Dive Brief:
- More than 100 education and community organizations from 27 states, under the umbrella of the Dignity in Schools Campaign, recommend removing police officers from schools entirely and making sure none are even sporadically assigned to monitor schools.
- The Huffington Post reports the recommendation stakes out a clear opposition to advice about better selection methods for school resource officers and additional training, arguing officers should play no role in behavior problems at schools and that counselors should be the adults who students are encouraged to turn to as confidants.
- Members of the Dignity in Schools Campaign say school-based police officers are not subject to enough oversight and regulation, and schools would be better off spending money on alternative personnel, including restorative justice practitioners, counselors and social workers.
Dive Insight:
The U.S. Department of Education released new guidance on school resource officers earlier this month, unveiling a new rubric schools can use to flesh out school-police partnerships. While violence is a real problem in many schools, the conversation around school resource officers forces administrators to consider whether money would be better spent on systems that will prevent violence or respond to it.
In some cases, budget constraints make this feel like an either-or proposition. But administrators can take a step even farther back and reconsider other priorities that consume resources. Are after school programs more important than school climate initiatives or social-emotional supports? Is new technology? Are team sports? Many funding decisions, while difficult to make, come down to core priorities in schools and districts.