Addressing the issue of School Resource Officers on Campus is not new to our organization. Please see the National Resolution from July 2018 for NAACP’s Policy.
The NAACP Santa Rosa – Sonoma Branch aims to support holistically safer, welcoming, and affirming campuses for all students in Sonoma County. Our branch works with students, families, educators, and advocates to create and support programming and services throughout Sonoma County that improve school climate, safeguard community safety, and support academic achievement – all of which act as violence prevention in schools. To that end, our branch remains committed to identifying effective areas of investment in student achievement and safety that are not dependent on the policing of students, especially in Santa Rosa City Schools (SRCS).
We are deeply disturbed by the media’s exploitation of incidents of conflict at schools, which has provoked panic and elevated a non-existent need for additional police presence in schools. This false narrative has been pandered to by both the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) and SRCS’s Superintendents through their reactive actions, which are not grounded in best practices. Santa Rosa City Schools has committed to implementing evidence-based practices of community-based safety but has failed students and parents by not fully developing an implementation plan that holds staff accountable across campuses. The lack of true community-based safety is what creates unsafe environments for students, but district leadership has not fully acknowledged the barriers they have created to achieve physical and emotional safety in our schools. Research confirms that law enforcement does not prevent or cure all of our schools’ and communities’ problems. After the violent incident at Montgomery High School in March, Santa Rosa Police Chief Creagan, Sonoma County Office of Education Superintendent, Dr. Carter, and the “Safe Campus Alliance” have been quick to manipulate this incident as a justification for more police presence in schools. This stance suggests that police are the antidote to violence in schools. A 2019 survey of Black and Brown youth conducted by the Brother Sons Selves Coalition, found that 67% of the students agreed that school police officers escalate situations. The results also showed that 73% of Black youth described school police officers as overly aggressive.
We urge both the SCOE and SRCS Superintendents and SCOE and SRCS Board Trustees to hold their commitment to Black students and other students of color by including the NAACP Sonoma Branch in coalition to:
- Expand and improve the infrastructure of community-based safety initiatives, as put forward from the 20/20 analysis and Community Focus Group in addition to the most recent insights collected from the School Safety Round Table.
- Invest in community-based safety programs, like safe passages, violence intervention, and prevention practitioners through the City of Santa Rosa, and community-led de-escalation training.
- Invest and increase the funding and modify the barriers to mental health services like therapists, psychiatric social workers (PSWs), restorative justice coordinators, counselors, wellness centers, and school nurses.
- Eliminate the dependence on the Santa Rosa Police Department as a means to “quick fix” the deeper district and personnel level issues around the lack of cultural competence and to properly address campus climate.
- Follow our efforts and collaborate with our branch leaders to engage Black families and students to make sure they are designing new programming that meets their needs.
- Develop an equity dashboard with disaggregated data that holds the district accountable for developing and implementing community-responsive, community-based initiatives that allow for bi-directional accountability throughout the district.
Fueled by racist and criminalizing “zero-tolerance” approaches, SRCS had over a 20-year history of Police presence on SRCS campuses. In the 1950s, police started as a security force to monitor/control Black students during integration efforts. There is little evidence supporting the notion that police enhance safety for our students.
Santa Rosa – Sonoma NAACP Branch Executive Committee
