Milwaukee Public School students win restrictions on cops in schools

Milwaukee WI – On January 20, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) students organized with Youth Empowered In the Struggle (YES!) won their campaign for the School Board to pass a resolution that would provide additional transparency and accountability for the School Resource Officers (SROs) that have returned to MPS this year.

The new resolution includes several restrictions on SROs’ power including strictly limiting when SROs can get involved with disruptive behavior, giving school staff final say over discipline in schools, barring strip searches, barring use of force and arrest in almost all cases, and mandating clear quarterly reporting about what SROs are doing in MPS.

During public testimony, students, teachers and community members shared many firsthand accounts of the ways SROs made schools more unsafe. Students made it clear they wanted the SROs out altogether.

“Some say SROs will improve the connections between cops and students, but that connection was lost long ago,” testified high schooler Payton Bone. There was real unity – between students with YES!, teachers with the Milwaukee Teachers and Educators Association, and community groups like Voces de la Frontera, Black Leaders Organizing our Communities, and the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression – that Milwaukee Police Department officers made schools more dangerous for everyone involved.

In 2020, Milwaukee Public Schools removed SROs from all of their schools. This was a victory for students, parents and school staff who wanted the notoriously violent and racist MPD out of their schools. Unfortunately, the passage of Act 12 in 2023 by the state legislature forced Milwaukee to put SROs back in schools or pay hefty fines. The new resolution was the first step in giving students, parents and staff more control over their schools.

Milwaukee’s students and community are already looking for how to build on this victory. Christine Neumann-Ortiz, the leader of Voces de La Frontera, told the board, “That’s what’s needed from all of you – to stand up for what’s right and ensure there’s community control for how local law enforcement operates.”

Students from four high schools this week in Milwaukee have already walked out against ICE raids. MPS students and community have their sights set on even bigger victories to come.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Schools #InJusticeSystem #StudentMovement #MPS #YES