Police Free Schools in Salem-Keizer School District

Salem-Keizer School Board Members


During an official meeting a School Board member, Paul Kyllo, wore a Black face mask for more than an hour and a half. The School Board member, a white man, held the mask up throughout the meeting as a stunt to ‘make a point’ about voting security during the COVID-19 crisis. The official video of the meeting came to the attention of community members just a week and a half after approximately 70 people testified before the board calling for police-free schools. The board will vote on whether to end the racist practice of having police in schools on June 23rd.  

Now young people are asking: how can a school board with such disregard for Black and brown lives be trusted to protect them by removing police from schools?

The community asks for your support in calling for:
1. The District to remove police from schools
2.  School Board Member, Paul Kyllo, to resign from his position
3. The removal of any school board members aligned with white supremacy beliefs/groups
4. All the other school board officials to issue a clear apology and indicate their stance on white supremacy

We demand that our school district divests all the funds that go into police in schools to improve education. FIRST, THE SALEM KEIZER SCHOOL DISTRICT MUST TERMINATE ALL CONTRACTS WITH THE SALEM POLICE DEPARTMENT, KEIZER POLICE DEPARTMENT AND MARION COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE THAT PLACES POLICE IN SCHOOLS. The district must invest in the supports and resources young people need to thrive.  


Police in the Salem Keizer School District have supported the school-to-prison-and-deportation pipeline and increasing criminalization of Black and Brown students. We must not support the systems that kill Black and Brown people. Now is the time to create police free schools in Salem-Keizer School District.

To: Salem-Keizer School Board Members
From: [Your Name]

I am outraged by the video of School Board member, Paul Kyllo​​, wearing a Black face mask for more than an hour and a half during an official school board meeting. I support the community's call for the resignation of Paul Kyllo. In addition, all of the other school district personnel, including all of the other school board members who allowed this to happen, must issue a public statement of apology.

This video surfaced just a week and a half after approximately 70 people testified against police in schools. The school board must end its disregard for Black and Brown lives and immediately vote to end all of its contracts and policies that support the racist system of policing in our schools.

I support young people's demands for police-free schools in the Salem-Keizer school district. The Salem-Keizer School District must immediately remove police from schools. The district must terminate and and all contracts with the Salem Police Department, Keizer Police Department, and Marion County Sheriff's office that place police in or around schools. The district must immediately invest those and other necessary funds into the supports and resources young people need to thrive, including:
- Culturally responsive in-school counseling services
- Hiring more staff and educators of color
- Ethnic studies programs for middle school and high schools
- Arts and music education in predominantly Black and Brown schools
- Culturally responsive after school activities
- Culturally responsive services for students with behavioral and physical disabilities
- Creating programs and partnerships with community-led organizations led by Black, Indigenous, an people of color
- Culturally responsive mentoring and tutoring programs for predominately Black and Brown schools
- Expansion of college prep programs for predominantly Black and Brown schools
- Restorative justice models and systems within our schools

You must act now by:
1. Removing police from schools
2. School Board Member, Paul Kyllo, to resign from his position
3. Removing any school board members aligned with white supremacy beliefs/groups
4. All the other school board officials issuing a clear apology and indicate their stance on white supremacy