SACRAMENTO – After a month-long push to defend police in California’s largest public school system, Los Angeles Unified School District trustees on Tuesday approved a plan to cut 133 police positions, ban the use of pepper spray on students and $ 25 million to programs. support students of color.
The decision, which essentially represents the school safety in Los Angeles again, was a follow-up to a vote last summer during nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Amid calls for racial justice, the school board cut the district’s 400-member police force by 35 percent, resulting in 20 officers and the chief resigning, who objected to the removal of numerous officers. link.
The vote Tuesday was the result of months of meetings on the best way to reconfigure public safety in the district, which serves about 650,000 students. The resulting plan eliminates 70 sworn officers with arresting powers; 62 non-weakened officers; and one support staff, leaving 211 officers in the district’s force.
Officers at Los Angeles Secondary Schools will be replaced by community ‘climate coaches’ who will mentor students, help resolve conflict, and address implicit prejudice.
The school district in Oakland, California, eliminated its police force in June. But members of the Los Angeles School Board, who virtually met Tuesday, are divided over whether to reduce police presence on campus.
“It’s a big business and it took a lot of coordination,” said Kelly Gonez, a board member, “but I know we know and everyone believes our black students are worth it.”
George McKenna, another councilor, warned that “parents expect us to have safe schools, and if you think the police are the problem, I think you have a problem yourself.”
In a statement, the new school district police chief, Leslie Ramirez, said the department had already made changes that would limit the presence of uniformed officers on campus. Chief Ramirez added that the new plan “has potential responsibilities, does not have clarity and that it has unintended consequences that affect the safety of students and staff.”
The $ 25 million savings will also help fund a black student achievement plan, which includes extensive counseling, teacher development, curriculum changes and other inclusion programs. Campus police officers will continue to monitor schools and be available for emergencies.
A previous district-wide survey found that the majority of parents, students and school staff believe that the police make their schools safer, but that only 50 percent of black parents have a positive view of the school police, and only 35 percent of the black students said they felt safer.
On Monday, the district superintendent, Austin Beutner, praised the black student achievement plan in his weekly speech.
“We have systematically let black children down as a country,” he said. Beutner said. “Schools must be part of the solution, because good education is the most important part of the road out of poverty.”