Global News BC: ‘We’re disturbed’: Not everyone is welcoming police officers back to Vancouver schools https://globalnews.ca/news/9934604/police-officers-return-vancouver-schools/ #globalnews #britishcolumbia #news #policereturningtoVancouverschools #SchoolLiaisonOfficerProgram #VancouverPoliceDepartment #VancouverSchoolDistrict #schoolliaisonofficers #VancouverPoliceBoard #VancouverSchoolBoard #policeinschools #vancouverpolice #newschoolyear #Education

Global News BC: Vancouver Police Board member resigns over rekindling of school officer liaison program https://globalnews.ca/news/9771413/vancouver-police-board-member-resigns-over-rekindling-of-school-officer-liaison-program/ #globalnews #britishcolumbia #news #AfricanDescentAdvisoryCommittee #SchoolLiaisonOfficerProgram #VancouverPoliceBoard #VancouverSchoolBoard #SLOprogramVancouver #policeinBCschools #anti-blackracism #policeinschools #studentsafety #Politics #Crime #SLOs

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It’s the kind of in-depth work a school system need to do in order to stop relying on criminalization of children to address behavior problems in schools. Schools need money to do it. But even before that, school districts need to value the children and believe they are entitled to have a safe place where they can be nourished and grow. Do schools value our Black and Brown children? We can argue about that. 10/10

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If you don’t have access to the documentary watch the two videos called Counter Pushout towards the bottom of the page. It is girl focused but the specialists talk about the issues that lead to conflict in schools and how the adults (who are not the police) can model de-escalation and talk to students in an age appropriate way. 9/

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Here’s what we know: the police are against reduction of $ into their coffers. Municipal leaders are against alienating the police and sacrifice significant portions of their budgets to the police to keep relations smooth. Parents and students want safety. Can it be done without the police? If you watch the documentary PUSH OUT by Monique Morris you’ll see what is required. https://pushoutfilm.com/ 8/

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There’s no “magic” formula for creating safety, and it absolutely cannot be done without money. “Get the police” is a known response and feels reassuring, even though we know police respond to violence, they don’t prevent it. See e.g. every mass school shooting that has taken place in the last two years. 7/

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We see a repeat of this reaction in Oakland CA, Seattle, Chicago, and other places. In my opinion it shows the danger of moving for “reform” without a clear understanding of the root causes of problems in each LOCAL area and having a clear, purpose driven, and fully developed and FUNDED approach to solving those problems.

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And then this year (remember we are in 2023 not 2024 when they “projected” better development) a student was killed in school. That’s the worse case scenario and parents students and administrators are reasonable to question the decision to remove SROs. Now, the St. Paul District is voting to bring back SROS. https://www.axios.com/local/twin-cities/2023/02/15/st-paul-school-safety-harding-stabbing-police-officers 5/

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On the surface that sounds good right? But look at it. How were they going to adequately build a new system with necessary supports (guidance counselors, mental health workers, etc)?
https://www.startribune.com/st-paul-schools-safety-liaisons-school-resource-officers/600221359/ 4/

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The school districts in St. Paul MN voted to terminate their contracts with school resource officers/police. They went to student friendly liaisons and studying violence reduction. They received a $1 million for the Feds to study root causes and were “projected” to get money to build up for the 2024 school year. 3/

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I highlighted the who gets to make decisions about spending budgets. I also cautioned about having reform expectations without taking into account how the any institutional system will adjust itself to negate reform and re-establish status quo. The criminal legal system repeatedly does that because it’s whole purpose for existing is to remove liberty. Let me know if you need some examples to refresh you on that. 2/9

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Yesterday, I shared some data on police in schools. Ordinarily today I would provide some examples of how people are creating new systems to cut their dependence on the police. Today’s examples however, show how difficult it is to build a different approach. They also highlight the intersectionality of issues that cause our neighborhoods to be unsafe. Distribution of municipal budgets can kill school reform. 1/9

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Tomorrow I’ll mention some of the real challenges to removing cops from schools and how the police use fear to push communities to reverse their decisions to remove the police. 6/6

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Even given what we know about police targeting Black, Latino and disabled school children, you may not know just how bad it is for Black girls attending schools that have cops. Here’s a link to Monique Morris’ TED Talk on the issue. It’s only 12 minutes long. Hope you will watch it at some point today.
https://www.ted.com/talks/monique_w_morris_why_black_girls_are_targeted_for_punishment_at_school_and_how_to_change_that 5/6

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The Brookings Institute put out an interesting proposal outlining the problem with school resource officers and proposing some solutions which covered short term changes, medium term changes and goals for the long term….which by the way lead to getting police out of schools.
https://www.brookings.edu/research/a-better-path-forward-for-criminal-justice-reconsidering-police-in-schools/ 3/6

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For everyone, parents, teachers and students the issue is about safety. The police argue that having cops in school makes them safer. But, that’s a controversial point. Here’s a link to a collection of studies that attempts to provide a “balanced” look at what the studies actually say. https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/6/23/21299743/police-schools-research 2/6

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I was reminded recently about a talk Dr. Monique Morris gave about Black girls getting pushed out of schools for disciplinary issues. This is very much connected to the issues of having police officers, code named – school resource officers, stationed in schools. Many studies have connected police in schools to the school-to-prison pipeline. Today, I’ll talk about the problems with cops in schools. 1/6

Global News BC: Plan to restore controversial police-in-schools program returns to Vancouver School Board https://globalnews.ca/news/9309902/vancouver-school-liaison-officer-police/ #globalnews #britishcolumbia #news #SchoolLiaisonOfficerProgram #schoolliaisonofficer #VancouverSchoolBoard #policeinschools #abcvancouver #sloprogram #Education #Politics #Schools #Police #Crime #ABC

Global News BC: Human rights commissioner calls for an end to police officer program in B.C. schools https://globalnews.ca/news/9310415/bc-rights-commissioner-police-schools/ #globalnews #britishcolumbia #news #BCHumanRightsCommissioner #VancouverSchoolBoard #policeinschools #vancouverpolice #policeliaisons #abcvancouver #BCeducation #Education #BCschools