James Foster/For the Sun-Times
More than 30 Chicago high schools have voted to redirect money spent on uniformed police officers to alternative behavioral and mental health supports a year after intense student-led protests put a microscope on the role of cops in public schools.
The moves shift about $2 million from policing to restorative justice programs, according to an advocacy group involved in the district’s planning, with a total of 31 high schools choosing to remove at least one of the two officers typically stationed inside their buildings.
“By shifting the conversation towards more holistic approaches to safety, we believe that the new plans will enable schools to use strategies that are more proactive and supportive in keeping our students safe,” Jadine Chou, CPS’ chief of safety and security, said in a statement.
Chicago moves to ease tensions with police using new civilian oversight panel
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Chicago police will not be stationed at CPS schools for the rest of the school year
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School cops won t return to CPS high schools this spring, district says
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Feeling betrayed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot, supporters of an elected school board for Chicago Public Schools say ‘this fight is not going to go away anytime soon’ Hannah Leone, Gregory Pratt and Dan Petrella, Chicago Tribune © Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune/TNS Elizabeth Greer, center, joined about two dozen protesters to rally outside City Hall Wednesday to call out Mayor Lori Lightfoot for not backing an elected school board.
Chicago Public Schools parent Jeff Jenkins joined the fight for an elected school board when his son was in kindergarten. Now that son is a sophomore in high school and two inches taller than Jenkins and the Chicago Board of Education is still appointed by the mayor.