Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her schools chief, Janice Jackson, on Wednesday announced reforms to the controversial program that stations police officers in schools, including beefing up protections for undocumented students and giving officers additional training in cultural sensitivity and implicit bias.
School officials also said police officers will undergo more extensive reviews to make sure candidates are free of excessive force allegations.
“We understand that different communities have different needs that influence the relationship between school resource officers and the schools they serve,” Lightfoot said at a news conference Wednesday. “That’s why it’s important that the Local School Councils, who have the pulse of their communities, have the definitive say whether school resource officers are at their schools.”
Earlier this month, CPS unveiled a new spending plan that budgeted less than half as much money this year to pay police officers stationed in schools than it did last year. But a large chunk of that reduction, about $4.5 million, was due to classes being held remotely in the fall. At the time, Jackson said funding was just one reform the district has planned for this school year.
The Board of Education voted 4-3 in June against a motion to dump the contract with police. But another vote on the program is anticipated later this month, when CPS officials are expected to propose a revised contract for board approval.
As of this week, 55 schools have voted to keep their resources officer while 17 have dropped out of the SRO program.
