Will Two Cities Defund School Police?
In Oakland, an Emphatic Yes; In L.A., Not So Fast
Amid ongoing protests against police brutality and racial injustice, two of California’s largest school districts this week joined other education leaders across the country pressured to rethink their policing of students.
In Oakland and Los Angeles, thousands of protesters of all races and ethnicities spent days in the streets calling for an end to the school district-funded police forces that unfairly criminalize students of color.
In Oakland and Los Angeles, thousands of protesters of all races and ethnicities spent days in the streets calling for an end to the school district-funded police forces that unfairly criminalize students of color.
After weeks of public protest and a 12-hour school board meeting Tuesday, the deeply divided Los Angeles Unified School District turned aside plans to defund its school police department in favor of further study, rejecting impassioned pleas to disband the force of 471 officers patrolling 1,386 schools across the city.
But the board of the Oakland Unified School District, meeting the next day, took a different approach, unanimously deciding to eliminate its school Police Department ahead of the next school year. The George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department could redirect up to $2.5 million in funding from the Police Department to students. That is believed to be the first time that an education system of Oakland’s size – with 50,000 students – has abolished its school police department entirely.
“This is a way to reimagine how we educate children without harming them with constant contact with the police,” school board director Roseann Torres said at Wednesday’s meeting.
In Oakland and Los Angeles, thousands of protesters of all races and ethnicities spent days in the streets calling for an end to the school district-funded police forces that unfairly criminalize students of color.
The day of the Los Angeles school board meeting Tuesday, protesters organized by Students CONTINUE READING: Will Two Cities Defund School Police? - LA Progressive
