In Mid-March 2019, a District 65 elementary school called the police on a six-year old black, male child. We are aware that calling the police to intervene in situations where children are emotionally highly escalated is a practice that happens across the district. We also understand that there are staff members in each District 65 school who are trained to de-escalate children using nonviolent, nonverbal and verbal techniques to diffuse difficult situations.
As parents and as part of the Evanston community at large, we cannot allow for the practice of calling the police to remain as is or go unchallenged. We know that racial disparities exist in how the police use force*, which can make having any interaction with a police officer traumatic for a person of color. Subjecting children, especially children of color, to the additional trauma in a crisis situation only does more damage. We believe the practice of calling the police on a child in a school setting is counter to the stated anti-racism goals of District 65**.
We petition the D65 Administration and School Board to conduct a thorough evaluation of the current practices, revise that practice to ensure that it is trauma-informed and aligned with equity goals, and implement with urgency a new policy going forward, including any necessary training for D65 staff and administration.
As a group of concerned D65 parents, we would like to respectfully ask the following of the district:
- IMMEDIATELY: Review and revise your policies, creating clear guidelines on how crisis situations should be handled at each D65 school. This review process should include mental health professionals trained in restorative justice and crisis intervention. The goal of the new or revised policy should be to ensure that the number of incidents in which police are called to intervene with children to be as close to zero as possible.
- As soon as possible, with urgency, train all D65 school administrators, teachers and staff regarding the updated policy.
- Within two months of this request, host a D65 Town Hall meeting to present the changes the District proposes to enact in its policy and training so that parents in the community have an opportunity to weigh in and be part of the discussion.
- We were told that no data exists for incidents where cops are called to schools when we attempted to FOIA the district history on this matter. Start a Metric to track incidents where cops are called to schools and monitor it. If you don't track it you can't improve it.
Respectfully,
D65 Parents and Evanston Community members
*http://policingequity.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/...
****District 65 Racial and Educational Equity Statement: https://www.district65.net/site/Default.aspx?PageID=1411
Updates
April 2, 2019
Seeing 250 names on this petition brings me back to the moment I first learned what happened to that little boy. It is heartening to see so many of you acknowledge that our schools should be places of safety rather than trauma for our children.
Reached 250 supporters
April 1, 2019
March 31, 2019
Seeing this groundswell of support is deeply moving because it proves I am not alone in my fear for our children. We are finally building the pressure needed to ensure no more young students are met with handcuffs instead of care.
Reached 100 supporters
March 23, 2019
63 Comments
Police are not appropriate responders to a six year old child who is struggling. If school staff does not feel prepared to address the immediate needs of a six year old, then we should provide training so that they are better equipped.
There is never a reason to call the police on a 5 year old child. This child's innocence was stolen from them and it is heartbreaking. Teachers should be better trained and have relevant, non-punitive resources available to them to handle emotional outbursts, while still respecting the child's right to have their emotions.
As a transracial family where both parents are educators, we're shocked this is even policy. There are much more effective ways to help young children.
As a parent with a Black Kindergartener this scares me, infuriates me, and pushes me to demand stronger guidelines and policies surrounding this issue. No Mas! No More!
This was, to put it mildly, the continuation of racist policies of Evanston School District because they've never seen black and white as equal. A six year boy in class should never have to look and see a uniformed officer with guns man handling him. This is unacceptable.
It is a sad day for us as a society when we our school district uses the police to detain and remove children from a school setting, let alone a child of 6 years of age. I understand safety is an issue, but to use the police in a way that can be misconstrued as a racially insensitive policy is a danger to our society. Just the idea of having to use police as a disciplinary tool in schools is Orwellian by nature.
Police have no place in our schools. Period. Please direct the resources used to pay SROs to more social workers and a crisis team of mental health professionals.
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In Mid-March 2019, a District 65 elementary school called the police on a six-year old black, male child. We are aware that calling the police to intervene in situations where children are emotionally highly escalated is a practice that happens across the district. We also understand that there are staff members in each District 65 school who are trained to de-escalate children using nonviolent, nonverbal and verbal techniques to diffuse difficult situations.
