Advancement Project National Office supports call to remove police from Prince George’s County public schools

We write on behalf of Advancement Project National Office to fully and enthusiastically support the call to remove police from Prince George’s County public schools. If we have learned anything from this historic moment spurred by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, it is that police cannot be trusted to keep us safe. Years of Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) data reflecting a relentless school-to-prison pipeline indicate disparate criminalization of students of color by the police. Officers that roam school hallways are no different from the officers on the streets and thus, a new vision for safety in schools must emerge from this crisis. Over the past summer, school boards in Minneapolis, Denver, Seattle, Oakland, Portland, and many other cities, have all taken historic action to remove police from schools, demonstrating that a police-free schools future is both possible and necessary to protect the safety and humanity of Black and Brown children.^[1] The time to act is now – and the board must vote to fully defund the School Resource Officer (SRO) program and finally provide students with police-free schools that educate them, not criminalize them.

^[1] Moriah Balingit, Kim Bellware, Valerie Strauss, Fueled by Protests, School Districts Across the Country Cut Ties with Police, The Washington Post (June 12, 2020) https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/06/12/schools-police-george-floyd-protests/.