈥檚 decision on school resource officers, felt state lawmakers took an important step.

It鈥檚 the state鈥檚 attempt, Truss said, to 鈥渟ay, 鈥楬ey, if this is what they want, and it鈥檚 fair and it鈥檚 reasonable, then we have to protect those rights.鈥欌��

Some local school councils want to keep police officers

One of the state bills, would allow local school councils to contract with the Chicago Police Department for school resource officers. It would counteract a board vote two weeks ago to create a new school safety policy by June 27 , effectively removing officers from 39 schools that currently have them, by next year.

鈥淟ocal school councils are designed to make the best decision for their school,鈥� said Rep. Mary Gill, a Democrat who represents neighborhoods on Chicago鈥檚 South Side and south suburbs, and is a key sponsor of HB 5008. 鈥淭his is about keeping the power local to be able to decide if a (school resource officer) is needed, and from my research, 39 high schools would like to keep them. I think that鈥檚 enough.鈥�

This bill passed the House鈥檚 Police and Fire committee last week, 13-0, and is headed to the House floor.

The safety plan board members called for in their vote two weeks ago would focus on more 鈥渉olistic鈥� approaches to discipline, such as restorative justice practices, which emphasize conflict resolution.

In steering away from on-campus police officers, the board cited data showing that Black students and those with disabilities were disciplined and arrested at school at disproportionately higher rates than their peers.

Schools that implemented restorative justice saw a drop in student arrests, according to

The board decision drew substantial support, including from organizations that had pushed for years to get rid of on-campus police officers and use the money on other resources, such as more social workers or alternative discipline practices.

But it also triggered a backlash from community members and elected officials who want local councils 鈥� not the board 鈥� to decide whether their schools should have school resource officers.

Froy Jimenez, member of the district鈥檚 Local School Council Advisory Board, said Rep. Gill is 鈥渄oing the city a big favor鈥� by letting councils make the decision. Many parents, students and staff will be happy if the bill passes, said Jimenez, who is also a teacher at Hancock College Preparatory High School, which voted to remove its resource officers.

鈥淪ome will choose not to, and having that ability is crucial,鈥� he said.

CPS spokesperson Sylvia Barragan said in a statement that the district 鈥渇ollows the policies and procedures set by the Board of Education and the Illinois State Board of Education鈥� and that the district 鈥渞emains committed to working with our leaders, administrators, and school staff toward improving efforts to bolster student safety and protection.鈥�

Lawmakers say 鈥榟ands off鈥� selective enrollment schools

The second bill, , would prevent the closure of any school with selective admissions criteria 鈥� such as the city鈥檚 11 selective high schools 鈥� until Feb. 1, 2027. The bill also calls for a halt to any changes to admissions criteria for selective schools or any decrease in funding to selective schools until 2027.

The bill is a response to the board resolution stating that it would rethink the school choice system and invest more resources in neighborhood schools. The resolution criticized admissions policies at selective enrollment and other 鈥渃hoice鈥� schools, which were originally created to desegregate the school system but have in recent years led to segregation along the lines of student race and income.

Rep. Margaret Croke, a Democrat serving neighborhoods on the city鈥檚 northern lakefront who is sponsoring the bill, said her constituents were concerned about changes to selective enrollment schools under a majority appointed school board. They would rather wait for changes to be made after the Chicago Board of Education is fully elected during 2026, she said.

鈥淚f an elected school board that has been elected by the city of Chicago decides to take a position or action as it pertains to selective enrollment schools, I may not agree with it, but they were elected by the constituents and the voters of the city of Chicago,鈥� said Croke.

Croke said she believes the current board is trying to change the funding formula to provide less money to selective enrollment and give more to neighborhood schools. The board鈥檚 resolution states that it wants to 鈥渆nsure equitable funding and resources across schools within the District using an equity lens.鈥�

Board members have expressed a desire to scrutinize charter schools more closely. They also want the district to provide more resources to neighborhood schools, or a child鈥檚 zoned school, in order to support 鈥渟tudents furthest away from opportunity and ensure that all students have access to a world-class public pre-K through 12th-grade education,鈥� officials said.

The board鈥檚 resolution did not include any language about closing schools, and board members have stated they don鈥檛 plan to close selective-enrollment schools. Written into the was a moratorium on school Chicago closures until after Jan. 15, 2025.

The resolution didn鈥檛 call for specific changes; board members said they want to hear from the public on what the district should do. The resulting plan will be part of the district鈥檚 five-year strategic plan, which the board is expected to vote on this summer.

Community groups call for better engagement

The pushback in Springfield comes after a coalition of community groups in Chicago to Mayor Brandon Johnson urging him to push his hand-picked school board to do more 鈥� and better 鈥� community engagement.

The letter, which was sent to other elected officials, city staff, district officials, and school board members, also asked that the policies, among other things, be repealed because it 鈥渨as crafted with no input from the communities it will impact鈥� and was published and approved during the final week of classes before winter break.

鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 a public comment opportunity when the resolution was announced. And then it just kind of passed,鈥� said Daniel Anello, executive director of Kids First Chicago, a parent advocacy organization that helped create the letter.

In December, district officials said they would hold community engagement sessions in February. A Chicago Public Schools spokesperson said last week that the district now plans to hold community engagement sessions around the next five-year strategic plan after spring break, which is the last week of March.

Becky Vevea contributed reporting.

This story was originally published at Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

Nearly 44% of public K-12 schools were staffed with school resource officers at least once a week during the 2021-22 school year, by the Education Department鈥檚 National Center for Education Statistics. Between Floyd鈥檚 murder in May 2020 and June 2022, ended their school resource officer programs or cut their budgets following widespread Black Lives Matter protests and concerns that campus policing has detrimental effects on students 鈥� and Black youth in particular. 

The data reflect an 11% decrease in school policing from the 2019-20 school year, when more than 49% of schools had a regular police presence, according to the nationally representative federal survey. That year, schools underwent an increase in campus policing after the 2018 mass school shootings in Parkland, Florida, and Santa Fe, Texas, prompted a surge in new security funding and mandates, a pattern that could repeat itself when future federal numbers capture the nation鈥檚 reaction to the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

鈥淭his is the George Floyd effect,鈥� said criminal justice researcher Shawn Bushway, who pulled up a calculator during a telephone interview with 蜜桃影视 and crunched the federal survey data against that removed cops from their buildings, which collectively served more than 1.7 million students. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 not seismic, but I think what鈥檚 most interesting about it is that it鈥檚 the reversal of a trend in a fairly dramatic way,鈥� said Bushway, a University at Albany in New York professor. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been going up quite a bit and now it鈥檚 dropped.鈥�

The new federal data were published the same week as Thursday鈥檚 release of a damning U.S. Department of Justice report that cited 鈥渃ritical failures鈥� by police during the May 2022 mass shooting at Uvalde鈥檚 Robb Elementary School in which 19 students and two teachers were killed. During the shooting, 376 law enforcement officers responded to the scene but waited more than an hour to confront the 18-year-old shooter, a botched reaction that disregarded established police protocols and, investigators said, cost lives.

鈥淗ad law enforcement agencies followed generally accepted practices in an active shooter situation and gone right after the shooter to stop him, lives would have been saved and people would have survived,鈥� U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in Uvalde.

鈥淭heir loved ones deserved better,鈥� he said. 

Chris Chapman, the associate commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, said on a press call Tuesday that the survey data didn鈥檛 make clear a definitive reason for the decline in school-based officers. Experts said that several other factors, including campus closures during the pandemic, budget constraints and a national police officer shortage, may have also contributed. 

Either way, the downward trend may be short-lived. 

Multiple districts that cut their school resource officer programs after Floyd鈥檚 murder, including those in Denver, Colorado, and Arlington, Virginia, reversed course after educators reported an uptick in classroom disorder after COVID-era remote learning. Mass school shootings have long driven efforts to bolster campus policing, a reality that has played out in the last several years as the nation experienced an unprecedented number of such attacks. 

Despite officers鈥� grievously mishandled response in Uvalde, the shooting led to renewed efforts in Texas and elsewhere to strengthen police presence in schools. A similar situation played out after the mass shooting at Parkland鈥檚 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Federal data show national growth in campus policing even after the school resource officer assigned to the Broward County campus failed to confront the gunman, who killed 17 people. 

The now-former officer, Scot Peterson, was acquitted of criminal negligence and perjury charges but faces a new trial in a civil lawsuit by shooting victims鈥� families, who allege his failure to intervene during the six-minute attack displayed a 鈥渨anton and willful disregard鈥� for students鈥� and teachers鈥� safety. Qualified immunity generally protects officers from liability for mistakes made on the job. 

After Parkland, a new Florida law required an armed security presence on every K-12 campus. The Uvalde shooting led to similar . In both states, a police officer labor shortage, which experts said may have contributed to the 2021-22 decline in schools, has hindered officials鈥� efforts to comply. In Kentucky, more than 40% of schools lack school resource officers, a reality that school officials have blamed on a lack of funding and a depleted applicant pool. 

鈥淚t wouldn’t surprise me if, when that data comes back out, we see that spike go back up,鈥� said Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, which offers a training program for campus cops. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not the way I want to gain business, but some of the busiest years we鈥檝e had training wise are 18 months after a school massacre. I can tell you that 2019 was the biggest year in our association鈥檚 history by far 鈥� and that鈥檚 coming right off the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre.鈥�

Advocates for police-free schools recognize the headwinds they face. Tyler Whittenberg, the deputy director of the Advancement Project鈥檚 Opportunity to Learn initiative, said that while advocates 鈥渁re proud of the victories that were won鈥� after George Floyd鈥檚 murder, educators who removed police from schools 鈥渁re fighting really hard to hold onto those gains,鈥� some of which face in districts that don鈥檛 want them. 

鈥淲e’re not really rushing to a conclusion that this represents an overall reduction in police in schools, especially because for many of our partners on the ground this is not their day-to-day experience,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e having to fight back 鈥� especially at the state level 鈥� against efforts to increase the number of police in their schools.鈥� 

Safety threats on the decline

In the 1970s, just 1% of schools were staffed by police. Decades of efforts since then to swell their ranks have coincided with a marked improvement in campus safety. 

During the 2021-22 school year, 67% of schools reported at least one violent crime on campus, totaling some 857,500 violent incidents. Federal data show the nation鈥檚 schools experienced a violent crime rate of 18 incidents per 1,000 students in 2021-22. That鈥檚 a steep decline from 1999-00, when schools recorded a violent crime rate of 32 incidents per 1,000, and 2009-10, when the violent crime rate was 25 per 1,000. 

Police officers鈥� contributions to making schools safer over the past two decades, however, remain the subject of ongoing research and heated debate. In a study last year, which was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Bushway and his colleagues found that placing . And although researchers were unable to analyze officers鈥� effects on mass school shootings because such tragedies are statistically rare, they were associated with an uptick in reported firearm offenses 鈥� suggesting an increased detection of guns. The officers were also associated with a stark uptick in student disciplinary actions, including suspensions and arrests, particularly among Black students and those with disabilities. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 a cost-benefit here and everybody鈥檚 calculus on how you weigh these different things is going to be different,鈥� Bushway said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no pure answer to that question, different people are going to answer that question differently.鈥�

Previous research suggests that suspensions or improve school safety, but have detrimental effects on punished students鈥� academic performance, attendance and behavior. Their effects on non-misbehaving students remain unclear. 

Other researchers have reached a much more critical conclusion about the effects of school-based police on students. In in November on the existing literature into school officers鈥� efficacy, researchers failed to identify evidence that school-based law enforcement promoted safety in schools but reinforced concerns that their presence 鈥渃riminalizes students and schools.鈥� 

鈥淚 think the evidence is increasingly supporting the notion that police don’t belong in schools,鈥� report author Ben Fisher, an associate professor of civil society and community studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told 蜜桃影视. Removing officers who have been there for years, he said, may cause problems of its own. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to get police out of schools, which I think is the right long-term vision and short-term vision, I think we need to do it thoughtfully with plans in place to make schools welcoming and supportive.鈥� 

The federal survey, which was conducted between Feb. 15 and July 19, 2022, also found large geographical differences in the types of tools that school-based police use on the job. Across the board, officers in urban areas were less likely than their rural and suburban counterparts to carry guns and pepper spray or to be equipped with body-worn cameras. 

