The Chicago Board of Education voted unanimously on Thursday to remove school resource officers from Chicago Public Schools, with the removal of the officers required by the start of next school year.
The vote followed hours of passionate public comment from both advocates of removing school resource officers district-wide and those who supported leaving the decision up to individual schools.
The resolution passed will establish a comprehensive school safety policy throughout Chicago Public Schools, ending the practice of school resource officers that initially began in 1991.
Though the issue has sparked fierce debate, only 39 of the district's 634 schools currently utilize school resource officers.
The unanimous vote was praised by advocates for removing the officers from schools, saying that investments in teachers and counselors is more helpful.
"Our children need counselors, they don't need cops," Brenda Delgado of Brighton Park said.
Andrea Ortiz argued for more social workers and counselors while saying that police have difficulties communicating and connecting with students.
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"They are not capable of handling the complexities of young people. Schools should invest in teachers, social workers and counselors who are educational professionals," Ortiz said.
Meanwhile, the Board's decision drew sharp criticism from several members of City Council.
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"It's still very important for me to come to speak out against this, I feel, reckless idea," 38th Ward Ald. Nicholas Sposato said.
Other City Council members argued that the decision should ultimately be left up to individual schools on whether to maintain school resource officers or not.
"Every school doesn't have to have them, but some schools need them," 24th Ward Ald. Monique Scott said.
16th Ward Ald. Stephanie Coleman expressed a similar sentiment.
"I plead with this board to give the principals an option to have security resource officers," Coleman said.
Former board member Dwayne Truss said the move was made without community input.
"You did not talk to the community about what we wanted. You decided," Truss said.
Truss said that the presence of officers make students feel safer during the school day.
"When they get in that school, they feel safe, know they won't get jumped on, they know they're not gonna get knifed," Truss said.
Conversely, Delgado argued that the presence of SROs doesn't make a difference in one instance.
"The SROs at Kenwood don't enter the schools, they sit in the patrol car all day," Delgado said.
While CPS CEO Pedro Martinez noted that nothing will change this year, it is up to Martinez's staff to develop a more holistic districtwide policy by the start of the 2024-25 school year.
"We'll develop a policy, put it up for public comment, try to get at least a month for people to get comments," Martinez said.
According to CPS, the district has budgeted at least $10 million for the school resource officer program in each of the past three school years, including this year.
On the other hand, the district said that more than $30 million was invested in social-emotional learning in the 2022-23 school year, an amount that grew to more than $35 million this year.
CPS said that investment goes towards a "social and emotional learning curriculum, behavioral health supports for students, and additional social workers and counselors."
The new policy will be voted on for approval by the Board of Education at the end of June.
