Youth activists organized a peaceful march to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s home on Aug. 13, 2020, to demand the removal of resource officers from Chicago Public Schools. (Matt Masterson / WTTW News)
As Chicago Public Schools prepares to remove police officers from its buildings this fall, the school district is seeking public feedback on how to best ensure students’ physical and emotional safety moving forward.
Parents, students and community stakeholders have until Thursday to complete the school district’s whole school safety survey and voice their opinions as CPS prepares a new holistic approach to school safety districtwide.
“There is nothing more important to our District than keeping staff and students safe,” CPS Chief of Safety and Security Jadine Chou said in a letter to families last month. “We thank you for your partnership in this, and hope you will engage with us as we work to create a Whole School Safety Policy that will serve all school communities well.”
Chicago’s Board of Education in February unanimously approved a resolution requiring CPS to develop a new school safety model that “must make explicit that the use of SROs within District schools will end by the start of the 2024-2025 school year.”
That vote came after years of student-led protests calling for the removal of school resource officers — a movement that gained traction following the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Since then, CPS has begun allowing local school councils to decide whether or not they wanted to retain their specific resource officers. As of this school year, there are 57 total SROs working at those 39 schools. Fourteen other schools have voted to remove a total of 28 SROs.
In doing away with school resource officers, the board cited disproportionately higher rates of suspensions and 911 calls for Black students and those with disabilities.
On the survey, participants are asked questions about the importance of items that may be necessary for physical safety (such as metal detectors, security officers, cameras or emergency preparedness training) and for emotional safety (i.e. conflict resolution and anti-bullying programs and mental health awareness workshops).
The deadline for the survey has originally been set for April 1, but CPS pushed it back in order to garner additional participation.
“This survey will help to guide our efforts to continuously improve safety measures to all CPS schools as your feedback is invaluable,” the district said on the survey.
A Safer City is supported, in part, by the Sue Ling Gin Foundation Initiative for Reducing Violence in Chicago.
Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431