Beyond data on campus policing, the new federal survey offers a comprehensive look at the state of campus safety and security, reflecting school leaders鈥� responses to the pandemic and record numbers of mass school shootings. Other findings include: 

• In 2021-22, about 49% of schools provided diagnostic mental health assessments to evaluate students for mental health disorders. This is a decline from 2019-20, when 55% conducted assessments. Meanwhile, 38% provided students with treatments for mental health disorders in 2021-22, down from 42% in 2019-20. 

• Restorative justice, a conflict resolution technique, was used in 59% of schools in 2021-22, which was similar to 2019-20 but an increase from the 42% that used the approach in 2017-18. 

• The latest data indicate a decline in campus drug and alcohol incidents. In 2021-22, 71% of schools reported at least one incident involving the distribution, possession or use of illegal drugs, down from 77% in 2019-20. Meanwhile, 34% reported at least one alcohol-related incident in 2021-22, down from 41% in 2019-20. 

Denver Public Schools leaders highlight how they plan to transition armed police officers back into everyday life for students and staff, among other changes, in the .

Throughout the next school year, DPS will bring armed police, known as school resource officers, back to its campuses after the district鈥檚 school board voted 4-3 on the policy earlier this year. Members who voted against the policy emphasized how having armed police in schools , which is why the board originally took SROs out of the district in 2020.

Superintendent Alex Marrero will have discretion to remove SROs who do not follow district policy, and the district plans to monitor citations and arrests to determine if marginalized individuals are disproportionately interacting with officers. Marrero where they were stationed this spring.

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The new safety plan follows multiple instances of gun violence in the district this year, particularly an incident , when a student shot two administrators. The DPS Board of Education the next day held an emergency meeting. The members unanimously voted to temporarily bring back armed police officers to schools and directed Marrero to create a long-term safety plan.

Scott Pribble, a spokesperson for the district, said that over the next school year, families will see more mental health resources and support in addition to the return of school resource officers at the district鈥檚 secondary schools. Staff will also undergo additional safety training throughout the summer, and the district will conduct safety audits.

In an effort to increase accountability for SROs, the board will review data on citations and arrests quarterly and will need to approve them.

Interpreting the policy

The plan is broken down into three focus areas: personal conditions, school conditions, and system conditions. It highlights the current state of a variety of safety practices and protocols across the district and sets goals for what it hopes the future will look like for each tool used to improve safety.

Personal conditions include the mental, social, emotional, physical and behavioral health and safety of each person within the district, as the district wants to provide support that can help each student and staff member feel safe.

鈥淒PS recognizes that addressing youth violence and student safety requires a proactive and preventative approach,鈥� the plan says.

School conditions look at how those in each building work to create a safe and welcoming environment. Each school will also have an individual safety operational plan and a school emergency team, as well as regularly conducted safety audits.

鈥淲hen creating these school conditions, DPS seeks to foster caring, consistent relationships among both individuals and groups, including students, educators and families,鈥� the plan says. 鈥淩elationships like these promote resilience, serve to protect people, and reduce the impact of chronic or acute stress, ultimately creating school buildings where all people and the community can thrive.鈥�

The system conditions portion of the plan looks at systems both within the school community and outside that impact school and student safety. Here the plan outlines the possibility of adding weapons detection systems, which will be decided on a school-to-school basis, youth violence prevention at the elementary school level, community hubs, and the importance of out-of-school engagement.

鈥淭he issues throughout the neighborhoods are also reverberated in the schools throughout the district,鈥� the plan reads. 鈥淒PS takes an active role in partnering with the City of Denver, parents, students and community members to help address many of the issues; However DPS is constantly evaluating different ways we can support not only the learning environment of our students, but also the individual support systems of our students.鈥�

The next step in implementing the plan is for Marrero to draft a 鈥渞easonal interpretation,鈥� which the district spokesperson said is the superintendent鈥檚 understanding of how he will be evaluated by the board in carrying out the policies they approved. Then specific goals and metrics for measuring success will be developed with the board from there.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com. Follow Colorado Newsline on and .

In the five years since a gunman walked into a Parkland, Florida, high school, killing 17 people and injuring 17 others, national attention has pivoted to more recent mass school shootings in Michigan, Tennessee and Texas.

Yet in Florida, the community is still grappling with fallout from its own deadly attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Just last week, a first-of-its-kind got underway for a former campus police officer who failed to confront the shooter. It wasn鈥檛 until November 2022 that the now 24-year-old gunman was and in April, a judge related to the shooting against the former Broward County schools superintendent. 

All these events force Parkland residents to revisit the fatal day. For Ty Thompson, who was the principal of Stoneman Douglas on Feb. 14, 2018, the most pressing issue now is the need for robust campus mental health services, particularly as mass shootings . 

鈥淵ou shouldn鈥檛 have to wait for a tragedy to have a wellness center,鈥� he told 蜜桃影视. 鈥淓very school should have a wellness center on their campus. That鈥檚 just the state that we鈥檙e in and we need to keep tabs on what鈥檚 happening with our youth to make sure that if there are problems, we can catch them early.鈥� 

As a member of , Thompson and other school leaders who confronted mass shootings and their devastating aftermath visited lawmakers last week on Capitol Hill to advocate for additional help in long-term recovery efforts. Their appearance coincides with June being Gun Violence Prevention Month. 

Even after the national attention fizzles away and disaster relief funding dries up, Thompson told 蜜桃影视, trauma remains omnipresent. Founded in 2019 and supported by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Principal Recovery Network works to help guide education leaders immediately after campus shootings and to promote policies that help school communities regain stability. 

Thompson, who retains his principal title, worked for a time as the district鈥檚 assistant director of athletics and student activities and is now assigned to the IT department. He talked to 蜜桃影视 about a range of issues, from the practical advice he offers school leaders reeling from a shooting to his support for school-based police officers, so long as they aren鈥檛 monitoring hallways with AR-15s. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.

It鈥檚 been five years since the Parkland shooting. In what ways is that tragedy present in your community today? 

One of the things we talked about in Washington, D.C., is that while we got a large influx of resources right away, after a year or so people started to disappear as far as the resources. And so that鈥檚 one of the things that we鈥檝e been advocating for is the fact that it doesn鈥檛 go away. It just continues. 

Even though we鈥檙e five years out, there are still things that the school needs. Trauma after an event like this comes in different forms, it hits people at different times over the course of their trauma. For some, it鈥檚 right away;  for some, it鈥檚 a few years later. For some, it鈥檚 many years later. We continue to battle that with the recovery pieces in making sure we鈥檙e providing the resources needed, not only to former students and to the staff who are still there, but also our community members as well. 

Can you provide any specific examples of how that trauma from an event five years ago manifests in your community today?

Unfortunately, we see it almost daily on the news. With new shootings, whether it鈥檚 at schools or in communities, that brings everything back. So as those things continue to happen in our country and we are constantly reminded of some of the violence happening in our country, that just brings back that day and they think about what took place with their families, friends or community members around our incident. 

It just continues to regurgitate that back up as they go through trying to heal and they are moving toward healing, but as you continue to see this stuff in the news and the daily shootings, it slows down the process.

It鈥檚 almost like you take one step forward and two steps back just because of the current environment of things that are going on within our country. 

What tangible policy changes did you present to lawmakers in Washington? What do you think are the most critical steps that we need to take right now to combat this issue?

A lot of our stance with the Principal Recovery Network is exactly that: The recovery. While gun control and all of these things are very pressing factors that are going on right now, that is obviously not our expertise. 

When you鈥檙e a leader of a school and you face a tragedy 鈥�  it doesn鈥檛 have to be a shooting, it could be a tornado taking down a building or suicides and things like that 鈥� it鈥檚 up to the school leader to be able to help move that school forward. 

Our biggest part is the recovery effort, and a big part of that is wellness and mental health. We are really pushing that part because Congress is moving in that direction, with the importance of mental health. We wanted to advocate for some additional funds in that area because we also feel that鈥檚 important not only after a tragedy, but at any time for a school. 

At Stoneman Douglas, after our event, we instituted a wellness center at our school. We had two portables brought in and we had mental health experts who were staffed in those portables and they were able to serve students, staff and community members. Even to this day, five years later, that wellness center is still on campus and it鈥檚 still servicing our community. 

One of the things that I brought to Congress was the fact you shouldn鈥檛 have to wait for a tragedy to have a wellness center. Every school should have a wellness center on their campus. That鈥檚 just the state that we鈥檙e in and we need to keep tabs on what鈥檚 happening with our youth to make sure that if there are problems, we can catch them early. 

When we look at some of the past shooters, not necessarily mine in some cases but in others, there were red flags along the way. There鈥檚 got to be a way for us to get the proper help to students that we see early on that may need some help. I think that having wellness centers on campuses would help that scenario. I鈥檓 not saying that it鈥檚 going to be a cure-all, but it certainly couldn鈥檛 hurt to have that. 

The Parkland shooter did present prior to the attack. What lessons did you and your colleagues learn about threat assessments and early intervention efforts?

Hindsight is always 20/20. In the case of my school, he was only with me for less than a year, and so a lot of these things that we found out after the fact were prior to him being a student at Stoneman Douglas. I鈥檓 not passing the blame on anybody, I鈥檓 just saying that there are certain things that take place in a student鈥檚 educational record that we need to be sure is moving forward through their careers so that people are aware of what鈥檚 happening. 

And we鈥檝e made strides in that since our tragedy. With behavioral threat assessments now becoming more digitized and there鈥檚 less chance of things falling through the cracks, we definitely have our lessons learned not only from our tragedy, but all of the different tragedies. 

The shooting divided the community. How did you navigate that?

That was probably the toughest part of my job for those 18 months after the tragedy was trying to make sure I put student and staff interests first. Right away, the community rallied behind everyone, they wanted to provide support. Then, after time went by, that鈥檚 when the fingers started to point. And that鈥檚 not uncommon in any situation like this, where they鈥檙e going to start to put blame and figure out who did what wrong. 

The politics are difficult, don鈥檛 get me wrong, but I also understand that鈥檚 just what happens. It can鈥檛 necessarily be avoided though I would like it to be avoided. With a tragedy like this, everyone has their emotions. Emotions get exponentially kind of out there. Someone that may have already been feeling negative about a situation, now they鈥檙e feeling that much more negative.

Following the Uvalde shooting, Texas politicians approved legislation to place armed guards at every K-12 school. Florida took a similar approach after Parkland. How do you think this move played out in your state, and how did it affect the overall safety of kids in your schools?

Look, any time you can have extra security on campus is always a good thing. In our case, in Florida, they want every school to have an armed guard or a school resource officer. 

I definitely think that it helps. It’s definitely a good thing, anytime we can increase security and having people feel safe about coming to school is definitely a positive. For the little ones in elementary, when they see people walking around with guns, I鈥檓 not quite sure how that could affect their psyche. I just know that when it came to the high school kids, when we got back to school after the tragedy, we had a mini-army on our campus walking around with the same weapon that took out some of our kids. That did not go over well. 

It’s a delicate balance between making sure you’re feeling safe versus feeling scared quite frankly. That鈥檚 something that we were able to circumvent after our tragedy, to still have this presence but not have to have people walking around with AR-15s because that really was not the best course of action. 

As far as legislation, SROs are important. It鈥檚 good to have someone on campus, at a minimum, to be able to call in resources in the event of a tragedy. There鈥檚 so much tension in the country right now when it comes to violence and how to protect kids without making them feel like they鈥檙e in jail. I mean, the school is supposed to be a school and not a prison and it’s definitely a delicate balance, but the more people you can have with eyes and ears out there, it definitely makes it a better situation for all of us.

The former school resource officer at your school was criminally charged and put on trial for failing to confront the gunman and stop the shooting. What lessons from Scot Peterson鈥檚 response can we learn about the roles and limitations of police in schools? 

Any time there鈥檚 an investigation into these kinds of things, they review all those types of policies. I remember after Columbine, they redid how they handle active shooters. Then something else took place and they readjusted policies. That鈥檚 the same scenario here. I鈥檓 not going to speculate on what he did or didn鈥檛 do wrong. I am by no means a law enforcement person, that鈥檚 not my expertise and I鈥檓 not going to pretend to know what they are supposed to do or not do. But they do review policies after things take place, whether it鈥檚 a shooting or it鈥檚 some other incident in the community, to determine what could have been done better. 

