SAN DIEGO — Students and young San Diegans marched Thursday in hopes of getting the San Diego Unified School Police Department defunded.
The group has a change.org petition with more than 2,000 signatures.
They say that the presence of the officers on campuses across the district creates a “toxic climate,” and they want them removed from schools.
“School is supposed to be a place where we go, where we learn, where we grow. So if the school environment is toxic for black and brown students, we won’t feel welcome and we won’t prosper," one student said.
However, their list of demands goes deeper than just getting rid of officers. They are also asking for the following:
- Take the money saved and give it to social workers, mental health professionals or restorative justice practitioners
- Hire more teachers of color
- They want to mandate that teachers take cultural sensitivity and conflict resolution training on top of everything else
- Create a community-driven process for completing a revised district safety plan
Students and graduates in the group claim black and brown students are unfairly targeted. The city that in 2015, 66% of all student referrals to law enforcement were for black and Latin students.
The school district said it is already implementing ethnic studies as a graduation requirement for the 2020-2021 school year. The district also said of the 41 police officers employed to patrol schools, the majority are minorities.
The district went on to say they responded to 1,041 threats of violence and reduced drugs on campus by 47% over the last five years. An officer told News 8, “That speaks volumes about why our work is so important and why it is so important for us to be on our school campuses.”