DPS has failed to protect students of color and is proposing to make things worse. Time for Superintendent Alex Marrero and the DPS Board to stand with students and parents.

DPS is planning to further endanger students of color by rolling back a historic 2020 victory for racial and educational equity that removed SROs, and bringing them back into our schools for the “sake of safety.” They are diverting resources we need for counselors and mental health professionals and using them for cops in schools instead. DPS is taking back its commitment to the community by resorting to criminalizing tactics that harm and alienate students of color.

At Movimiento Poder, we are DPS parents and youth who have been organizing in our community for years — and we know that this doesn’t work. Our lived experience and years of data tell us that achieving the safety that all students deserve requires us to dig even deeper. Instead of relying on cops in schools, we need to invest in what really makes a difference.

Enough is enough.

WE CALL on DPS to do the following:

#1 - Reinstate Board Policy E.L. 10.10 and thus prohibit SROs and the consistent presence of armed security or law enforcement personnel in DPS schools.

#2 - Enforce Board Policies E.L. 10.8, ENDS 1, and ENDS 4 by directing Superintendent Marrero to eliminate any other practices by DPD or DPS personnel that criminalize students.

#3 - Direct Superintendent Marrero to redirect any district resources currently allocated toward the criminalization of students to instead provide wraparound supports for students, including social workers, psychologists, other mental or behavioral health professionals, restorative justice practitioners, academic supports, and trauma-informed care.

READ OUR REPORT HERE

As detailed in our new report, when there were cops in our schools, there were 4,929 arrests and court referrals (“tickets”) of DPS students from 2014-15 through 2019-20, an average of 908 per year. In the two years since the removal of SROs, however, there have been only 175 tickets and arrests total, an average of 88 per year and a 90% reduction. That means that, together, our community achieved a drastic reduction in the criminalization of our students.

But now DPS wants to bring back criminalization. The other side will try to scare us because they care more about enriching the charter sector, handing over more power to the police unions, and making expedient political decisions. But here’s the thing: At Movimiento Poder, we’ve been here.

We started organizing in Southwest Denver in 1992 because parents and students knew that they deserved better. So we kicked out racist school principals, improved school lunches, made health care more accessible, and made bold moves to stop DPS from handing our kids’ education over to cops.

We are the ones who make our schools better. Long after school board members go on to their next career move, we’ll still be here fighting to keep one another safe.

Join us and sign this petition to send a clear message to the DPS School Board and Superintendent Alex Marrero: We know what works and how to show up for one another.

In solidarity,

Movimiento Poder