As a member of the Principal Recovery Network, have you had to make any calls with school leaders after they experienced shootings? What kind of advice do you offer? 

Unfortunately, I鈥檝e had to make a few phone calls. First, I usually send them an email because trying to get ahold of someone on the phone is nearly impossible. So I usually send an email pretty quickly, within 24 hours of when we hear about it. I just let them know who I am and that I kind of know what you may be feeling right now and, 鈥楶lease, give me a call when you can.鈥� 

Sometimes that call comes quickly. Sometimes the call never comes because I鈥檝e reached out to a couple of principals and never heard back from them. 

And really, it鈥檚 just for me to be a listening ear to them to understand. 鈥楲ook, these are some of the things that may start to come up that you may not be aware of.鈥� Something very logical like your mail is going to start to increase, so you might want to think about getting some extra staff in there just to handle mail. The phones are going to start ringing off the hook, you need to make sure you have some staff for that. You need to think about getting some additional substitutes because some teachers may not be able to come back right away, depending on the size of their school and the tragedy itself. Make sure you don鈥檛 try to get back to school before funerals have taken place.

We have a guide to recovery. It鈥檚 not like a playbook because not every tragedy is going to be the same exact scenario. But there are some commonalities across all of these things to just keep in mind. You know, you should be meeting with your staff before you bring students back so that you make sure that they鈥檙e ready to come back. You want to make sure you have mental health practitioners on campus and ready to go because there鈥檚 no way for you to predict how people are going to react.

The main goal is to let them know that I’m here to listen to them. They can call me at any time, no matter what time of day it is. We want them to feel like they鈥檙e not alone. 

In his reelection bid, President Joe Biden has made gun violence prevention efforts part of his appeal to young voters. Youth activists from Parkland became leading voices in the gun control movement. Beyond the most outspoken advocates, how do young people in your community view gun violence today and how has the shooting affected their worldviews? 

Our kids rallied very quickly and had the March for Our Lives happen in D.C. within six weeks after our tragedy. I really thought that was going to be a momentum changer, and there were a lot of people involved with that. I was hoping that was really going to make some change. 

I鈥檓 not saying that maybe there weren鈥檛 some thought processes changed in Washington, but obviously it remains a hot topic. I do know that many of my kids that were involved from Stoneman Douglas still have those thoughts in mind of changing the world, which is what we teach in high school is getting out there to debate the right way and present yourself in a positive light and try to move the country forward. 

A lot of these kids now, five years later, are out of college and some of them are just wrapping up their college careers. It鈥檚 going to be interesting to see if they are going to be able to keep the momentum and move it forward with gun control. I鈥檓 hoping that continues. 

Any time these things do come up in the news, hopefully it re-sparks them to want to try to do something, to move that legislation and those policies forward. 

What didn鈥檛 I ask that you鈥檇 like to discuss? 

It鈥檚 important that these conversations continue to stay at the forefront. That was the big thing we talked to legislators about because we know that after tragedies take place there鈥檚 a lot of attention and then it dies off. It鈥檚 like, why do we only talk about this when stuff happens? Why can鈥檛 we be a little more proactive on some of these things to make sure we鈥檙e moving forward and looking to the future versus being reactionary all the time?

That鈥檚 what I was most encouraged by in D.C. is the fact that they鈥檙e trying to move not only with the gun stuff, but also with mental health support.

Clarification: The Broward County Public Schools’s online directory identified Ty Thompson as its assistant director of athletics and student activities last month while the former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School principal told 蜜桃影视 he was also involved in some IT activities for the district. A district spokeswoman in a July 12 email said Thompson retains his principal title and is now assigned to the IT division. The clarification came after with the district.听

Legal experts and juvenile justice advocates want to see more discretion given to school districts when it comes to public safety dollars, rather than a giant check going directly to law enforcement.

In a joint call, the Juvenile Justice Coalition, the Ohio Poverty Law Center, the Children鈥檚 Defense Fund-Ohio and others called on the legislature to make changes to Gov. Mike DeWine鈥檚 budget recommendations, specifically the use of $388 million to place school resource officers in schools.

鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to be putting all of this brand new money out there, there should be some basic questions around school safety that we鈥檙e able to answer, that I just don鈥檛 think that we鈥檙e able to do right now,鈥� said Timothy Johnson, senior policy advocate for the Ohio Poverty Law Center.

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With nearly $200 million per fiscal year coming from the state for this use, basic state-level data about the amount of school resource officers there are, the interactions those officers have with students and the disciplinary records of those officers should be easily accessed, Johnson argued.

While some studies have been done, including an that showed Black students in Cincinnati Public Schools were five times more likely to face exclusionary discipline than their white peers, statewide data isn鈥檛 kept.

Jay Carey, spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, confirmed to the OCJ that, by Ohio law, schools are not required to 鈥渞eport the type of physical security they have in place, whether it is school resource officers, private security or other security services.鈥�

鈥淔or this reason, there is not a comprehensive list or number (of SROs) available,鈥� Carey told the OCJ.

He said the department does know that some schools 鈥渉ave requested additional security services due to the national rise of school-based incidents.鈥�

Before a budget can be approved with the funding for SROs, Dr. Tanisha Pruitt of Policy Matters Ohio said this information must be a part of the public record, to ensure transparency and accountability, along with qualifications and training of the police going into schools.

Training for school resource officers involved the typical 40 hours of basic training required of all police officers, along with another 40 hours of SRO training in the first year.

But gaps still exist in that training, according to TaKasha Smith, executive director of Ohio鈥檚 Juvenile Justice Coalition.

While those supporting more SROs in schools are thinking of catastrophic incidents, like the recent shooting at a , the funding should also be there for the daily needs of students as well.

鈥淲hat they鈥檙e not thinking about is the every day situations that our children face, and the every day consequences of interacting 鈥� with police to deal with those,鈥� Smith said.

There should be guardrails in place to require accountability from those law enforcement officers, Smith said, along with further training to address mental health, suicide prevention designed for adolescents, crisis intervention, conflict resolution, trauma-informed communication strategies and explicit bias training.

Because being around students means dealing with many more issues than just criminality, the policy advocates want to see schools make the decisions about what their unmet needs are.

Alison Paxson, senior policy associate at Children鈥檚 Defense Fund-Ohio said adding flexibility to the dollars would allow for targeted absenteeism intervention, for example, and access to school counselors and social workers, to address needs before they reach the crisis point.

鈥淲e鈥檙e really asking that the state budget allow schools to make the right choice for their students, and not force them to leave money on the table,鈥� Paxson said.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David DeWitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on and .

A state representative has filed a bill that would require schools to have regularly scheduled lockdown drills involving school resource officers and law enforcement.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, would require school districts to include school resource officers and law enforcement in lockdown drills and to designate the days of drills to be 鈥渟chool safety and awareness days.鈥�

Under existing law, school boards are required to have a 鈥渃omprehensive school emergency operations plan.鈥� Law enforcement personnel help develop the plan but are not required to participate in drills.

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Warren said that the legislation emerged after seeing the events last May at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, when 19 fourth-graders and two teachers were killed by a gunman. Responding law enforcement for a lack of coordination and action.

鈥淲hat happened in Texas was just totally disorganization,鈥� she said. 鈥淣obody knew who was in charge. Nobody knew how to do this. Nobody knew what to do there.鈥�

Warren said she wants the bill to put everyone on the same page.

鈥淚t鈥檚 working out a plan between law enforcement and the school system,鈥� Warren said. 鈥淪o, nobody will be guessing who鈥檚 in charge and what we need to do.鈥�

State Superintendent Eric Mackey, via communications director Michael Sibley, said he has not yet seen the legislation. Amanda Wasden, director of external affairs at the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, said Thursday the department did not have a comment on the bill.

鈥淪tudent safety is paramount, and our members have flagged student and school safety as one of their top priorities for the coming legislative session,鈥� said Ryan Hollingsworth, executive director of the School Superintendents of Alabama, in a statement. 鈥淪SA is currently reviewing all pre-filed bills and looks forward to conversations with sponsors and stakeholders.鈥�

In the Alabama State Department of Education鈥檚 Manual of State Laws and Regulations, , principals are required to instruct and train students for emergency drills and evacuations. The fire marshal requires at least one emergency drill each month. Emergency drills include but are not limited to safety, security, severe weather, fire and 鈥渃ode red drills.鈥�

Code red drills can be issued 鈥渋n the event of a perceived immediate threat to a school involving acts of violence, such as terrorism, a person possessing a firearm or a deadly weapon, or any other threat of violence.鈥� Code red drills must be conducted within the first six weeks of the fall and spring semesters.

Warren said that these 鈥渟chool safety and awareness days鈥� will be days for the drills.

鈥淓verybody will be in sync with each other doing the drills, so we know how everything should pull off,鈥� she said.

The 2023 legislative session starts next Tuesday.

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Just 43% of parents with children in public schools are in favor of teachers and other school staff carrying guns on campus, conducted in response to the May 24 mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers. That鈥檚 , when 36% of parents supported the measure in the aftermath of the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman killed 17 people. 

Among all poll respondents, including those without school-aged children, 45% opposed arming teachers. That鈥檚 a sharp contrast from other school security measures, like metal detectors and armed police, which have wide support among the general public. Broadly speaking, the public鈥檚 opinion on school safety efforts have remained stable over the last four years despite an increase in spending on campus security after the Parkland and Uvalde tragedies. Following the Uvalde shooting, President Joe Biden signed a law that included new gun control measures and an for student mental health care and campus security.听

On the question of arming teachers, respondents鈥� perspectives varied widely based on their political affiliation, noted Teresa Preston, PDK鈥檚 director of publications. Efforts to put more guns in schools mirrors broader partisanship around gun control, she said. While three-fourths of Republicans support arming teachers, just a quarter of Democrats agree. 

鈥淪ome of it has to do with how the divisions in our country about the presence of guns in public spaces has sort of continued to inform peoples鈥� opinions about the presence of guns in schools,鈥� Preston said. 鈥淚f they are inclined to be against more gun control measures they might be more inclined to say 鈥榃ell yes, I support having guns in public spaces.鈥� 

More than half of states allow schools to arm teachers or staff in at least some circumstances, by the RAND Corporation. In Ohio, a law approved this year made it easier for educators to carry guns in their classrooms by requiring just 24 hours of training. Meanwhile in North Carolina, a school district for a decision to equip campuses with AR-15 rifles for school-based police to use in the event of an active shooting. 

Arming teachers is even less popular among educators themselves, by the American Federation of Teachers. Among union members, 75% of respondents said they oppose arming teachers. In a press release, union President Randi Weingarten said 鈥渢he answer to gun violence is not more guns.鈥� 

鈥淓ducators, parents, administrators, counselors and students want teachers to teach, not engage in a shootout with AR-15s,鈥� Weingarten said. 鈥淓specially now, as kids are headed back to school with more stress and trauma, and teachers are facing interference from politicians trying to ban books and single out certain students 鈥� we want to be focused on solutions, not sharpshooting. Arm us with books and resources, not guns.鈥� 

Yet the AFT poll also showed high support for armed police in schools 鈥� putting educators on the same page as the general public. Despite police failures in Uvalde, and an ongoing debate about their ability to keep kids safe from mass school shootings, the PDK poll found an overwhelming 80% of people support school resource officers, including 94% of Republicans and 70% of Democrats. 

Preston said she was surprised to see such high support for school-based police among Democrats. After George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, leading Democratic lawmakers embraced calls for police-free schools and some school districts removed officers from their campuses. 

鈥淧erhaps it has to do with people being willing to try anything, being willing to be open to lots of different possibilities,鈥� she said. 

Similarly, 78% of people said they support metal detectors in schools and 80% said they support mental health screenings for students. School-hardening efforts like metal detectors and armed teachers saw markedly higher support among less-educated Americans compared to those with college degrees. Compared to postgraduates, those without college degrees were 29 percentage points more likely to have strong support for metal detectors and 12 percentage points more likely to strongly support armed teachers. 

