This campaign is being run by Policing-Free Schools, in partnership with SURJ Toronto

At Policing-Free Schools, we have personally seen how across the country, there has been a push to the non-evidence-based approach to increase police presence in schools in attempts to ensure “safety”. This has happened in various ways, whether that be at bringing back a "revised" police-in-school program at the Vancouver School Board, where our #PolicingFreeSchoolsCA partners Cops Out of Schools among others continue to fight against, or like in Montreal, bringing in an additional and “new” police-in-school program, where partners École Sans Police have been pushing back on, or previous attempt in Ottawa where a Ottawa Carleton District School Board Trustee to increase police presence, where partners Asilu Collective organized against, to name a few. It is rightful for us to think upon seeing an agenda item of School and Community Safety without any additional information attached when initially released, that it may lead to the possibility of increased police, policing and/or bringing back the School Resource Officer program in any form, and for communities to be in fear.

All while, including right here in Toronto--City Halls are ballooning policing budgets and underfunding community-based support systems, Provincial Governments for decades have been underfunding and under-resourcing public education, and Federal Governments have been supporting profits over people. What Municipal, Provincial and Federal Governments & mainstream media are calling, “youth violence, gun violence, community violence”–are all manufactured crises due to the policy choices and failures by elected officials. This is their negligence. There is more than enough data, reports and research as to what has to be done. So why hasn’t it been done?—lack of political will, nothing else

Instead, at Policing-Free Schools we have been seeing weaponization of Black grief and trauma to expand police presence, whether that be through the original police-in-school program (namely the SRO program), a revised version, or otherwise–replicating oppressive structures that would cause further harm and trauma to students. 

Even though the TDSB Director and Central Staff supports not bringing back the SRO program—need to stay vigilant and make sure new trustees, especially those who are supportive of expanding police presence in schools and who lack institutional memory of community-led win and TDSB equity journey towards decision to remove SRO program are reminded of their obligations and to align with evidence-based policy-making, addressing social determinants of health and equity and co-create conditions for thriving healthy educational spaces NOT expansion of police presence in schools, whether that be through bringing back the former School Resource Officer program, a “revised”, “updated”, “rebranded” or “reimagined” version of it, or attempts to bring in a “new” police-in-school program, or any other policies that would expand, increase and entrench police, policing and carceral measures at schools.

Check out below link for more information: https://bit.ly/ContextForTDSBSchoolandCommunitySafetyMeetingDec5