Denver Public School board members seek removal of police officers from schools by 2021
Denver CO June 6 2020 Two members of the Denver school board on Friday called for the removal of police officers from the city’s public schools by 2021, saying law enforcement personnel not only are unnecessary on campuses, but detrimental to students of color.
The push by Denver Board of Education vice president Jennifer Bacon and board secretary Tay Anderson — in the form of a resolution to end Denver Public Schools’ contract with the Denver Police Department — comes as the nightly demonstrations for racial justice and police reform continue downtown in the wake of the George Floyd killing.
The resolution looks likely to be adopted by the seven-member body as soon as next week, as school board president Carrie Olson and board member Bradley Laurvick both told The Denver Post they’re supporting Bacon and Anderson.
Currently, DPS pays the department $721,403 a year for 18 school resource officers to be assigned to middle and high schools.
“We want to be able to have a school system where students are greeted by school nurses, by full-time mental health supports, with restorative practice coordinators — and not the Denver Police Department,” Anderson said at a news conference outside East High School.
But, he added, that “does not mean that our relationship with (Denver police) goes completely away. When we need them, we can call them.”
Bacon and Anderson — one of the most visible figures in the ongoing Denver protests — hope to divert resources spent on police officers to add more mental health workers and full-time nurses, and note that DPS still has its own Department of Safety that provides campus security.
“Our numbers show us that black children are still three to five times more likely to be referred to law enforcement or suspension, respectively, and again some of our own practices have introduced students to a normalization, an internalization of their place, which is not something we want to contribute to anymore,” Bacon said at the news conference.
In a brief statement, the Denver Police Department said it was examining its program in DPS schools and looking for ways to improve.
“We respect the students, the parents and the school board members and whatever path they chose to move forward on,” the department said. “We will continue to look for ways and opportunities to build relationships with young people.”
Declaring “black lives matter,” DPS superintendent Susana Cordova said at Friday’s news conference that she supports the district’s black students and black educators. She did note both the positive relationship some students have with campus officers and the need for security — but said she recognizes the “absolute need to end the school-to-prison pipeline.”
“There’s absolutely nothing more important than the fact that all students should feel safe, should feel cared for, should feel protected in our schools,” Cordova said. “Education does not happen without that… and this is especially true for our black students.”
The Denver Classroom Teachers Association, the district’s teachers union, supports the move to get law enforcement out of DPS schools, President Tiffany Choi said.
“Systemic racism is pervasive and it’s time that we clean out the house,” said Monica Hunter, a DPS teacher and founding member of the union’s Black Educator Caucus, during Friday’s news conference. “Until every white teacher checks their white fragility, our work is not done. We will not be silenced and we will call you out if you are participating and perpetuating systematic racism. Because black lives matter.”
Anderson said he expects to release the text of the finalized resolution on Monday, and the board could vote as soon as Thursday.
He read from a draft of the document, which notes that, since 2014, students have been ticketed or arrested in school by Denver police officers 4,540 times with “the vast majority being black or Latinx students between the ages of 10 and 15.”
The resolution calls for Denver Police Department school resource officers to be phased out through the fall, with officers fully removed by Jan. 1.
“School resource officers are not needed to ensure the safety of all of our kids,” Anderson said, reading from the draft resolution.
Denver’s John Castillo — whose son, Kendrick, was killed last year in the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting — disagreed, saying the resolution could have dangerous implications.
Castillo said he believes the STEM shooting would have been much worse had the school’s private security guard not been armed. (That guard shot and wounded two students while responding to the STEM shooting, and avoided prosecution by coming to an agreement with the victims.)
Officers provide valuable resources that keep schools safe besides their weapons, Castillo said, like intelligence about drugs and gangs. And, he added, they can bridge relationships between youth and law enforcement. He’d rather see students offered more opportunities, such as vocational training, that would set them up for long term success.
“Not every kid is going to have a college opportunity, nor is it feasible these days,” Castillo said. “The pipeline to prison happens when there’s not opportunity and those opportunities aren’t being made. That’s something I’d like to see the school board do instead of parting ways with law enforcement.
“My opinion is so strong on this that if they choose to go that route, I believe there should be a voucher option so families can opt out and put their kids in private institutions that will create a safe environment,” Castillo added.
“A difficult decision to stomach”
Steve Smith, a special education teacher at Lake Middle School, agreed with the resolution. Though he said he understands this change might concern some people, he believes having teachers appropriately trained to respond in an emergency situation could fill the place of an armed officer while also making schools safer for students.
“I can certainly see why people would be concerned, especially in a climate of school shootings, but I think schools can ensure there are at least three or four individuals who are trained in personal restraint without having the uniform on,” Smith said. “Even the sight of that uniform puts kids on edge.”
In an interview with The Post, Anderson noted that DPS has 200 schools and uses just 18 officers, and that he has yet to see evidence that having police on campus has ever prevented a school shooting in Denver.
“For decades now, we have had schools that don’t have a police presence,” Anderson said. “This is going to be a difficult decision to stomach for most, but we also have to remember that there have been instances when there have been police officers present and a school shooting still happened.”
The push by Bacon and Anderson comes as Minneapolis’ school board this week voted to sever ties with that city’s police department. Floyd died on Memorial Day after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Four fired police officers now face charges in connection with Floyd’s death.
Similarly, the school superintendent in Portland, Ore., this week announced he’s discontinuing the use of armed police officers in schools.