Despite the overall support for school security efforts, the results suggest that the public does not see the measures as a panacea, with a minority of respondents expressing strong support for each of the measures. Just 21% of respondents said they 鈥渟trongly support鈥� armed teachers and 45% said they 鈥渟trongly support鈥� armed police on campus. This dynamic suggests that people are generally interested in a range of strategies that could keep kids safe at school 鈥渂ut they鈥檙e not necessarily passionately committed to them.鈥� 

The poll, which has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points, was conducted June 17-25 and includes a national random sample of 1,008 adults. PDK plans to release additional poll results on Americans鈥� attitudes toward public schools on Aug 29. 

House Bill 501 seeks to change Ohio law that the sponsors of the bill say doesn鈥檛 define 鈥渟chool safety and security,鈥� though it does include mental health services, safety training and safety personnel.

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School resource officers, which are typically certified law enforcement officers used through an agreement with the officer鈥檚 police or sheriff鈥檚 department, would be included in the 鈥渟afety personnel鈥� part of Ohio law, under the new bill.

If passed, the bill would leave that school safety and security definition up for voters by authorizing school boards to levy property tax 鈥渇or the specific purpose of providing for SRO services, as opposed to safety and security in general,鈥� according to an analysis of the bill by the Legislative Service Commission.

Municipalities and townships will also be able to levy property taxes 鈥渇or the specific purpose of funding SRO services for school districts located within their territory鈥� under the bill, according to the LSC.

The bill had its third hearing in House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday, with no testimony and not changes to the SRO part of the bill. Committee chair state Rep. Derrick Merrin said the bill may be voted on at the next committee meeting.

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鈥淚 know for me and my friends, it was difficult trying to live just as a high school student and live freely and be creative when you have these figures on your shoulders just waiting to get something out of you,鈥� said Payne, a high school junior. 

Amid the uncertainty of COVID-19 and remote learning, the trauma of the 2020 murder of George Floyd and the turmoil of the uprisings that followed, Payne said the school police only intensified the students鈥� anxieties rather than calmed them. After witnessing what she calls unfair backpack searches and students being pepper-sprayed by police, Payne, with a group of students and community membersin , a youth-led activist group, pushed for the Los Angeles Unified School District to withdraw all funding for schoolpolice and divert it to mental health support for Black students. 

鈥淔or Black students, we literally had to sit back and watch the entire world debate whether or not our lives actually mattered,鈥� said Simya Smith,16, a member of Students Deserve. 

After a  from students and community members, the LA school board in February 2021  to cut $25 million 鈥� a third of the school police budget 鈥� and shift those funds into a $36.5 million initiative called the Black Student Achievement Plan. The mission is to support the mental and academic well-being of Black students in the nation鈥檚 second-largest school district, adding 221 psychiatric social workers, counselors, 鈥渃limate coaches,鈥� and restorative justice advisers to schools with the highest number of Black students. The new staffers especially target campuses with higher rates of suspension, chronic absenteeism, and low student achievement. 

The climate coaches help de-escalate conflicts and provide social and emotional support for struggling students. The district said the coaches would be residents from the communities that their schools serve. The restorative justice advisers help shift the schools鈥� disciplinary practices to focus on rehabilitation and reconciliation to address conflict and crime.

Payne and Smith say they haven鈥檛 seen any police officers at Dorsey this school year and  have seen huge improvements since the mental health staff arrived. They feel relaxed. The counselors talk to them about Black trauma and politics in ways that make them feel safe. 

鈥淎s a Black person, as a Black woman at that, there鈥檚 a lot in society that we have to face. The color of our skin, especially if you鈥檙e dark-skinned, the texture of our hair. BSAP really creates that safe space for you to be unapologetically Black,鈥� Smith said. 

She said she sees other students interacting with the new mental health staffers daily. 

鈥淚t looks like positive interactions,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 feel like a big part of their purpose is to help you feel comfortable in your skin and not to have to modify yourself to fit into the standard.鈥�

Simya Smith (right) talks to other students at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles about their efforts to remove police from the school and bring in more mental health staff. (courtesy of Students Deserve)

When she has an anxiety attack, the psychiatric social worker coaches her on breathing exercises and techniques that help ground her and control her anxiety. 

District leaders plan to release a midyear report on their progress to the school board in February. They鈥檒l measure whether there has been an impact on student discipline, parent engagement, suspensions, and other outcomes.

While the debate over the utility of school police 鈥� particularly for Black students 鈥� has long existed, the issue has been amplified by the broader debated 鈥渄efund police鈥� movement that swept the country after the murder of Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. Since then, few city police departments have cut their budgets and among those that did, some have . But several school districts have made strides to remove police from their campuses. 

 November that at least 49 school districts ended contracts with police or cut their budgets.At least a few shifted those resources to mental health support: In , four school resource officers were replaced by restorative justice coordinators. In , the school district hired more school counselors. And in , the district leaders reallocated funds to mental health services. 

Parents, students and educators have continued to debate those decisions. Some have called for schools to reverse course and restaff police in response to student fights and weapons. Others argue that the mental health programs aren鈥檛 adequately funded or officials have been slow to fill the positions. 

There have been federal efforts to divest from the police in schools and invest in mental health support, as well. In June 2021, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and five other senators and representatives introduced the , which would shift federal funds away from school police and invest in culturally responsive social services for students. But the bill stalled in committee.

Los Angeles school district鈥檚 mental health services plan has been unique in its focus on Black students. 

According to the American Civil Liberties Union鈥檚 , Black students nationwide are arrested three times more often than white students. Black girls specifically are arrested four times more often than white girls. Black students with disabilities also are disproportionately arrested. 

The ACLU reports about 72% of children in the U.S. will experience at least one major traumatizing, life-altering event before 18 years old, yet 14 million students are in schools with police but no counselor, nurse, psychologist or social worker. 

Jared DuPree, the senior director of the office of the Los Angeles schools superintendent, said he wants to separate the Black Student Achievement Plan from debates over police in schools.

鈥淏SAP was funded partially by some of the funds that were received because they defunded the police, but BSAP lived long before the conversation about police being defunded,鈥� he said.

But Students Deserve members said students鈥� mental health is directly connected to the issue of policing. In fact, Payne and Smith said they want all the money going toward school police diverted to mental health supports in schools. 

Their work in Los Angeles is inspiring other teen activists. In January, 17-year-old Keyanna Bernard met with members of the  鈥� a coalition of student advocacy groups in New York City 鈥� to discuss the strategy Students Deserve used to get their district to defund school police. She and other activists in her group, , are working on informing teachers and parents about police-free schools. 

Bernard said adults have told her that restorative justice costs too much and that schools wouldn鈥檛 be safe without police presence. But she and others in the organization are pushing for change.

鈥淪chool policing is taking away from mental health support of Black students,鈥� Bernard said. 鈥淎nd I feel like without mental health support the cycle of internalized harm and internalized self-doubt will continue.鈥�

This piece originally appeared in in February, 2022 and is published in partnership with the .

But legislation filed in the 2022 legislative session would prohibit school personnel from using those methods 鈥� potentially sparing students, especially those with disabilities, from a traumatic experience.

Only school resource officers, school safety officers, school guardians, or school security guards would still be able to use these restraints on students in grades 6 through 12 鈥� but not younger children.

鈥淭he younger the child, the smaller they are,鈥� said Rep. Rene Plasencia, the sponsor of HB 235.听鈥淚t鈥檚 easier to use the right, the appropriate methods of making sure they don鈥檛 harm anyone else or harm themselves. As a child gets larger it becomes a little more challenging.鈥�

Plasencia builds off previous legislative efforts to limit how teachers and other school personnel handle students who might be acting out in a dangerous manner.

鈥淲e want to make sure that no parent sends their child to school and the child comes home with bruises, or the child comes home with some kind of stress that could have been avoided,鈥� Plasencia said听Thursday at a House education subcommittee meeting.

The previous legislation dealing with this topic, which was sponsored by former Rep. Bobby DuBose, added language into Florida law that limited the use of restraints on students.

Under current Florida law, following DuBose鈥檚 successful push for the legislation, school personnel can only use restraints, physical or mechanical, on a student if they pose a serious risk to themselves or others as long as all other forms of behavioral intervention methods have been exhausted.

Florida law defines a mechanical restraint as the 鈥渦se of a device that restricts a student鈥檚 freedom of movement.鈥� This definition excludes devices recommended by a physician or a behavioral health specialist.

The restraint 鈥� such as handcuffs, zip-ties, straightjackets or other devices 鈥� is to be removed as soon as the dangerous behavior has dissipated and is not be used as discipline.

DuBose鈥檚 legislation also completely prohibited the use of seclusion on students, another behavioral intervention method that the former lawmaker said was 鈥渢raumatic.鈥�

Instead, current law calls on schools to develop crisis intervention plans for students who are restrained more than once a semester. The crisis intervention plan would be developed by a team that includes the student鈥檚 parent or guardian, school personnel, and physical and behavioral health professionals.

But with Placensia鈥檚 bill, school personnel would not be able to use mechanical restraints on students at all.

But physical restraint, meaning a school personnel using manual restraint techniques to restrict movement, would still be available as a last resort when all other behavior intervention methods haven鈥檛 worked.

Caitlyn Clibbon, is a public policy analyst with Disability Rights Florida, spoke at the Thursday committee meeting, saying that the disability advocacy group was in support of the bill.

鈥淯sing mechanical restraints on children is traumatic. It鈥檚 harmful,鈥� Clibbon said during public testimony Thursday.

She continued:

鈥淲e get calls about this all the time. About the effects on the child after it happens to them. It鈥檚 very scary for them. A lot of them don鈥檛 understand what鈥檚 happening. They no longer trust their teacher or school. It can hold them back educationally 鈥� their ability to go to school and actually learn 鈥� because they鈥檙e in fear at school. And it can cause PTSD and things like that.鈥�

The most recent discipline data is from the 2020-21 school year, with the Florida Department of Education reporting that there were 43 uses of mechanical restraints on students in that timespan.

Clibbon also spoke on the use of restraints by law enforcement.

鈥淚f there鈥檚 a true threat 鈥� Lord forbid, there鈥檚 a school shooter or something 鈥� they (SROs, etc.) can absolutely restrain those kids and make sure everything is safe,鈥� Clibbon said.

She continued:

鈥淚f a kid escalates to a point where they鈥檙e actually being physically violent, now we鈥檙e talking about something else 鈥� we鈥檙e talking about crime, possibly a crime.鈥�

At the committee meeting, Rep. Plasencia noted that he has been a teacher in the past, and his official page on the Florida House of Representatives notes that he is also known as 鈥淐oach P.鈥� He is a Republican who represents part of Brevard and Orange counties.

He said he taught social studies for mainstream students, and while he was exposed to students with disabilities in his school, he didn鈥檛 鈥渞eally understand it鈥� until a nephew was diagnosed with autism.

鈥淗aving seen the impacts of the right behavioral therapies can mean for these children and the families, and when the schools implement the right trainings for their instructors and their paraprofessionals, and they allow for the therapist to be a part of that holistic care for that child鈥� that has made a huge difference in his life and for children all over our state and all over our country,鈥� he said to committee members Thursday.

鈥淚t brings us closer to making sure that all children have the ability to be successful as they grow, have the ability to learn, and have the ability to a life of independence,鈥� Plasencia said.

The bill passed 17-0 in a roll call vote and has several more steps to go to get full approval from the House and Senate.

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Viral videos of the incident show disturbing interactions between police and students, one of whom appeared to be a Black male teen who was and as he lay unresponsive on the ground. Some students as the pepper spray filled a school hallway. Another video appeared to show an officer pulling a girl across the hallway by her hair.

The incident at Little Elm High School unfolded during a Friday morning protest after a student claimed on Snapchat that she was sexually harassed by another student on a bus and disciplined for coming forward. On social media, teens at the 8,300-student district accused administrators of mishandling sexual misconduct complaints. A city spokesperson that police mobilized after students acted 鈥渁ggressively鈥� toward an administrator. 

School resource officers and how they interact with students, particularly students of color, have been under fierce scrutiny since George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. Amid national Black Lives Matter protests, dozens of districts ended longstanding ties with school-based officers, although several districts have recently reversed course, citing student safety concerns. 

Andrew Hairston, director of the Education Justice Project at Texas Appleseed, an advocacy group, called the viral videos 鈥渟uch a harrowing thing to witness,鈥� and accused police of preventing students from checking to see if their classmate was OK as he laid on the floor after getting tasered. 