As parents and as part of the Evanston community at large, we cannot allow for the practice of calling the police to remain as is or go unchallenged. We know that racial disparities exist in how the police use force*, which can make having any interaction with a police officer traumatic for a person of color. Subjecting children, especially children of color, to the additional trauma in a crisis situation only does more damage. We believe the practice of calling the police on a child in a school setting is counter to the stated anti-racism goals of District 65**.
We petition the D65 Administration and School Board to conduct a thorough evaluation of the current practices, revise that practice to ensure that it is trauma-informed and aligned with equity goals, and implement with urgency a new policy going forward, including any necessary training for D65 staff and administration.
As a group of concerned D65 parents, we would like to respectfully ask the following of the district:
- IMMEDIATELY: Review and revise your policies, creating clear guidelines on how crisis situations should be handled at each D65 school. This review process should include mental health professionals trained in restorative justice and crisis intervention. The goal of the new or revised policy should be to ensure that the number of incidents in which police are called to intervene with children to be as close to zero as possible.
- As soon as possible, with urgency, train all D65 school administrators, teachers and staff regarding the updated policy.
- Within two months of this request, host a D65 Town Hall meeting to present the changes the District proposes to enact in its policy and training so that parents in the community have an opportunity to weigh in and be part of the discussion.
- We were told that no data exists for incidents where cops are called to schools when we attempted to FOIA the district history on this matter. Start a Metric to track incidents where cops are called to schools and monitor it. If you don't track it you can't improve it.
Respectfully,
D65 Parents and Evanston Community members
*http://policingequity.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/...
****District 65 Racial and Educational Equity Statement: https://www.district65.net/site/Default.aspx?PageID=1411
Updates
April 2, 2019
Seeing 250 names on this petition brings me back to the moment I first learned what happened to that little boy. It is heartening to see so many of you acknowledge that our schools should be places of safety rather than trauma for our children.
Reached 250 supporters
April 1, 2019
March 31, 2019
Seeing this groundswell of support is deeply moving because it proves I am not alone in my fear for our children. We are finally building the pressure needed to ensure no more young students are met with handcuffs instead of care.
Reached 100 supporters
March 23, 2019
63 Comments
I'm a school social worker, and the decision to bring in a police officer is excruciating and traumatizing. We need more options for helping children in crisis, and bringing in a uniformed, armed police officer should be so far down the list that we never, ever get there.
Police are not appropriate responders to a six year old child who is struggling. If school staff does not feel prepared to address the immediate needs of a six year old, then we should provide training so that they are better equipped.
There is never a reason to call the police on a 5 year old child. This child's innocence was stolen from them and it is heartbreaking. Teachers should be better trained and have relevant, non-punitive resources available to them to handle emotional outbursts, while still respecting the child's right to have their emotions.
As a transracial family where both parents are educators, we're shocked this is even policy. There are much more effective ways to help young children.
As a parent with a Black Kindergartener this scares me, infuriates me, and pushes me to demand stronger guidelines and policies surrounding this issue. No Mas! No More!
This was, to put it mildly, the continuation of racist policies of Evanston School District because they've never seen black and white as equal. A six year boy in class should never have to look and see a uniformed officer with guns man handling him. This is unacceptable.
It is a sad day for us as a society when we our school district uses the police to detain and remove children from a school setting, let alone a child of 6 years of age. I understand safety is an issue, but to use the police in a way that can be misconstrued as a racially insensitive policy is a danger to our society. Just the idea of having to use police as a disciplinary tool in schools is Orwellian by nature.
Police have no place in our schools. Period. Please direct the resources used to pay SROs to more social workers and a crisis team of mental health professionals.
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I'm a school social worker, and the decision to bring in a police officer is excruciating and traumatizing. We need more options for helping children in crisis, and bringing in a uniformed, armed police officer should be so far down the list that we never, ever get there.