About 500 demonstrators who want police officers removed from Chicago Public Schools marched in the Loop Wednesday afternoon.
Stacy Davis Gates, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, which organized the march, said the $33 million contract CPS has with the Chicago Police Department to assign officers to schools should be terminated and the money should go toward additional school counselors, psychologists, nurses and social workers.
If cops are needed, 911 will suffice, she said.
“Every school community has a functioning phone,” she said, adding there are already security guards in every school.
“Black children are not criminals, they’re children,” she said.
The march was coordinated to take place ahead of a highly anticipated vote Wednesday by Chicago’s Board of Education on whether to remove police officers from public schools.
Alyssa Rodriguez, a CPS social worker, said “even if police have the best of intentions, their presence is not necessarily the most reassuring to students because students don’t always view them as trustworthy people in their communities.”
Money, she said, should be spent on solutions that “are more proactive than reactive,” she said.
Demonstrators chanted “Show me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like.”
Marchers followed a parade float affixed with a gazebo that was occupied by a CTU leader who led the chants over a loud speaker.
Marchers stepped off from Federal Plaza about 12:30 p.m. headed to Daley Plaza and got rained on a bit in the process.
Laurentio Howard was one of the leaders of the march. Howard’s daughter is Dnigma Howard, who was shoved down stairs and tased by Chicago police officers stationed at Marshall Metropolitan High School in January 2019.