鈥淭he police officers are the violence,鈥� Hairston said. 鈥淭hey are the threat in that video.鈥� 

Two students were arrested for assaulting police officers, Little Elm Mayor Curtis Cornelious . 

鈥淲hen a third student attempted to interfere with the arrest, the officer was forced to use pepper spray, and then a taser when the student would not stop advancing toward the officer,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 fourth student spit on an officer, which Texas law deems as an assault.鈥�

In an initial statement on Facebook that was deleted but later reposted, the school district said a student demonstration caused 鈥渟ome students to behave in a way that caused a major disruption.鈥� 

鈥淭he demonstration was a result of a social media post the day before that contained inaccurate information regarding an incident that happened a month ago,鈥� the district said in the statement. 

Superintendent Daniel Gallagher said Monday the events leading to Friday鈥檚 student demonstration 鈥渉its us at the core of who we are and we have to find a way to restore the trust you need in order for all of us to move forward.鈥� In a statement, Gallagher said the district 鈥渋mmediately launched an investigation鈥� after a student made an allegation against a classmate. 

Though no students faced discipline for reporting sexual misconduct, misinformation that claimed otherwise proliferated on social media, he said. 

School and police officials were prepared 鈥渢o accommodate a peaceful walkout,鈥� but the protest 鈥渨as not peaceful and caused a major disruption,鈥� Gallagher said. 鈥淚n one incident 鈥� not currently being shown on social media 鈥� a large group of students attempted to break into an administrator鈥檚 office in pursuit of targeted individuals who were in genuine fear for their safety.鈥� 

Gallagher said school officials will hold a 鈥渓istening session鈥� on Nov. 30 to allow parents 鈥渁n opportunity to voice their concerns, thoughts and provide suggestions to the district administration.鈥� He also announced plans to create a committee to review the district鈥檚 sexual harassment reporting and investigation process, an 鈥渁fter-action review鈥� of Friday鈥檚 clash between students and police and 鈥渁n independent investigation鈥� into the sexual harassment allegation that led to the student protest. 

Cornelious said the city will review the incident to ensure the officers followed proper police department procedures, but maintained that social media videos often lack necessary content to understand the full situation. 

鈥淲henever an officer arrests someone who鈥檚 acting aggressively or resisting, it鈥檚 hard to watch,鈥� Cornelious said. 鈥淏ut Texas law gives police the right to take steps necessary to make an arrest. Those steps include the use of tasers and pepper spray as safe, non-lethal methods of subduing someone who is being aggressive and refusing to respond to requests.鈥� 

Meanwhile, Hairston said the incident should reenergize national efforts to remove police from schools and encouraged Little Elm administrators to display 鈥減olitical courage.鈥� 

鈥淒ozens of districts have taken significant steps toward police divestment but so much more work needs to be done to get police out of schools,鈥� he said. 鈥淢ore and more people are understanding that it鈥檚 an irredeemable institution. School policing can鈥檛 be reformed.鈥� 

Last month, Mayor Bill de Blasio a fairly new kind of cop would be sent to city schools following a spate of violent incidents, including five guns allegedly recovered from students within a week.

The NYPD initially the 鈥淵outh Coordination Officers鈥� program in 2020, with an early target of moving 350 cops into the role to cover the city鈥檚 77 precincts.

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The YCO division debuted as part of the department鈥檚 overall new 鈥測outh strategy,鈥� and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said the cops would focus on crime prevention by and connecting them to social and educational services before they ever break any laws. YCOs were put in each precinct, officials said, as a first point of contact between young people and police.

鈥淲e have the information,鈥� said Shea while unveiling the project last January. 鈥淲e can identify these kids and assist them early in their downward trajectories.鈥�

Since their debut, the youth officers鈥� activities 鈥斕齠rom basketball court , to shooting responses, to , block parties and 鈥斕齢ave been publicized across NYPD social media. For some neighborhood leaders, the program offers a welcome shift in the department鈥檚 relationship with youth.

But for other community organizers and police reformers THE CITY spoke to, the jury is still out on the effectiveness of the new YCOs. And many are wary about sending more police into schools.

Meanwhile, about one-third of the more than 90 YCOs identified by THE CITY were the subject of misconduct complaints before joining the new division, records show.

鈥淗ow are they working with us? That鈥檚 a question,鈥� said Iesha Sekou, executive director of Street Corner Resources, an anti-violence group in Harlem that鈥檚 part of the de Blasio administration鈥檚 鈥淐ure Violence鈥� initiative.

鈥淎re they really working with us? Or is this just a show of like they鈥檙e doing something that may not necessarily be beneficial to the community, but it makes NYPD look good?鈥�

Blue Shuffle

When the mayor announced that the new type of cop would be assisting with school safety, police officials described it as a reinforcement effort.

鈥淲e do have a backup of our YCOs, our youth coordination officers, and our neighborhood coordination officers backfilling some of the schools where we don鈥檛 have the maximum amount of coverage of school safety agents,鈥� NYPD Chief Rodney Harrison told reporters alongside the mayor on Oct. 26.

鈥淪o I鈥檓 optimistic that we鈥檙e doing all we can do to protect the students.鈥�

Yet the move follows over a year of loud protests against school policing, largely led by and their advocates, to have fewer police in schools, with some calling to end the traditional school safety agent program.

Meanwhile, neither the Mayor鈥檚 Office nor the NYPD would give any specific answers to questions from THE CITY about how many YCOs are currently employed, or how many would be sent to schools.

When not on campus, the kid cops鈥� duties include keeping track of young people who鈥檝e had contact with the justice system, patrolling 鈥渁reas frequented by youth鈥� and visiting families of both alleged perpetrators and victims, in addition to making arrests and investigating crimes.

The officers also connect children to local activities for kids and create youth programs of their own, according to the department鈥檚 Patrol Guide.

In schools, 鈥淣YPD deployments will be determined based on intelligence gathered, schools that have had challenges, and schools that need an enhanced presence based on school safety agents,鈥� said Sgt. Edward Riley, NYPD spokesperson.

Unannounced metal detector scans 鈥渨ill vary day-to-day,鈥� said Riley. Schools will be chosen 鈥渂ased on a data analysis of recovered weapons, crimes, and overall violence both historically and also based on what crime trends,鈥� as well as input from school safety officials and the Department of Education, he added.

Locations of new 鈥渟afe corridors,鈥� where cops secure paths between school and train and bus stops 鈥渨ill change routinely based upon an analysis of crime data and trending incidents,鈥� he said.

But Gregory Floyd, the head of the school safety agent union Local 237, told THE CITY that even he was in the dark on the plans. He reiterated his call for hundreds more safety agents.

鈥淚鈥檝e seen no details,鈥� said Floyd, adding that the effort 鈥渃annot make up for the [school safety agent] shortage.鈥�

Intelligent Policing?

Jerry Ratcliffe, a professor of criminal justice at Temple University, noted that a force of youth officers 鈥� and cops helping out in schools 鈥� isn鈥檛 unique to New York City.

鈥淚 think this will be a success, if the NYPD puts the analytical effort into identifying the problem that they鈥檙e trying to solve,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 been a thrown together response from the Mayor鈥檚 Office with not a lot of thought, then the flaws in this plan will become quite evident quickly.鈥�

In February 2020, an NYPD spokesperson told THE CITY that the foundation of the new strategy would be 鈥渂uilding community partnerships.鈥�

鈥淭here are so many people and organizations in agencies across the city doing so much great work already to help kids,鈥� the spokesperson, Al Baker, said at the time. 鈥淥ur goal is to ensure the NYPD is doing all we can to contribute to that effort and to bring all of us to the same table to work together and share ideas and resources to achieve our common goal.鈥�

City Councilmember Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) said she鈥檒l be watching how the officers will fit into the school environment.

鈥淚 would like to see a plan and that鈥檚 been my issue,鈥� said Adams, the chair of the Council鈥檚 Public Safety Committee.

But overall, the work that kid cops have already done in her district has been positive, she told THE CITY. The officers 鈥渞eally stepped up鈥� in connecting with kids during the pandemic, said Adams, who noted the cops鈥� years of experience.

Some Have CCRB Records

Some of the veteran cops who joined the YCO division had been the subject of past complaints about their policing.

Of 91 youth coordination officers identified by the NYCLU and THE CITY from the NYPD鈥檚 social media accounts, 30 had at least one complaint lodged against them with the CCRB, ranging from offensive language to the use of physical force to property damage.

Allegations against at least five officers were 鈥渟ubstantiated,鈥� meaning the board concluded that misconduct had occurred.

Despite the substantiated allegations, two of which were for improper use of force, none received any significant disciplinary action, which as THE CITY has , is not uncommon.

Neither the NYPD nor the mayor鈥檚 office responded to requests for comment on the CCRB cases.

Some researchers warn that frequent contact with police the academic performance and overall health of young people.

Last summer, THE CITY that Black and Hispanic youth were disproportionately likely to be victims of police misconduct, according to the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

The NYPD says the new YCO program was created, in part, to address that disparity. But not everyone is convinced.

鈥淭hey still aren鈥檛 social workers,鈥� said Johanna Miller, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union鈥檚 Education Policy Center.

Sekou, of Street Corner Resources, told THE CITY that she has been concerned after seeing the police use in 鈥� often right after violence interrupter groups like hers did the exact same thing.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 more about looking good than about working together, because if it were more of working together, we would know who those officers are,鈥� said Sekou. 鈥淎nd I have to frankly, say, I don鈥檛 know who they are. And I鈥檓 in the community every single day.鈥�

Building Trust

Rev. Maurice Winley, who heads the Living Redemption Youth Opportunity Center in Harlem, said his organization has invited some YCOs to talk to members of his programs.

But, he said, when an officer shows up with a 鈥済un on your hip鈥� that creates a certain 鈥減ower dynamic鈥� that can be a barrier to the trust youth officers are seeking to build.

When THE CITY asked about how the NYPD trains or measures the success of YCOs, or the Youth Strategy program in general, the department would only point to its online Patrol Guide.

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen this before: The NYPD identifies what it thinks is a problem and then it decides that the way to solve that problem is with more policing,鈥� said Miller, adding she鈥檚 also concerned about whether the cops would be gathering intelligence while ostensibly helping kids.

鈥淲e have no sense that they have any specialized training,鈥� she told THE CITY.听 鈥淪o this is a purely NYPD endeavor with no sort of even the minimal oversight of another agency that does specialize in working with young people.鈥�

Camara Jackson, the head of Brownsville nonprofit Elite Learners Inc, lauded de Blasio for the new initiative. She said her organization, which provides athletic, educational, and mentorship programming, has enjoyed a positive relationship with local youth coordination officers, particularly over the summer.

But she also agreed schools need fewer cops 鈥� and more educators and social services.

鈥淚 just really want the NYPD to realize that we鈥檙e valuable partners in this work,鈥� Jackson said of her own group and dozens of similar community organizations. 鈥淎nd as they get an expansion to go into schools, we should also get an expansion to work alongside them.鈥�

THE CITY is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.

The proposal鈥檚 defeat by a 12-point margin is likely to carry national implications for the debate over policing and racial justice, including in schools. After a Minneapolis cop killed Floyd in 2020, the city school district ended its longstanding contract with the police department and replaced campus officers with non-sworn 鈥減ublic safety support specialists.鈥� Dozens of school districts nationally took similar action in the aftermath of nationwide protests. Yet, in a whiplash move as students resumed in-person learning, education leaders in and have since voted to bring back the police.

Minneapolis Question 2 鈥� voted down by 56 percent of those who turned out in an 鈥� would have amended the city charter to replace the police department with a Department of Public Safety focused on a 鈥渃omprehensive public health approach,鈥� including an emphasis on mental health 鈥� reforms that shared similarities with efforts in the city鈥檚 schools. The ballot measure would have removed from the city charter a minimum required number of police officers and the new agency 鈥渃ould include鈥� cops 鈥渋f necessary.鈥� How the new department would have looked in practice, and the number of police officers it would employ, remained uncertain as voters headed to the polls.

Local parent advocate Khulia Pringle has long fought to remove police from schools but opposed the ballot question, which she noted was divisive among the city鈥檚 Black community. A found that white voters were more likely than Black residents to support the ballot question.

