Former Chicago Board of Education member Dwayne Truss speaks against the removal of police from schools during a Board of Education meeting on Feb. 22, 2024.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
The Chicago Board of Education’s vote last week to remove police from those high schools that still have them was a vote for ideology over practicality.
We don’t disagree with that ideology. In the world of what-ought-to-be-someday, school discipline and safety wouldn’t involve law enforcement at all. There’s reliable evidence, as those opposed to cops in schools have pointed out, that the presence of police increases the chances that Black students, more than others, will be arrested. And the 39 Chicago high schools that have opted thus far to keep police are mostly majority-Black schools, which too often lack the resources to engage students and keep them out of trouble. Those factors are among the reasons why we support working with schools to adopt proven alternative discipline strategies — at their own pace.
But meanwhile, in the world of what-is-right-now, administrators, and probably a good number of parents, at those 39 high schools still believe their officers play a valuable role in maintaining teens’ safety. Maybe the officer assigned to their school is a positive adult authority figure, not just “another cop,” and has the right training to work with young people. Local school councils should have the authority to make the final determination. Since 2019, most schools opted to get rid of police anyway when given the opportunity, and have been given funds to support alternatives. The goal was being achieved, step by step.
Now Chicago Public Schools will have to help those 39 schools come up with alternative plans by next school year, that administrators, teachers and parents can get behind. The board gave a victory to advocates of police-free schools, but the vote also antagonized, needlessly, the local school councils, elected officials and others who wanted to maintain the status quo of community decision-making.
There’s a chance to make the move a success, though, despite the opposition. The idea of having officers patrol around schools at dismissal times makes sense for CPS and the Chicago Police Department to pursue. Consider it an opportunity that, if done the right way, could serve to get police more engaged in the community in a positive way.
It’s also a good sign that some schools that already opted to get rid of police have said that the extra resources they got from the district helped with reaching kids, addressing the causes of their misbehavior and finding ways to de-escalate potentially harmful situations before violence erupts.
Which is the ultimate goal here — whether or not it involves police.
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