Take Action to Remove the Police from District 219

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Take Action to Remove the Police from District 219 Schools

District 219’s Black and Brown kids are the most likely to be policed by School Resource Officers or SROs. Some families of privilege see no need to stop D219 from using SROs to punish Black and Brown kids because they do not suffer like kids of color do. Harassed regularly by police, racially profiled, stopped without reason, and treated as second-class citizens is how kids of color live. Let’s help all kids by supporting Black and Brown kids too. Our youth have cried out repeatedly to reduce the fear and harm that confront them at school by removing SROs.

It is time for the Niles Township community to act!

Recent events across the country and in our own backyard underscore the need for Niles Township HS District 219 to stop paying for SROs and for the District 219 Board of Education to move immediately to #PoliceFreeSchools.

With your help we can force D219 to end their contract with the Skokie Police Department. We must demand that they use those funds instead for services that provide our students with the resources they need for a quality education -- including improved access to counseling, mental health support, social workers and other services that help them thrive in school and in our community. In short, we need people in our schools whose professional focus is on our youth and their challenges and needs.

Send an email to the District 219 School Board, Superintendent Steven Isoye, Communications Director Jim Szczepaniak, Chief Equity Officer LaWanna Wells, Niles West Principal Dr. Karen Ritter, Niles North Principal Dr. James Edwards, and the Skokie Village Board by completing this form today.

Current D219 student

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SRO Policefreeshcools

Subject: Remove Police from Our Schools!

Message:

I am writing about the use of Skokie officers in our schools. District 219 must immediately end the intergovernmental agreement (IGAs) or partnership with the Village of Skokie and the Skokie Police Department. Our children have cried out repeatedly asking that we reduce the fear and harm that confronts them at school by removing school resource officers. I am demanding that of you today.

Police in our schools is problematic in many ways:

1) It reinforces the school-to-prison pipeline by using officers who are trained to engage with violent adult criminals to address youth issues and conflicts. This results in the over-disciplining and criminalization of Black and Brown students.

2) It communicates to our students that the District sees them as potential criminals, and not our future leaders.

3) It diverts funding away from the resources that our children need to thrive in school, such as counselors, community-connected social workers, mental health professionals, and restorative justice practitioners.

4) It increases anxiety in school among students of all backgrounds.

5) It endangers our Black and Brown students, who are already the target of police harassment in our communities. We must stop bringing those who mistreat them into our school.

6) We do not need police officers in the school interacting with, and in a position to harass, our students in the name of protecting them from outside threats any more than we need the police sitting in movies at the Old Orchard movie theater to protect patrons from a potential armed threat.

Take action now to remove police from our schools.

Thank you.

Take Action to Remove the Police from District 219 Schools

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