Floyd鈥檚 murder made police reform politically safe, Pringle said, but reform efforts were led primarily by white progressives who didn鈥檛 seek sufficient input from the African-American community before saying, 鈥淗ey, we鈥檝e got this great plan for Black folks.鈥�

鈥淎 lot of Black folks are pretty woke to when the wool is being pulled over their eyes,鈥� said Pringle, the Minnesota-based representative of the National Parents Union. 鈥淭hey got caught up in the moment and threw something out there that had no plan, no nothing. It was inevitable to fail from the beginning.鈥�

About 44 percent of Minneapolis voters sought to replace its police department, an unprecedented shift that highlights in recent years in support of criminal justice reforms. , Yes 4 Minneapolis communications director JaNa茅 Bates said her group, which campaigned to get the question on the ballot, has no plans of giving up. 

鈥淲e took a lesson today that we need to knock even more doors, that we need to talk to even more neighbors, that we need to bust through the disinformation campaign and the big money that says 鈥楴o鈥� when we say 鈥榊es,鈥欌�� Bates said.

More measured police reform efforts found success elsewhere during an election cycle generally seen as a win for conservative causes. Voters in Cleveland, Ohio, for example, that gives citizens greater oversight over police misconduct. In Austin, Texas, a proposal to bolster the city鈥檚 police force. 

Had Minneapolis residents voted to terminate the police department, the school board may have been more likely to form an alliance with the new public safety agency, Pringle said. But without substantive reforms, board members are not expected to resume the police department contract anytime soon, she said. 

鈥淚f it鈥檚 the same agency and there鈥檚 been no major overhaul,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don’t think that Minneapolis Public Schools is going to go back.”

In a recent interview, former Minneapolis school resource officer Charles Adams III said he opposed the ballot question because the city lacked a firm plan for the future. Adams, who left the police department last year after the school district ended its policing contact, was among former school-based officers included in a recent investigation by 蜜桃影视 exposing how many had faced disciplinary actions and allegations of civil rights violations, including police brutality, racial discrimination and domestic violence.

As Minnesota residents reckon with this year, the public safety support specialists who replaced school resource officers are 鈥渟tretched thin,鈥� said Adams, who remains the football coach at North High School. The school board took a 鈥渟ocial political stand鈥� when it ended its policing contract but 鈥渏eopardized the safety and the lives of kids in North Minneapolis,鈥� Adams told 蜜桃影视. 

鈥淏lack lives matter 100 percent,鈥� said Adams, who is Black. 鈥淏ut right now what we鈥檙e doing, the crime is destroying our community.鈥�

The Minneapolis school district didn鈥檛 respond to a request for comment. Minneapolis Police Department spokesman Garrett Parten said his agency would support future efforts to resume the $1.1 million-a-year school resource officers program. 

The police department 鈥渨ould eagerly continue the program should the opportunity be granted and the resources be available,鈥� Parten said in an email, adding that the former contract offered 鈥渁 vibrant, vital program that embodied the essence of community-based policing.鈥� 

As a talent show came to a close in the winter of 2007, hundreds of children and parents poured out of a Minneapolis high school only to be met by the piercing blast of gunfire. 

North High School students and their parents rushed back inside and police raced to investigate the commotion. But the guns and bullet shells were nowhere to be found. A campus security guard who helped in the search, they鈥檇 soon learn, had already stashed them in his pockets and, later, his wife鈥檚 purse. 

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The weapons turned up that evening outside a gas station a few blocks from the school where the security guard, Kelly Woods, got into a heated altercation with his ex-girlfriend. Police, who observed witnesses screaming 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got a gun,鈥� arrested Woods at gunpoint.

For Woods, the arrest added to a lengthy criminal record, including drug trafficking, auto theft, armed robbery and a federal firearms conviction, which didn鈥檛 stop him from becoming a security guard in charge of protecting students. For police officer Charles Adams III, the security guard鈥檚 colleague at North High, the ordeal became part of his internal disciplinary record. When officials pursued fresh criminal charges against Woods, Adams pressed them to 鈥済o easy鈥� on a man he described as a 鈥済ood guy,鈥� according to police records obtained by 蜜桃影视. The move infuriated the lead prosecutor on the case. Assistant County Attorney Diane Krenz said it was the first time in her decades-long career an officer had pressured her to go lenient on a suspect, according to the records. The last thing the community needed, she said, were 鈥渕ore guns on the North Side.鈥� 

The incident linked to Adams 鈥� the and now-former cop 鈥� is included among dozens of allegations and disciplinary findings against campus police officers recently stationed inside Minneapolis public schools that include claims of police brutality, racial discrimination and domestic violence. 

In one incident, officers were accused of beating and arresting a man for carrying a handgun despite having a concealed carry permit. In another, police were accused of pounding in a man鈥檚 face because he littered the crust from a slice of pizza. Both incidents ended with court settlements, against Minneapolis officers that has cost taxpayers millions of dollars. The city after a man said at least six officers punched, kicked and tasered him during a traffic stop. One of the accused officers became a school-based cop, a position he held until last year.

After George Floyd was murdered in 2020 at the hands of a Minneapolis officer, the city school board was quick to end its longstanding contract with the police department for campus cops, a move that some critics said was politically motivated. Floyd鈥檚 death put a national spotlight on police brutality and excessive force. 蜜桃影视 obtained public officer misconduct records and court files to explore whether similar interactions between police and students had transpired in Minneapolis classrooms 鈥� and if such incidents may have contributed to the school board鈥檚 decision to cut ties with the department. Ultimately, few of the records involved on-campus incidents or youth, but the lengthy list of allegations and disciplinary findings 鈥� many alleging violence on the part of police 鈥� raised separate questions about how the officers wound up inside schools in the first place. They also offer new context for an ongoing national debate about the role police should play in schools and whether they鈥檙e best equipped to ensure students are safe. 

Ben Fisher, an assistant criminal justice professor at Florida State University whose research focuses on the efficacy of school-based police, said the Minneapolis officers鈥� disciplinary and court records 鈥渟eemed quite problematic.鈥�

鈥淪chools contain some of our most vulnerable people in society,鈥� Fisher said. 鈥淚f we are putting officers in there who have abused their power in some way outside of the school, it鈥檚 a very scary proposition to imagine that track record following them into schools.鈥�

Minneapolis Police Department spokesman Garrett Parten said officers鈥� disciplinary records were considered before they were stationed inside schools, but he declined to comment on specific allegations or findings against officers. School resource officers took the job to build trust between youth and police, serve as positive role models and ensure children could learn in a safe environment, he said in an email. Effects of the school board鈥檚 decision to end the school resource officer program, he said, 鈥渨ill become evident over time.鈥�

Dozens of school districts across the country severed their ties with police after Floyd鈥檚 murder, but broader police reform efforts have so far faltered. In Washington, legislation that sought to improve transparency around officer misconduct and make it easier to prosecute bad cops, among other changes, failed as bipartisan negotiations broke down. 

Locally, Minneapolis voters will consider a ballot question next week that could remove from the city charter a police department that鈥檚 long been . As the school district navigates its first year without a full-time police presence in classrooms, the ballot measure would create instead a city Department of Public Safety that would use a 鈥渃omprehensive public health approach鈥� and employ police officers only 鈥渋f necessary.鈥�

National industry recommend collaboration between police and education leaders when stationing officers inside schools, but researchers who study the efficacy of school resource officers said that little evidence exists about how such selection processes actually work. Anecdotally, the job is highly regarded in some districts and officers compete for the position, Fisher said. In other places, being stationed in schools is 鈥渁 punishment where police are put there if they can鈥檛 cut it on the streets.鈥�

鈥楥ompletely out of control鈥�

蜜桃影视 obtained Minneapolis Police Department misconduct records for the 24 officers assigned to public schools for the five years prior to Floyd鈥檚 murder. Of those, 21 officers faced 105 internal complaints, 11 of which resulted in discipline of varying severity. Those records span the duration of officers鈥� employment with the department. Separately, the officers stationed in schools were named in federal lawsuits on at least two dozen occasions, according to an analysis of court records. 

The police disciplinary issues range in seriousness. One officer who worked in the schools was cited in 2019 for unintentionally firing his service rifle while responding to a call about a man with a gun, and another was given a letter of reprimand after getting arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. In two of the 11 cases which resulted in official department action, officers were disciplined for using excessive force. 

About half of the Minneapolis officers who were sued or disciplined remain on the force, according to a department spokesperson. 

Among them is Mukhtar Abdulkadir, who has faced 11 internal complaints 鈥� two that resulted in discipline 鈥� and two federal lawsuits. He reported to work as a school resource officer as recently as 2017, district records show. Records suggest the officer has a tendency to respond violently when under stress. 

In 2010, a young Ethiopian immigrant accused Abdulkadir of choking and punching him and calling him a racial slur after he was pulled over and cited for riding a bike at night without a light, a citation the man called 鈥渟tupid.鈥� A federal lawsuit following the incident . Abdulkadir and his attorneys couldn鈥檛 be reached for comment. 

In 2011, Abdulkadir was arrested on assault and terroristic threat charges after his then-wife accused him of punching her in the ribs, smothering her face with a pillow and hitting her in the face with the butt of his service pistol. Abdulkadir was but was rehired with back pay after his former wife retracted her allegations. Yet according to his disciplinary file, internal investigators believed her decision to recant was obvious: 鈥淥nly if he is reinstated will she obtain child support when they divorce.鈥� Additionally, internal records note that domestic abuse victims often 鈥渢ake the blame鈥� because their abusers maintain control over them. 

Abdulkadir was also accused of repeatedly punching a man outside a car wash in 2013. The man honked at the officer because he was next in line at the automatic car wash but hadn’t moved forward, according to a complaint in a federal lawsuit. In response, Abdulkadir was accused of punching the man repeatedly before charging him with disorderly conduct, according to the lawsuit that also . 

Then, in 2014, Abdulkadir was reprimanded for becoming irate after he failed firearms training. Officers who witnessed the outburst reported feeling afraid because he 鈥渨as completely out of control鈥� and had easy access to a gun. 

鈥淭hat night I truly believed that at any time he could grab his weapon, load it and use it against officers,鈥� a police sergeant told internal investigators. In a less controlled environment, the sergeant said he could see a situation where Abdulkadir would 鈥渃ompletely lose control of everything and harm himself, other officers or the public.鈥� 

District records show Abdulkadir was assigned to Minneapolis campuses a year later, including Andersen United Middle School and Seward Montessori School. 

When officers protect their own

The disciplinary findings against Adams put the storied coach and second-generation Minneapolis cop on defense, a position he isn鈥檛 used to playing. After the school board voted to break with the police department, some students at North High School, the predominantly Black school where Adams worked as a school resource officer, So did the school鈥檚 principal. 

On after reinvigorated the Black Lives Matter movement, The New York Times examined how his roles as a football coach and a Black police officer placed him on both ends of the debate on policing in America. As Adams , 鈥淚 wear blue, but I鈥檓 Black.鈥�

The records suggest that Adams, who left the police department last year and is now head of team security for the Minnesota Twins, was willing to go to great lengths for a colleague accused of a serious crime, a reality he acknowledged in an interview with 蜜桃影视. Woods, the North High School security guard, and his attorney couldn’t be reached for comment. 

鈥�I stood up for him as a character,鈥� Adams said. 鈥淚 never said that it was OK for what he did.鈥�

North High School Principal Mauri Friestleben, who has been outspoken against the school board鈥檚 decision to cut ties with the police, similarly stood behind Adams. With officers in schools, she said she witnessed a 鈥渉ealthy discourse about what real protecting and serving looked like,鈥� including situations where campus cops helped students avoid arrests. 鈥淚 have no reservations about my public support鈥� of Adams, she wrote in an email, and called the officer 鈥渁 protector鈥� who came to the job 鈥渨ith multiple dimensions and this may be just one of them.鈥� 

Adams sought to downplay his own disciplinary record, arguing that police leaders and prosecutors overreacted to his intervening in Woods鈥檚 criminal case. Prior to becoming a school security guard, Woods was convicted of armed robbery in 1992 and became ineligible to possess a firearm. Six years later, police arrested Woods with a gun outside a Minneapolis Greyhound bus station. Woods, who is Black, unsuccessfully accused the officers of racial discrimination when they stopped him while investigating drug and gun trafficking, according to court records. 

