We, the undersigned, call upon the Seattle School Board to reject the SEO (Student Emphasis Officer) pilot program at Garfield High School. The current pilot program has no framework to allow for community control of the police. The Seattle Police Department (SPD) has a history of battery, unlawful arrest, racial profiling and killing residents. There is not conclusive evidence that putting officers in schools creates safety. On the other hand, evidence clearly shows cops in schools fuel the school to prison pipeline. Cops in schools lead to an increase in suspensions, expulsions, and arrests of Black and Brown students. If the pilot program goes through as it exists the following things listed below could occur.

THE SEO PROGRAM:

Puts Black, brown, Indigenous and disabled students in danger

Makes the schools-to-prison pipeline even stronger

Criminalizes students who are already discriminated against

Revives a program that was already struck down in 2020 due to community backlash

Violate the voices of the students, teachers, and parents as there are no measures to have a democratic process to represent them

The people of Seattle have already come together to say NO to cops in classrooms, and the city, SPD and the mayor are bent on implementing it again, even though it’s unpopular!

This is a bad idea now, and a dangerous precedent to set for the future. We demand community control of the police!

We, the students, staff and parents, need to have the final say in who polices us and how we’re policed.

SAY NO TO COPS IN CLASSROOMS!