Portland Public Schools Says Goodbye to Police in Schools!

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Updated: Jun 4, 2020

UPDATE: PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS CANCELS ITS CONTRACT WITH PORTLAND POLICE BUREAU! NO MORE SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS AT PPS!

 

Under Pressure, Portland Will Eliminate School Resource Officer Program

 

Portland superintendent says he’s ‘discontinuing’ presence of armed police officers in schools

 

During a Thursday afternoon press conference, Mayor Wheeler said that both he and Superintendent Guerrero came to the same decision to eliminate SROs independently.

 

“The community wants this. We’re listening, and we’re doing it,” Wheeler said.

 

Above is a blog post from December 2018 describing the tension caused by SRO's in PPS. Read to find out more about the struggle to remove police from schools over the past several years. It has been a hard-fought battle by champions who have been given little credit for all their hard work. It's too bad that the travesty of George Floyd being murdered in broad daylight by police officers is the catalyst that caused the change. Kudos to Sheila Warren at Portland Parent Union, Susan Anglada Bartley, Richard Gilliam, Resolutions Northwest, Parents Across America Oregon and National, Dignity in Schools Campaign, and many other grassroots organizations that never gave up the fight.

 

Counselors NOT Cops

 

From December, 2018:

Last week Oakland University in Michigan announced they will arm their students and faculty with hockey pucks in case of a shooting on campus. Can Portland Public schools be considering an even worse decision?

 

 

"The university's AAUP chapter has already bought 2,500 hockey pucks, the first 800 of which have been distributed to faculty and the rest to students. They cost 94 cents each, said a university spokesman, who added that the student government ordered another 1,000 pucks."

Let's hope it doesn't come to an equally ill-conceived idea in Portland Pubic Schools (PPS) where the board will be considering a proposal to pay the salaries of Security Resource Officers (SROs) out of the PPS budget. SROs are members of the Portland Police Department and currently collect a salary from their employer -- not from PPS.

 

 

During the summer, Portland Parent Union presented a conference on Education Is a Civil Right with Counselors Not Cops emerging as a principal theme. The event was also supported by Dignity in Schools and the Oregon chapter of Parents Across America. Author Susan Anglada Bartley expressed A Different Vision: A Revolution Against Racism in Public Education as espoused in her book by that title.

 

 

At one point during the all-day event, parents and teachers had the unique opportunity to question an SRO in a healing circle. The occasion was extraordinary because very seldom do parents and educators have the opportunity to address a police officer directly 

in a peaceful setting.

 

The officer was verbose in his responses which initially sounded reasonable and reassuring, but as the conversation continued seemed more like a diatribe than a real attempt to listen to parents' concerns. (I'm going to editorialize here with no intention of minimizing the many good points discussed.) It seemed that parents and teachers were most concerned about resolving two major points of contention.

 

1. They asked that SROs not wear all their weaponized regalia -- which is substantial -- at school. They said the guns and other scary devices frightened children and contributed to a climate of fear at the school.

2. They asked that SROs join them in fighting for more counselors than cops at each individual school.

 

The officer said that he could not support either request. He said first and foremost he was a police officer and if an emergency arose outside of school, he would have to be prepared to leave at a moment's notice fully armed. He said that he couldn't advocate for more counselors than cops at school either. When pressed about which he would rather have at his own children's school, his answer was not as resolute, but still, he stood his ground. He preferred more cops.

 

The circle members continued to try to reason with the officer for well over the time allotted for his presentation with no success. In closing the circle, moderator, Sheila Warren, asked for guidance for the officer and that we pray for him.

 

At a later date, I asked Senator Lew Frederick, who had been present at that conference earlier in the day but left before the SRO circle, why it was so difficult for parents to be heard on this very important issue? He responded by giving me a short history lesson. (This is something I love about Lew -- he is great at putting things in context, plus he has a knack for storytelling.) Here is my brief, ineloquent recap of his answer. He said that in the beginning when security officers were paid by school districts, the schools could decide where and how SROs would be deployed, how they would dress, and how they would engage with students. They were employed by the school district. When austerity funding meant security cuts, the Portland Police Department stepped in to fill the role. Since the PPD now paid the salaries of the security forces, they called the shots. To a greater extent, the PPD now decided how SROs would be deployed, how they would dress, and how they would engage with students. It was also made clear that first and foremost SROs were police officers, not school security personnel.

 

Since that summer conference, there has been much discussion and agitation around school security. Now it seems that the PPD no longer has funding to pay for SROs in Portland Public Schools. It is asking PPS, which massively cut proven restorative justice programs this year for lack of funding, to pick up at least part of the tab for SRO salaries. Many parents are saying NO!

 

FUN FACT #1

The average annual salary

of a guidance counselor

in Portland Public schools

is

$57,090

 

FUN FACT #2

The average annual salary

of a security Resource officer (SRO)

in Portland

is

$70,066

 

A false sense of urgency has been created around the matter that will be addressed at Tuesday's school board meeting. Now maybe the time to excuse PPD from their school duties in favor of school security and social justice initiatives. Parents, educators, and community members are welcome to make their voices heard. Even hockey pucks may be a better solution than spending education dollars for more police in Portland Public Schools.

 

Portland Public Schools

District Board Meeting

Dec. 11, 2018

Starts at 6:00 PM

Blanchard Education Service Center

501 N. Dixon St.

Portland , Oregon 97227

 

Meeting materials will be available here, prior to the meeting date.

 

The proposed agreement can be viewed here:

Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Portland

the Portland Police Bureau, and Portland Public Schools

 

Public Comment at Board Meetings

Comments and questions may be emailed to the Board at SchoolBoard@pps.net or sent via regular mail to School Board, P.O. Box 3107, Portland, OR, 97208. If you would like to provide public comment before the Board, please see below. You may phone in your request to address the Board (503-916-3906), or email your request to the Board Clerk: chusonqu@pps.net

 

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