Adams said that Woods was a positive force in the community and shouldn鈥檛 be defined by the years he spent in prison. After the shooting outside North High, Woods wasn鈥檛 trying to keep the guns for himself, Adams maintained. Instead, Woods knew the students involved in the shooting and didn鈥檛 want them to get arrested. Woods recognized them as gang members, according to court documents.

鈥淚 took it as him looking out for those two kids,鈥� said Adams, who added that he didn鈥檛 observe the shooting himself. 鈥淗e took [the guns] from them and said 鈥楪et out of here,鈥� one of those types of deals because that鈥檚 just the type of person that he is.鈥� 

Adams scoffed at the suggestion from Krenz, the prosecutor, that his defense of Woods conflicted with his role in keeping the community safe. Krenz declined to comment for this article. Adams said she wouldn鈥檛 know where North High was if it 鈥渟macked her in her face.鈥� 

鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to hear that,鈥� Adams said. 鈥淚 hear so many people talk about what should be good for our community. They have never stepped one foot inside of it.鈥� 

鈥楪ood ol鈥� boy network鈥�

Internal police records obtained by 蜜桃影视 likely offer a significant undercount of officer misconduct. Just 2.7 percent of complaints resulted in discipline between 2013 and 2019, according to a nonprofit news outlet. After lengthy investigations, disciplined officers often received letters of reprimand or brief suspensions. 

A pattern of officers protecting their peers allowed abuses to remain under the radar until it went to court, the investigation found. Three years before he murdered Floyd, for example, Derek Chauvin and pinned him to the ground for 17 minutes. The incident, which could be seen as a precursor to Chauvin kneeling on Floyd鈥檚 neck, from his public records. 

蜜桃影视 sought comments from Minneapolis officers previously stationed inside schools, school board members, the city and state police unions, an attorney who represents many officers in misconduct litigation, the city and the county attorney鈥檚 office. Each declined to comment or didn鈥檛 respond to interview requests. 

Among the lawsuits against officers placed in schools, civil rights attorney Zorislav Leyderman represented the plaintiffs in six. Police misconduct incidents that occur outside schools, he said, should influence whether those involved are assigned as school resource officers. Leyderman cited the allegations as contributing to a larger culture in the city where many Minneapolis residents fear the police. 

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to interact with law enforcement because they鈥檙e worried that if they do, they鈥檙e going to get injured,鈥� he said. The allegations against the officers stationed in schools 鈥渟hould have been looked into, both the lawsuits and these internal complaints.鈥� 

Oftentimes, he said police misconduct remains outside the public eye because officers are 鈥渃oached鈥� following incidents, a practice the department has maintained isn鈥檛 a form of official discipline. The department was sued and , including in cases of serious wrongdoing. In , investigators found that Minneapolis police used coaching to resolve more than a quarter of complaints over a six-year period.

Local parent advocate Khulia Pringle, who helped the school district hire security staff to replace sworn police last year, said that officers鈥� disciplinary records should be a major factor when placing them inside schools. However, that history only reinforced her belief that police have no place walking hallways. 

鈥淚n any other situation, when we need the cops, we call them,鈥� said Pringle, a Minnesota-based representative of the . If they鈥檙e going to be there, there 鈥渟hould have been more protocols in place as to which officers are in schools,鈥� she said. 

Adams said he was surprised to see the allegations against other police officers who worked in the schools, and although negative interactions between cops and youth have occurred, he couldn鈥檛 recall any recent instances that could鈥檝e motivated the school board鈥檚 decision to end its police contract. Yet Adams, who said he can 鈥渟peak freely鈥� now because he鈥檚 no longer a cop, portrayed his former department as one where officer misconduct is routine. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 the good ol鈥� boy network,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got guys who are in the police department that treat people wrong on purpose and you can see it.鈥� 

鈥楶art of the game鈥�

As communities across the country grapple with the role police play in schools, new research serves to highlight the issue鈥檚 complexities. On one hand, the officers reduce some forms of violent crimes like fights, according to the research. At the same time, their presence prompts a dramatic uptick in suspensions and arrests 鈥� especially for students who are Black. Little academic research explores the types of officers who are more effective than others in schools.

But being named in a federal lawsuit shouldn鈥檛 be automatically disqualifying, said school safety consultant Kenneth Trump, president of National School Safety and Security Services in Cleveland. Filing civil rights lawsuits against an arresting officer is all 鈥減art of the game,鈥� he said. Police misconduct suits often end in settlements, yet Trump said the final results should become part of the equation when making school resource officer assignments.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e a police officer and you鈥檙e doing your job on the streets, there鈥檚 a really good chance you鈥檙e going to get sued somewhere in your career,鈥� said Trump, a proponent of school-based policing. 鈥淏ut there should be some sort of baseline criteria and screening set by your police administration before that pool of officers is ever presented at that next step to your school people.鈥�

Parten, the Minneapolis police spokesman, said that all officers were eligible to apply for the school resource officer program and were interviewed by a panel of police department and school district officials. The police chief had the final say in hiring decisions. Parten said he collaborated with education officials when crafting a statement for this article, but Minneapolis school district spokeswoman Julie Schultz Brown didn鈥檛 respond to multiple requests for comment. 

鈥淐andidates were presented with scenario-based questions designed to evaluate critical thinking skills necessary for a school setting and further examined each individual鈥檚 understanding of the challenges and rewards associated with the position,鈥� he said. 

Policing in Minneapolis remains contentious in the larger community, and voters will soon decide whether to go in a completely new direction. Ahead of next week鈥檚 election, suggests the question of whether to dismantle the traditional police department will be close. Black voters were less likely than white voters to support the idea. 

A similar course change 鈥� to remove cops from Minneapolis schools and replace them with district security staff 鈥� was ultimately detrimental, Adams maintains. 鈥淐rime is outrageous鈥� at North High School, he said, and the security team hired to replace sworn officers is 鈥渟tretched thin.鈥� 

And even though he defended a security guard who he said sought to keep kids out of the criminal justice system, the former cop said stationing police in schools was an effective strategy to catch suspected criminals.

鈥淎 lot of kids would obviously show up to school and investigators and a lot of police knew the kid would be there,鈥� Adams said. 鈥淭hat was a good way to get bad guys.鈥� 

Lead Image: Former police officer Charles Adams III’s actions to intervene on behalf of a school security guard arrested on gun charges are among dozens of disciplinary findings and misconduct allegations involving campus police officers recently stationed inside Minneapolis public schools. (Andrea Ellen Reed / The New York Times / Redux)

In fact, . In addition to making it more likely that students will face exclusionary discipline, such as suspension and expulsion, students are chronically absent more when campuses are staffed by cops, with researchers identifying a marked spike in missed school days among youth with disabilities. 

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The results, researchers note, suggest that school-based police could hinder students鈥� academic outcomes, increase their long-term involvement with the criminal justice system and appear to 鈥渟eriously exacerbate existing opportunity gaps in education.鈥� The effects of school police on discipline and arrests were 鈥渃onsistently over two times larger for Black students鈥� than their white classmates, the study found. 

鈥淭here might be these benefits in terms of reduced violence, but there are also these really large costs, and costs that unequally affect students,鈥� said report co-author Lucy Sorensen, an assistant public administration and policy professor at the University of Albany, SUNY.

鈥淎t the end of the day, I have a hard time, as an education researcher, thinking this is what we should invest money in,鈥� Sorensen added. 

The report, a working paper released by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University that has not yet been peer reviewed, is the first school-level examination of campus officers across every public school in the U.S. It is also one of the first pieces of in-depth research on the effects of school police to follow a nationwide movement to remove cops from schools that was prompted by the death of George Floyd and argued their presence was especially harmful to students of color.

School security consultant Kenneth Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services in Cleveland, maintained that campus police can be a positive force so long as they鈥檙e including a clearly defined selection process for officers who receive specialized training. 

鈥淚f you have a properly designed and implemented, supervised and evaluated [school resource officer] program, there are many positive things about that,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat said, if you have an SRO on your campus, chances are you鈥檙e going to see some increase in arrests by the mere fact that the officers are going to identify crimes that school administrators may previously have not recognized and reported.鈥� 

The number of officers stationed in K-12 schools has grown exponentially in the last several decades, largely in response to school shootings, and the federal government has to facilitate that increase. In the 1970s, just 1 percent of schools had police stationed on campus. Today, that figure has jumped to roughly half. 

School shootings remain statistically rare and campuses have grown markedly safer in the last several decades. But the new report throws cold water on a common argument in favor of school policing: Officers failed to prevent school-shootings and other gun-related incidents. In fact, having an officer on campus 鈥渕arginally increases the likelihood of a school shooting,鈥� according to the report.

Future research should explore the factors that drive that increase, Sorensen said. Though shootings have long motivated police presence in schools, preventing such tragedies is 鈥渘ot what the job entails on a day-to-day basis,鈥� she said, and instead officers 鈥渁re getting involved in minor disciplinary matters.鈥�

George Floyd鈥檚 murder in 2020 at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer ignited a heated national debate over the broader role of police in the U.S., and several districts ended their ties with the police or slashed their policing budgets. In Minneapolis, for example, the district terminated its police contract and replaced officers with non-sworn safety agents who lack arrest authority. Several dozen districts nationally made similar decisions as advocates highlighted racial disparities in school-based arrests that fed the school-to-prison pipeline and called on educators to replace cops with counselors and other student support services.

On Wednesday, the City Council in Alexandria, Virginia, its school resource officer program five months after it pulled police from hallways. The reversal followed parent outrage in the wake of . 

The latest research, however, further bolsters a body of evidence on the negative effects of placing police in schools. To reach their findings, researchers analyzed federal education data between 2014 and 2018 and data on law enforcement agencies that applied for federal grants between 2015 and 2017 for school-based policing. In a given year, officers led to a reduction of six non-firearm violent incidents per 100 students, according to the report. They also increased the out-of-school suspension rate by 10.9 students per 100. The increase in student punishments was starkest in middle and high schools where, per 100 students, 17.8 more received out-of-school suspensions, 1.7 more were expelled and 4.8 more were referred to police or arrested. Additionally, results suggest that school police increase chronic absenteeism by 12.2 students for every 100 kids enrolled, and an increase of 13.4 students per 100 among those with disabilities. Across disciplinary outcomes, the results were starker for Black students than their white classmates. 

Overall, the results suggest that stationing police in schools 鈥渋ntensifies the levels of punishment unevenly across different groups of students, and that Black students, male students and students with disabilities generally bear the brunt of this punishment,鈥� according to the report. 

The new report follows a recent study on , which reached similar conclusions. In by the Center for Public Integrity, the nonprofit news outlet found that schools disproportionately referred Black students and those with disabilities to the police at a rate nearly double their share of the overall student population. 

鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to throw out your SRO program, then you should also throw your administrators out with it because they have been partners in those programs all along,鈥� Trump, the security consultant, said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the police who must be screwing up.鈥�

Ben Fisher, an assistant professor at Florida State University鈥檚 College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, noted the consistency of  the latest research with the North Carolina study, which found a 鈥渢rade-off between some marginal decreases in school crime and some pretty serious increases in the exclusion of students through suspensions and arrests.鈥� Fisher said it adds to a growing body of research highlighting that school resource officers have a detrimental effect on youth outcomes, while pointing out that other people could view the evidence through a different lens.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 good to exclude students from school or arrest them,鈥� said Fisher, who has researched the efficacy of campus police for years but wasn鈥檛 involved in the latest report. 鈥淥ther folks could read that same research and say, 鈥楾here鈥檚 more arrests 鈥� good. They ought to be removed from schools if they鈥檙e doing bad things.鈥欌�� 

When interacting with students, most school-based officers seek to avoid arrests, according to by the National Association of School Resource Officers, a trade group. About a third of campus arrests are based on observations from officers, according to the survey, and a similar share began with a referral from school staff. 

Ultimately, policymakers should weigh the decreases in campus violence against the other effects of school policing and decide whether other interventions could be more effective, the researchers concluded. 

