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The presence of police on school campuses does not necessarily result in safer schools or fewer suspensions or expulsions, researchers told legislators Tuesday at the state’s first hearing on the future of school police.
The findings, reported by nonpartisan research firm WestEd, were among the numerous expert testimonies heard during the Task Force on Safe Schools hearing. Police, advocates and academic researchers also participated.
Hosted by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, the hearing was the first of three exploring the role of police — if any — on school campuses. It’s part of a larger effort by the California Department of Education to address racism in the education system, spurred by the Black Lives Matter movement and the killing of George Floyd.
“(Recent events) are a call to action for us to evaluate the role of police in every aspect of our society, including schools,” Thurmond said at the hearing.
While social justice advocates argued for a total ban on school police, others said police can serve an important role in school discipline and campus climate if they’re well-trained in conflict resolution and adolescent psychology.
“Do school resource officers make schools safer? At least in my district, the answer is yes,” said Brian Lande, a school resource officer in Richmond. “In my district, police are committed to building relationships with students. We do not go into schools looking to arrest students. We’re there to build trust and rapport.”
Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the State Board of Education, said that the best way to make schools safer is further investment in social-emotional learning and alternatives to discipline, such as restorative justice. She noted that suspensions and expulsions in California have dropped by 40% and 50% respectively in the past decade as some districts have begun emphasizing restorative justice.
UCLA history professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, said that school police have a long history of singling out Black youth and that more training will not improve the underlying problem.
“The history is quite clear. Police in this country have disproportionately harmed Black people,” she said. “The idea of police reform is a fool’s errand. We really have to reinvent the idea of police as we know it.”
School shootings were also part of the debate, but studies are inconclusive, WestEd researchers said. Although school shootings have occurred at schools with on-campus police, other shootings have been averted. And data is scarce on how many threats of violence generally have been deterred by police.
The next task force hearing will be late next week, Thurmond said.
In addition to addressing school police, the California Department of Education will be providing implicit bias training for all school employees and creating an ethnic studies requirement for high school students. In the past few weeks Thurmond has also hosted a series of student panels on the issue of racism in schools.
Legislation that would remove one of the last tests teachers are required to take to earn a credential in California passed the Senate Education Committee.
Part-time instructors, many who work for decades off the tenure track and at a lower pay rate, have been called “apprentices to nowhere.”
A bill to mandate use of the method will not advance in the Legislature this year in the face of teachers union opposition.
Nearly a third of the 930 districts statewide that reported data had a higher rate of chronic absenteeism in 2022-23 than the year before.
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Dr. Bill Conrad 4 years ago4 years ago
Have we learned nothing? The children are leading the charge against police in schools. Were the children invited to this soiree? It seems to met that the children of the Black Organizing Project or BOP produced a detailed and comprehensive report about the deleterious effects of police in schools and how to discipline children appropriately. BOP's People Plan http://blackorganizingproject.org/bops-peoples-plan/ We ought to be listening to the children instead of planning and implementing the usual ineffective bias … Read More
Have we learned nothing?
The children are leading the charge against police in schools.
Were the children invited to this soiree?
It seems to met that the children of the Black Organizing Project or BOP produced a detailed and comprehensive report about the deleterious effects of police in schools and how to discipline children appropriately.
BOP’s People Plan
http://blackorganizingproject.org/bops-peoples-plan/
We ought to be listening to the children instead of planning and implementing the usual ineffective bias trainings. Do your jobs adults. Know your content and teach it well. The children are fine and resilient and that is what they expect and deserve. Shelve your social-emotional learning as it is just one more educational boondoggle that keeps our eyes off the real prize of quality aligned professional practices to support student academic learning.
Take the face masks off of your eyes move them over your mouths and noses. Then shut up and see the light. The children are showing us the way. They don’t want police in their schools. They want appropriate discipline where they are involved. Listen to them and then act appropriately. It’s not that hard. Do the right thing for our children.