Do police in high schools help or harm students?

Chicago’s local school councils have been grappling with that debate since 2019, when former Mayor Lori Lightfoot put that decision in their hands.

Now, the Chicago Board of Education says the debate is over. In a unanimous vote last Thursday, they decided to eliminate uniformed police officers from the 39 public high schools that still have them.

West Side activist and former Chicago Board of Education member Dwayne Truss disagrees with the decision.

“The decision to retain or remove school resource officers is a right of local school councils,” Truss said. “They know their community best. It’s wrong to take people’s rights away without engaging with the community first.”

However, Asia Tate, a senior at Hyde Park Academy High School and a student organizer with Southside Together Organizing for Power is celebrating the board’s decision.

“The police haven’t actually made our schools any safer,” says Tate. “Plus, research shows that when police are in the schools, students are more likely to go to jail. It contributes to what’s called the school-to-prison pipeline. Also, [having] a police officer in the school gives the impression that we’re violent.”  

Truss believes the violence in his West Side community is real.

“Some of our students see violence as the only option,” says Truss. “I have personally seen parents go to schools and assault students. I’ve seen students attacking teachers and staff. I have seen huge fights happen within high schools.”

The board says a new safety policy must be presented for final approval by June 27.