When news came that the Minneapolis Public Schools proposed to cut ties with their local police force, local lawyer Tiffany Sizemore saw an opportunity for kids across the Pittsburgh Public Schools district.
So, Sizemore, who leads the Juvenile Defender Clinic at Duquesne University, alongside Jeff Shook, an associate professor of social work at the University of Pittsburgh, penned an open call for Pittsburgh Public Schools to stop using police to manage children in their schools. Instead, they want to see an investment in restorative practices, along with counseling and mental health services.
In the wake of the death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man who died May 25 after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, Minneapolis Public Schools terminated its contract with the Minneapolis Police Department in a unanimous school board vote in early June.
In recent weeks, school board members, parents and community members in several cities across the nation — including Denver, Rochester and Charlottesville — have called for similar change in their hometowns.
Sizemore cited national data that shows more than 70% of high schools and about 30% of primary schools have sworn law enforcement officers routinely carrying a firearm on campus.
Pittsburgh Public Schools [PPS] has its own police force of about 20 officers, empowered to make arrests, though they aren’t authorized to carry firearms. The school district does not formally have an agreement with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police that establishes how the departments coordinate, though steps were taken last year to formalize the roles.
The school board in October 2018 rejected a proposal to arm school officers, despite lobbying from PPS Chief of Safety George Brown Jr., who said officers needed to be armed to keep schools safe from outside threats.
READ ENTIRE ARTICLE AT:
Tiffany Sizemore, leader of the the Juvenile Defender Clinic at Duquesne University. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)
About Post Author
