LAUSD's Board of Education approved a plan Tuesday essentially reorganizing the Los Angeles School Police Department and cutting $25 million from that budget to fund a Black Student Achievement Plan.
“Student safety is everyone’s responsibility and starts with creating a school environment that is centered in students’ social-emotional well-being,” Board President Kelly Gonez said in a statement. “The Board’s investment in the Black Student Achievement Plan ensures we are actively working to promote equity across the District.”
After a year of pressure, student activists and community members lobbied to ban the use of pepper spray on students and divert resources away from the police department and into educational programs for Black and Latino students -- a group they say are disproportionately targeted by police.
“I am proud of the Board decision to make critical investments in the academic needs of Black students,” Board Member Dr. George J. McKenna III said. “School safety remains my top priority and I look forward to ongoing dialogue with my colleagues and the Superintendent on how we continue to protect and support our students.”
“Change is essential. Investments and behaviors must be different if we want outcomes to be different,” Board Member Mónica García said. “Black students, parents, teachers and allies have demanded that we interrupt the school to prison pipeline. We all have more work to do.”
Los Angeles Unified School District will now provide for “climate coaches” who will work to address bias at secondary schools and money for staff support for Black students, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“This plan enacts a long-standing community demand for Counselors not Cops, and is a first step towards replacing school police with more effective strategies for student safety,” a coalition of 19 student activists and advocacy groups told the LA Times said in a statement. “This victory is a crucial step towards mitigating the years of disinvestment and ending the criminalization and over-policing of Black students and students of color in LAUSD.”
