In 2020 the LAUSD School Board slashed the school police budget by 35%, and while some community members say the cuts didn’t do enough to address the concerns of Black and brown students, others say they went too far.
The Police Free LAUSD Coalition recently released a report entitled, “From Criminalization to Education: A Community Vision for Safe Schools in LAUSD,” which outlined recommendations for the district to invest in community alternatives to policing.
The coalition is backed by more than a dozen advocacy groups including the union representing district teachers United Teachers Los Angeles, Black Lives Matter LA, ACLU SoCal and Students Deserve. They want to see money go to mental health programs, community non-profits that help prevent violence, college counseling and the Black Student Achievement Plan – as well as the eventual abolition of school police.
“As a parent of LAUSD students, I want to be sure that we are making our schools spaces of refuge, care, and nurture,” said Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter LA, at a Jan. 31 rally to celebrate the report’s release. “It is beyond urgent that police be completely removed from LAUSD and that we invest deeply in what our students actually need.”
Dr. Melina Abdullah joins parents, students and activists with the Police Free LAUSD School Coalition to call for the abolition of school police during a press conference at the Horace Mann UCLA Community School in Los Angeles on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Other parents feel that 2020 budget cuts and the school board’s February 2021 decision to end the practice of stationing officers on middle and high schools campuses has negatively impacted school safety in Los Angeles.
“It (safety) has worsened,” said María Baños, a parent of two LAUSD students in South L.A. “We need the 35% that was defunded from the school police to be reinstated, and that the focus be on keeping schools safe from drugs and weapons. I don’t feel that our voices are listened to/heard.”
Baños is a member of a community group of LAUSD Latino immigrant parents called Nuestra Voz, or Our Voices, which released the following statement on Tuesday in response to the report by Police Free:
“Our Voice parents say that rather than feel criminalized by school police, they and their children feel reassured to have officers on and around school campuses. Latinos comprise 74% of the district’s families, yet their voices in conversations around policy and funding are often unheard.”
The statement said Our Voice supports the report’s recommendation to invest in more grief counselors and full-time psychiatric social workers, but they don’t believe this should come at the cost of defunding the school police.
Monica Arrazola, an LAUSD parent, collected more than 100 signatures at Hollywood High School in support of LAUSD school police.
Many parents, feel safer sending their children to school with police on campus. Monica Arrazola, one such parent, collected more than 100 signatures at Hollywood High School in support of the school police. She and another parent leader, Rocio Elorza with a folder of signatures on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The Police Free report estimates that implementing all of its program recommendations would cost LAUSD $800 million a year and calls for up to $651 million allocated toward local non-profits and community partners.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said he supports investing in social emotional support, counselors and psychiatric social workers. He said the most recent budget included such funding, but the district is facing difficulty hiring counselors and psychiatrists. He said the district is working on a new safety plan with input from students and advocacy groups.
At the same time, Carvalho said that maintaining school safety is a top priority and that completely removing the police poses challenges.
“I don’t know whether or not there is a ready-to-go substitute for a protective solution that would swiftly address the invasion of a school campus by a dozen known gang members, as has happened last school year,” Carvalho said. “Nor (a substitute) to the deterrent effect of some degree of (police) presence under a respectful model that strikes that balance between students’ rights, but also the protection of the same students.”
Ultimately, any decision to implement the Police Free report recommendations rests with the seven members of the LAUSD School Board.
Two board members, Rocio Rivas and Tanya Ortiz-Franklin, attended Tuesday’s rally to express their solidarity with the Police Free LAUSD coalition and its report, as did UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz.
Cecily Myart Cruz, president of UTLA, joins parents, students and activists with the Police Free LAUSD School Coalition to call for the abolition of school police during a press conference at the Horace Mann UCLA Community School in Los Angeles on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
“We must admit the painful truth that our communities have struggled with systems, practices and attitudes that have unjustly put our children on a path to criminalization.” said Rivas at Tuesday’s rally. “That is why this report is important, because it elucidates the struggle to create compassionate, safe and supportive public schools outside of law enforcement.”
While the voices for removing the police are loud and passionate, some observers say they represent a minority of LAUSD parents.
A survey commissioned by the district in 2020 found that the majority of LAUSD parents, teachers and students believe school police make campuses safe. Nevertheless, the LAUSD Board voted 4-3 to cut $25 million from the police budget.
“They gave parents, students and teachers the finger in order to virtue signal this anti-police attitude … flying in the face of this survey, which the board commissioned and which said in no uncertain terms all parties want police on campus,” said Joel Delman, a member of the parents advocacy group United Parents LA.
In the survey, 64% of parents said yes, police make campuses safe, while 7% said no. Another 30% either didn’t have an opinion or didn’t answer.
By a narrow majority, 51% of students said yes, police make their campus safer, while 11% said no, and 38% either didn’t have an opinion or didn’t answer. But notably, only 35% of Black students said school police make their campuses safe.
“My experience with school police has been rough. It has changed my views on school. I have seen family, friends, even myself be harassed and racially profiled by police.” said Damien Winfrey, an 11th grader at Narbonne High School, at Tuesday’s rally.
Black students also bear the brunt of school policing. From 2014 to 2017, they made up just 8% of the district’s population, but 25% of the arrests, citations, and diversions, according to the report.
Many of the Police Free report’s recommendations focus on directing resources to Black students and communities.
Delman said he agrees that there is a pressing need to address the concern of students who feel unsafe around school police, but that the complete removal of officers is not the best way to do so.
“There have been violent situations on many campuses that I believe firmly could have been prevented by school police,” he said. “Kids have died because they are buying drugs on campus or from people on campus or right in front of school.”
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The sale of drugs on campus is also a top concern of Our Voice parents, particularly given the rise in Fentanyl overdoses.
“I feel that school safety has worsened, because it’s easier to introduce drugs on campus,” said Olivia Reyes, a parent of two LAUSD students in West Los Angeles.
Police Free LAUSD coalition members also recognize the danger of drugs on campus, but don’t see the criminalization of students as a just or effective solution.
While tensions are rising now, key decisions on the future of school policing and on investments in student resources, mental health support and community alternatives to policing will not take place until this summer when the school board votes on the 2023 to 2024 budget.
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