Police officers have been booted from San Jose Unified School District campuses.
Starting in the fall, students will no longer see officers with the San Jose Police Department monitoring the entry, classrooms, and hallways of their schools. Their presence has been effectively expelled -- at least for the next school year.
An alternate contract was posed to the school board which offered to limit police officers’ involvement in student discipline and include training to improve interactions, but the district members denied it in a 3-2 vote.
The decision to cut ties with police comes after a year-long debate, influenced heavily by parents, educators and activists. There is a strong push to take the funding previously used for police and apply it to youth programs.
Protestors gathered outside the heated testimony while the district was in debate, parading signs with slogans like “Counselors not Cops” and “Schools not Prison,” the San Jose Spotlight reported.
“We have more cops on campus than counselors and nurses,” a passionate protestor said to reporters. “It’s time for us to take care of these children.”
Thinking of the future, Superintendent Nancy Albarrán said in a letter to parents that “the district will now need to reformulate safety plans, emergency training and procedures for criminal activity on campus.”
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