Sacramento Unified School District (SCUSD) Board member Letiticia Garcia stood with parents and students at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in her vote against approving the District’s late 2018 contract that addressed police presence on campuses. The contract involved 3 million dollars and called for eight police officers and one sergeant.
The District has had a long-standing partnership with the Sacramento Police Department for more than nine years, furthered by each parties’ cooperation in dealing with community violence, drug and gang related activity, and other threats surrounding Sacramento campuses.
The Sacramento Police Department provides law enforcement support for Rosemont, Burbank, McClatchy, J.F. Kennedy, and Hiram Johnson and American Legion High Schools. The department also provides two SROs capable of responding to all remaining 71 school sites. An SRO is a school resource officer that is responsible for crime prevention and safety on school campuses.
According to the Deputy Superintendent in the approval statement published in October 2018, the rationale for establishing the contract is that the SROs establish and maintain constant contact with school administrators and respond to any school safety issue, work closely with staff and administration in keeping the students safe, and “maintain a highly visible and open presence on each campus to encourage positive student interaction.”
The financial considerations for the contract would account for salaries, training, overtime, and vehicles for added law enforcement. The funding source for the program is the General Fund. The budget means the program would come at the expense of funding other academic figures, such as guidance counselors.
According to the approval statement, the presence of an SRO on campus “improves school climate and provides an immediate conduit to law enforcement to report crimes previously unreported.” The goal of the SRO program provided in the contract is to ensure a safe learning environment so students can focus on educational goals.
Brown Issues had a lot to say regarding the new contract. In their eyes, the contract was unnecessary for calling and paying for more school security when many schools lack proper counseling. They started a #CounselorsNotCops campaign on Instagram which garnered a lot of attention on Cesar Chavez Day, demanding that schools prioritize having more school counselors and social workers before campus police.
Approximately 400,000 K-12 students attend schools that has a police officer but no counselor, according to data from the U.S Department of Education. Many people who were a part of #CounselorsNotCops felt that instead of ushering more police on to campus, into a setting where gun violence has become the norm, lawmakers and school districts should be enforcing the attendance of more therapists, social workers, and guidance counselors to schools everywhere.
In Illinois, there is active support for a bill that would replace armed security officers with social workers and behavior therapists. Brown Issues says all school districts should do the same, and has not ceased in their shouts for change to be made to provide a better learning environment for students across the nation.