When the Seattle Faculty Board voted in 2020 to take away police from colleges, the objective was to get weapons out of colleges and deal with what truly makes college students protected: robust relationships, psychological well being helps, and faculty cultures constructed on belief and respect.
The board needed to handle practices that disproportionately harmed Black college students, Native college students and college students with disabilities, and create environments the place each scholar may study with out worry of exclusionary self-discipline or criminalization.
Whereas the 2020 moratorium was by no means supposed to forestall law enforcement officials from getting into our buildings or interacting with employees as another neighborhood member with college enterprise would possibly, our place stays: We don’t and won’t assist armed law enforcement officials being stationed inside Seattle colleges.
Seattle Public Faculties has been implementing commonsense security measures, equivalent to safe entry factors and visual identification for adults; elevated funding in SPS safety employees; and partnerships with organizations centered on violence prevention and interruption. Whereas we admire the efforts being made to enhance the protection of our buildings, dialogue of agreements with the Seattle Police Division has been a lot much less clear.
Any proposal involving police and our colleges should come earlier than the board in a public assembly and would require the board’s approval to amend coverage. The board’s position is to make sure that something we approve aligns with neighborhood values, state regulation and our district’s guardrails towards disproportionate self-discipline.
We don’t oppose coordination with public security businesses when exterior threats come up. However we have now seen the injury accomplished when roles and tasks are unclear. Any settlement between our college district or one college and exterior businesses should meet clear requirements: Officers can not serve disciplinary roles, should comply with our insurance policies and be answerable to high school leaders, and knowledge should be collected to guage influence on scholar well-being and faculty safety.
Belief can be a part of security. Belief has been broken by way of covert conversations and blended messages about security plans and attainable police partnerships, by way of misinformation and inconsistent follow-through on commitments, inflicting hurt and confusion. With out sincere collaboration, clear decision-making, and an unwavering deal with our college students, we’ll proceed to battle with problems with security in Seattle Public Faculties.
Director Sarju voted “no” on the latest coverage modification proposal as a result of she didn’t belief {that a} last memo of understanding would meet board expectations. Director Rankin voted “sure,” with the clear route that the district, Garfield Excessive Faculty and the town develop an settlement accountable to the calls for of the board and neighborhood for boundaries between SPS and SPD, or it might be rescinded. Whereas we fell on reverse sides of the vote, we share the identical objective: a district the place security signifies that colleges defend and honor college students and their households, and are inclusive studying environments the place each baby feels protected and supported.
We name on everybody with affect over metropolis, district and police choices to heart the well-being of our college students and faculty communities. True security comes from connection, de-escalation, and restorative practices; from constructing belonging, not implementing compliance. Our youngsters, employees, households, and Seattle neighborhood deserve nothing much less.
