Chicago Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters he agrees with the city’s Board of Education that police officers should be removed from the city’s high schools.
The Chicago Police Department has a $10.3 million contract with the city’s board of education, but the Board wants to terminate it. Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ this week that he will give the go-ahead for the police to be removed. “Nearly all the board of education members who approved last year’s $10.3 million school resource office contract have been replaced by Johnson appointees,” WBEZ noted.
“The Board of Education is moving in the direction that I do support,” Johnson stated. “There is an intergovernmental agreement between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department. To end that agreement, there’s no qualms from me there.” The Sun-Times said Chicago Public School officials informed high school principals last month that police officers would not be present next fall.
As a mayoral candidate, Johnson opposed officers being on school grounds, but after he was inaugurated as mayor, he reversed his position, asserting that the decision to remove officers should be made by local school councils. But now he has reversed himself again.
In 2020, as the George Floyd protests surged, the Chicago Teachers’ Union urged the schools to rid themselves of the police, stating, “These students along with the parents, teachers and staff that support them have looked at the data, experienced the brutality and are calling for police-free schools. Members of the CPS community are calling on the $33 million contract between CPS and CPD to be better used for restorative justice coordinators, social workers, nurses, trauma supports and other critical programs in schools.”
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Reports surfaced that last month, the Chicago Board of Education was attempting to remove Local School Councils — comprised of parents, teachers, and students — of the authority to decide to have school resource officers (SROs) present on their campuses. Reports indicate that this summer, the Chicago Board of Education will vote on whether the contract with the CPD will be renewed.