CHICAGO – The Chicago Board of Education on Thursday unanimously voted to remove all school resource officers (SROs) and all Chicago police officers from the city’s public schools.
The change will take effect in August, at the start of the 2024-2025 school year, reports CBS News. Starting in the fall, Chicago police will only be allowed outside of school campuses.
Currently, 39 high schools in the district have 57 SROs in them, reports the Hyde Park Herald.
The move to completely cut the SRO program comes nearly four years after the murder of George Floyd, when the Chicago Board of Education narrowly approved keeping the program but reduced its budget by more than half, from $33 million to $15 million. The current budget to pay for police officers in Chicago public schools is $10.5 million.
Although Chicago chose to retain its SRO program back in 2020, many other districts across the country decided to eliminate their school police programs after the George Floyd tragedy, with many bringing officers back only a year or two later.
Despite the officers not being on K-12 campuses next year, they will still be present to supervise student arrivals and dismissals.
A new “holistic” plan for school safety that “addresses root causes and contributing factors” for disparities in student discipline will replace the SRO program, reports the Chicago Sun Times. The plans will be developed over the next few months.
In addition to cutting police officers on campuses, the board also voted to sever ties with Aramark – the janitorial company that was providing cleaning services to the district, reports WTTW. Instead it will work with seven other vendors to provide custodial services, some of which have already worked in Chicago’s schools. The vendors will report to new Chicago Public Schools (CPS) custodial managers.
The decision to remove Aramark was prompted by criticisms from members of SEIU Local 73, which represents nearly half of CPS custodians, reports the Chicago Sun Times. The transition to the new janitorial companies will take place in the 2024-2025 school year.
CPS has contracted with Aramark since 2014. In 2018, nearly 73% of the 125 schools that were inspected by the district failed. Inspectors found many of the campuses had dirty bathrooms, rodent dropping, and pest infestations, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