鈥淚nterventions should not just be judged on a single outcome, but comprehensively on many outcomes,鈥� the report states. 鈥淚t also suggests that the comprehensive impact of using resources for school police should be compared with the comprehensive impact of using resources in other ways to improve school safety and climate,鈥� including in schools, which researchers described as 鈥渁 single intervention to both reduce suspensions and improve school climate.鈥� 

As school-based police continue to generate passionate debate and additional research emerges about their efficacy, Sorensen said she expects education leaders to increasingly explore alternatives like investing additional money in social workers and mental health services for students.

鈥淚 think we鈥檒l see a lot of different experimentation in the coming years,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd I hope we can learn from that.鈥�

Over the last several decades, the number of police stationed inside public schools has exploded, often with much fanfare in the wake of a mass school shooting. But that could soon change.

After a Minneapolis cop murdered George Floyd last year, dozens of districts nationwide did what student activists have been demanding for years and broke up with the police. Now, Democratic lawmakers aim to eliminate a mechanism that鈥檚 long encouraged educators to place police officers inside their buildings: A big pot of federal cash.

The , reintroduced in June, would prohibit the government from using federal funds to hire, recruit or station police on K-12 campuses and instead creates a grant program providing billions of dollars for schools to hire support staff, like psychologists and social workers. It鈥檚 one of two bills being promoted this year by Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline, a concept that highlights how harsh school discipline policies can push students, particularly youth of color, into the criminal justice system.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got to draw the line, at the federal level at least, and say 鈥楩rom here on out, the money that the federal government spends should be spent on creating safe, productive school environments,鈥� Murphy, who introduced the legislation, said during a recent press conference. 鈥淎nd that happens by investing in these kids through counseling, through nurses, through social workers, through psychologists, not through more police officers.鈥�

In an exclusive interview with 蜜桃影视, Murphy maintained that federal money would be better spent on student support services like counselors rather than paying officers to patrol hallways. Since the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Murphy鈥檚 home state, the senator has made gun control a central part of his political career. The tragedy also put a renewed focus on school policing, and though Murphy said he understands the perspectives of parents who believe their children are safer with cops on campus, 鈥渉aving a police officer in a school is not likely to stop a mass shooter,鈥� he said.

Yet Murphy offered a more nuanced perspective on school-based police than the student activists and civil rights groups who have lauded his bill but demand police-free schools. Murphy said the debate over campus police should not be discussed in 鈥渁bsolutist terms,鈥� adding that some school resource officers do a 鈥済reat job,鈥� and that communities should decide whether to keep them. He also supported the presence of campus security guards who lack arrest powers.

Youth activists, meanwhile, have been demanding for years that schools become entirely police-free and have argued that security guards contribute to a negative campus climate where students of color feel like they鈥檙e constantly under a microscope. Among them is Mariet Leana, a high school junior in New York City and youth activist with the groups and the .

鈥淚 have watched security guards repeatedly escalate altercations between students rather than diffuse them,鈥� Leana said during the recent press conference to promote Murphy鈥檚 bill. 鈥淚 have witnessed young people lose their hope and feel like schools are no longer safe places for them because of an overwhelming number of police officers and so few counselors, therapists and other support services that students need to thrive.鈥�

In the last two decades, the federal government has to hire additional school-based police that they make schools safer and could actually do more harm than good. In the 1970s, just 1 percent of schools had police stationed on campus. Today, that figure has jumped to roughly half.

As Floyd鈥檚 murder sparked nationwide protests about officers鈥� use of force, particularly against Black Americans, it elevated the conversation about the stark and persistent racial disparities in school-based arrests. Black boys are nearly 2.5 times more likely to be arrested at school than their white male classmates, . The racial disparity is even starker for girls. Black girls were more than 3.5 times more likely to face arrest at school than were white girls.

Nationally, 14 million students attend schools that have a campus police officer but lack a counselor, nurse, psychologist or social worker, according to . Though the American School Counselor Association recommends a counselor to student ratio of 250 to 1, it鈥檚 a benchmark that the public school system has long failed to meet. While schools have in recent years, serves roughly 430 students on average.

Meanwhile in May, Murphy reintroduced the , legislation that鈥檚 part of a yearslong effort to prohibit schools from using seclusion and restraint on students.

During the 2017-18 school year, districts nationwide reported using seclusion or physical restraint nearly 102,000 times, , though . The practices are used disproportionately on children with disabilities and students of color and often have deleterious effects including injury and, in rare cases, death.

Murphy鈥檚 legislation would prohibit school officials and police from using physical restraint techniques that restrict breathing or limit blood flow to the brain, such as the face-down prone restraint, but it falls short of creating an outright ban. Certain forms of student restraint would still be allowed in emergency situations 鈥� a carveout that could be open to interpretation. While Murphy said that physical restraint could be necessary in 鈥渓imited instances,鈥� some advocates, particularly those who represent children with disabilities, say the practice should never be tolerated.

While both of Murphy鈥檚 bills were previously introduced in Washington but failed to catch on, several factors suggest that things could be different this time around. Along with Democratic control of the White House and Congress, the 鈥減olice-free schools鈥� movement gained steam after Floyd鈥檚 murder. The conversation with Murphy was lightly edited for length and clarity.

蜜桃影视: Both the Keeping All Students Safe Act and the Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act have been introduced in the past. What is different this time around, and what needs to happen to get these bills to the president鈥檚 desk?听

Murphy: It certainly helps to have an administration that understands the sort of complicated nuance around how we keep kids safe. In reality, loading schools up with police officers doesn鈥檛 end up keeping kids safe, it ends up with far too many kids being arrested for things that should be dealt with inside the school.

Restraining a kid or locking a kid up, you know, may be a short-term solution to diffusing a situation, but it ends up in all sorts of unacceptable long-term trauma that doesn鈥檛 help the kid or the school. So you know, we鈥檝e got a president that I think cares about this topic and we now have a majority in the Senate that cares as well. Sen. [Patty] Murray [who chairs the Senate education committee] is a former school teacher, Sen. Murray is very plugged into this conversation and very willing to lead.

On a personal level, what motivates your interest in proposing these bills?听

I have kids in the public schools. I鈥檓 married to a former educator who spent 10 years representing low-income children who were facing suspension and expulsion. I have a decent amount of firsthand experience with school systems that are overly punitive in their approach to student misbehavior. I鈥檝e seen what doesn鈥檛 work, I鈥檝e seen what works and I just think that, as a parent, I need to be a leader in trying to enact policies that protect kids rather than traumatize kids.

I also represent a state that has continuing, indefensible disparities between how kids of color are treated and how white kids are treated when it comes to restraint and seclusion and arrests. I have an obligation to address the ways in which even my state isn鈥檛 meeting the mark on the civil rights of kids.

Turning to your state here, the Obama administration did increase federal funding for school police after the Sandy Hook school shooting. What are your thoughts on the effects of that decision and how did it motivate your decision to try to reduce the presence of police in schools?听

I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 one uniform story when it comes to the efficacy of police in schools. I鈥檝e talked to lots of students, parents, teachers, administrators, and I know there are schools in which police are an effective, compassionate presence. But I鈥檝e also seen the data, and the data tells me that, overall, kids of color and disabled kids are treated differently when police are present in schools. Too many of them end up getting arrested for, you know, talking back to a teacher or engaging in pretty run-of-the-mill misbehavior.

So that鈥檚 why I鈥檓 not proposing to outlaw police in schools, I just think federal dollars should be used to prioritize hiring counselors and psychologists and let state and local dollars be used for police if that community really thinks that there鈥檚 no other way to keep their students safe.

Education Secretary in his Connecticut district, adding that they can be a positive presence in schools if well trained. What is your response to his characterization about the efficacy of police in schools in Connecticut, and what work do you need to do to get him on board with your plan?听

I don鈥檛 think you can talk about this issue in absolutist terms. There are some school resource officers who are doing a great job. There are some schools that may be well-served by police officers. I just think federal money would be better off spent on other resources to support kids.

I鈥檝e talked about the broad subject with the secretary but I have not talked to him at length about this piece of legislation. So I don鈥檛 know his sort of specific views on it, I just ultimately think it would be better off for federal resources to be spent on other kinds of support services for kids.

Mass school shootings have long motivated efforts to increase the police presence in schools. What is your response to parents who demand heightened school security after such tragedies, and what efforts do you believe are more effective in maintaining safe schools?

I completely understand the reaction that happens in schools where parents feel like their kids will be better protected if there are police officers. I have kids in the public schools. My number one, two, three and four priority is that they are safe. But what I know from experience is that having a police officer in a school is not likely to stop a mass shooter, and given the infrequency of school shootings and the incredibly high volume of police in schools, the overall effect of police in schools tends to get kids arrested for stuff that shouldn鈥檛 end up with them in the criminal justice system instead of violence being abated.

I mean, what we need are programs that wrap services around kids at risk. What we need to do is identify really troubled kids early on, before they commit acts of violence, and seek to give them pathways back to health. I haven鈥檛 seen a lot of evidence that a police officer in a school is going to be the most effective way to stop a mass shooting.

But again I鈥檒l say this, I think that鈥檚 up to every school district. As a parent, I don鈥檛 want police officers in my kids鈥� school. But I understand different parents will come to a different decision and that鈥檚 why I think it should be local dollars that support police in schools because different jurisdictions are going to make different decisions about whether they think it works to have police in their childrens鈥� school.

The included an announcement that federal pandemic recovery funding could be used to hire additional police. What is your perspective on his plan and how might it affect students?

I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a smart idea for federal dollars to be used to hire police in schools. I just think it鈥檚 a real nightmare for kids when the counselor to student ratio in this country is [out of whack]. Right now, what we鈥檙e missing in our schools are guidance counselors and social workers and school psychologists, not uniformed police officers.

Following George Floyd鈥檚 murder, school districts across the country severed their ties with the police. What promising alternatives have you seen that schools have adopted, and have you observed any negative effects that maybe need to be ironed out?

I think that there are instances where it makes sense to have school security. I think that what we need to start thinking about is a model where schools have the ability to hire security officers that are trained and professional but don鈥檛 come with the power to arrest.

It鈥檚 that power of arrest that often gets abused and often gets used to target students of color, so one of the models that I think is worthwhile in pursuing is a level of security professional that has the training necessary to give peace of mind to school superintendents and principals, but isn鈥檛 a uniformed police officer so you can鈥檛 have hallway fights turned into arrestable offenses.

Your legislation would ban restraint techniques that restrict breathing, such as the prone restraint used on George Floyd. Why does the legislation target these restraint tactics in particular and why are other forms of restraint still permitted in certain circumstances?听

There are limited instances where a teacher or an administrator, as a last resort, has to put their hands on a child. If that child is completely unable to be controlled any other way and is presenting an immediate physical threat to those around them, it may be necessary for an administrator or a teacher to use some physical means to stop that child from hurting others.

What my legislation calls for is best practices to be put in place so as to have every school administrator and teacher trained in de-escalatory measures that view physical restraint as a last resort, but also the prohibition of certain restraints that do pose an immediate safety risk to the student. So there are some restraints, including those that restrict breathing, that should be off limits. But just as importantly, you should have in place protocols that guide adults to different de-escalatory tactics than putting their hands on kids.

ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune found that Illinois schools were for reasons that violated a state law. How will you ensure that schools follow federal rules if signed into law?

If a state doesn鈥檛 comply with federal law, they could lose their federal funding and that requires very vigorous oversight from the Department of Education. Now, different administrations have different styles when it comes to enforcement of existing law, but my hope is that if we were to pass [the Keeping All Students Safe Act], the Biden administration would act forcefully to make sure that schools comply. If they don鈥檛, they risk losing their federal funding.

Speaking of federal funding, schools across the country will see an uptick in federal money due to pandemic relief funding. How will these two bills, when taken together, help schools to develop less punitive discipline strategies.听

Many schools will complain that they don鈥檛 have the staff resources to try to wrap services around certain children that present a risk of violent behavior, and there鈥檚 some truth to that complaint. My hope is that the American Rescue Plan dollars and the funding approved last year will, at least in the short run, help schools staff up appropriately so that they can meet the needs of some of their more troubled kids.

I don鈥檛 think, even with meager staff resources, it ever makes sense to lock a kid up in a closet. But I do recognize that it does necessitate additional funding to provide support services to kids who may be acting out in class, sometimes in violent ways. Hopefully the new federal funding streams at least over the next few years will help with that.