Some schools are dropping police after George Floyd killing. Wake isn’t joining them.
Updated June 6
Wake County school leaders say they plan to continue the school resource officer program, as local, state and national protests about police treatment of minorities continue.
The call to remove police from schools has intensified nationally following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died while being held down by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
At a news conference Friday, school officials in Wake said they want to use the SRO program to help build positive relationships between law enforcement and students.
“I think this is an opportunity that we can work with our partners in the various law enforcement agencies to help them understand how the community is feeling, how our young people are feeling, help them to see our young people and to perhaps review and take a look at policies such as use of force and other things and come to an understanding and an agreement and again help to educate,” said school board chairman Keith Sutton.
“I think it would be easy to just turn our backs and discontinue any partnership. But it takes much more work and harder work to stand together and forge a path as partners to move forward in this work.”
School shootings lead to more police on campus
Every Wake County high school and nearly every middle school has a school resource officer on campus. The school district pays local law enforcement agencies to provide the officers, who undergo training before being assigned to work in schools.
The number of school resource officers has increased sharply over the past 20 years following mass school shootings, including at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018.
Supporters say the officers help make schools safer and build connections between students and law enforcement.
But critics say that school resource officers disproportionately target minority students and criminalize the school environment.
Wake has had highly publicized incidents, such as in January 2017 when a video went viral on social media showing a Rolesville High School student being slammed to the ground by an officer.
Most recently, Raleigh police are investigating allegations made in a Twitter post that the officer assigned to Enloe High School compared people who kneel during the national anthem to criminals.
Some districts drop officer programs
Local activists have tried for years to eliminate or reduce the number of officers in Wake schools. An online petition calling for the removal of officers from Wake schools has received more than 700 signatures since it was created Thursday.
Since Floyd’s death, both the Portland Public Schools in Oregon and Minneapolis Public Schools have announced they’re ending school resource officer programs. Other school systems around the nation are considering discontinuing their programs and replacing officers with more counselors and social workers.
Wake Superintendent Cathy Moore said they are paying attention to what’s going on nationally. But she also said Friday they want to build on the collaboration they have with law enforcement.
“We expect and want that role to be one that is positive, that focuses on building positive relationships and strong relationships and an understanding and experience with law enforcement that is positive and carries on beyond school,” Moore said.
Earlier in the week, Moore and Sutton had released a joint statement denouncing “vile” statements that some students and staff had made about the protests. They addressed the protests again on Friday..
Moore said students of color deserve and need school to be a place where they are valued, respected, understood and loved.
Sutton said staff, parents and students all need to play a role in stopping racism. But Sutton said people need to find a constructive way to address the issues of racism in society.
“We are in precarious times as we try to make sense of the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor,” Sutton said. “I want to emphasize that violence and destruction is not the answer. As an African American man with some level of experience in this struggle, I ask you to be thoughtful and to be safe.”
Wake looking at face covering guidelines
Also on Friday, Wake school leaders addressed ongoing efforts to prepare for the reopening of school for the 2020-21 school year.
All North Carolina public schools have been closed since mid-March to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. The state Department of Health and Human Services and the State Department of Public Instruction are planning to release school reopening guidance on June 11.
Moore said Wake is working through the reopening issues already, including telling students and staff how to try to avoid crowding as a way of maintaining social distancing. She said they’re also developing guidelines should face coverings be recommended or required for students and staff.
Moore said that they’ll be surveying parents about their concerns regarding reopening. Parente can participate by going to https://my.thoughtexchange.com/#970539684.
This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 11:44 AM.
