DPS Board Members Discuss Getting Rid Of School Resource Officers
DENVER (CBS4) -- Denver Public Schools board members and other leaders are meeting Friday morning on the steps of West High School to discuss ending its contract with Denver police school resource officers (SROs). Members of the public gathered to listen and express their opinions.
School board member Tay Anderson is among those calling for the removal of school resource officers in their schools.
"I would like for the Denver Police Department and Denver Public Schools to end their contract," he said on Wednesday afternoon.
Anderson says the district needs to take bold steps in response to police action against those protesting the death of George Floyd in Denver.
His hope is they would be replaced by restorative justice coordinators, mental health specialists and additional nurses.
"Right now my concern is projecting the school-to-prison pipeline and pushing it to where more black and brown kids are being... put with tickets and in trouble and we don't want that in Denver Public Schools," Anderson said.
When it comes to those safety concerns, Anderson believes that police will still be able to quickly respond to any incidents at their schools.
Stacey Collis worked as a school resource officer for 20 years and is now an instructor for the National Association of School Resource Officers. He says training is largely focused on mental health and counseling, and that their job goes far beyond policing students.
"They automatically assume, and they don't have the understanding -- they say, 'Well, it's a police officer in the school.' They think they are going to stand at the corner with an AR-15 making sure hallways are safe. It's not. It's communicating with kids. It's being on campus and talking with kids," he said.
CBS4's Dominic Garcia caught up with a student from George Washington High School Thursday to talk about possibly getting rid of SROs.
"The officer at George [Washington High School]... honestly I don't know his name because we switched officers, but when I saw him the last month that we had before COVID hit, he was such a nice guy. He's a black officer. He was super nice. So I don't know if kicking DPD officers out is really a wise decision," John said.
It is still a proposal right now. Superintendent Susana Cordova and the school board will talk about the next steps. They'll also provide more details about community discussions regarding the contracts that will happen over the summer.