Aldermen, CPS students continue push for police-free schools: ‘You have a bad day, you get to go to jail?’

Ald. Rod Sawyer (6th) speaks during a press conference outside City Hall about legislation he is cosponsoring that would terminate a $33 million contract between the Chicago Police Department and Chicago Public Schools, Tuesday morning, June 16, 2020. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

A pair of aldermen and a group of students continued their push Tuesday to remove police from Chicago Public Schools by calling on other elected leaders to listen to their demands that have gone unheeded for years.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) and Ald. Rod Sawyer (6th) are two of the three co-sponsors of a proposed ordinance to be presented Wednesday that would terminate a $33 million contract between CPS and the Chicago Police Department.

Taylor and Sawyer told reporters at a news conference outside City Hall Tuesday that it’s time their concerns are heard about the impact of police in Black and Brown schools.

“Just imagine how traumatic it is to see one of your classmates who had a bad day taken out of school in handcuffs. That’s a reality we see too often in Chicago Public Schools,” Taylor said.

“Is that what we’re teaching young people? You have a bad day, you get to go to jail? They are there to learn. They are there to love. They aren’t there to learn how to put their hands behind their back and obey.”

Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) speaks during a press conference outside City Hall about legislation she is cosponsoring that would terminate a $33 million contract between the Chicago Police Department and Chicago Public Schools, Tuesday morning, June 16, 2020.

Taylor said it should be common sense to reinvest the $33 million CPS is paying CPD into mental health and emotional support resources.

“Any elected official who doesn’t agree the police needs to be out of schools doesn’t deserve to serve the citizens of Chicago,” Taylor said. “This is an opportunity for Janice Jackson, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the CPS board to vote ‘no’ and use that $30 million for something else.”

CPS Chief of Safety and Security Jadine Chou said in a statement that the district “values the feedback we are receiving from students, families and community members.”

“Moving forward, we will continue to create forums for formal feedback and engagement so that we can respond to the needs of each school community,” Chou said, referencing a series of community input sessions last year to establish guidelines for the school officer program.

CPS has left the choice to remove officers up to each individual Local School Council, an elected body of parents, teachers and community members. A CPS spokeswoman said 72 of the district’s 93 high schools have police officers, and no LSCs voted to remove them going into this school year.

A Chicago police spokeswoman directed questions to CPS.

Lightfoot earlier this month said she was against the removal of police from schools and is expected to oppose the proposed ordinance.

Sawyer and Taylor spoke alongside CPS students and alums with the youth anti-violence group GoodKids MadCity, and the educational and racial justice youth group Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE).

Caleb Reed, a VOYCE leader and a junior at Mather High School in West Ridge, said having a police presence in schools means students are labeled as potential dangerous criminals right off the bat.

“My sophomore year of high school I was arrested for attending a basketball game because I didn’t have my ID,” Caleb said. “I sat in a police station for six hours. I knew it wasn’t right at all, but inside I was angry, confused.

“One thing I’m here to say is I’m proud to be a Black young man,” Caleb said. “It’s not a good feeling to be labeled as dangerous or criminals. Because we’re not. ... No Black person should ever feel like this.”

Caleb Reed, a junior at Mather High School in West Ridge, speaks during a press conference outside City Hall about Chicago City Council legislation that would terminate a $33 million contract between the Chicago Police Department and Chicago Public Schools, Tuesday morning, June 16, 2020.

Dexter Leggin, a Black father of two boys, said police officers are the first people his kids see when they get to school and the last ones when they leave.

“They’re not there to protect us, they’re there to intimidate us,” Leggin said. “I feel so afraid when my boys go outside just to ride the bike or just to play ball. I’m so afraid of getting that call.

“If you don’t go to class, that is not a police problem. Just because you say something smart to a teacher, that’s not a police problem. ... I want to see my boys grow up to be young Black men.”

Activists in Voices of Youth in Chicago Education hold signs and rally during a press conference outside City Hall about Chicago City Council legislation that would terminate a $33 million contract between the Chicago Police Department and Chicago Public Schools, Tuesday morning, June 16, 2020.