Thank you for helping us create a new safer, more just world for Black youth and communities of color in D.C. and demanding #PoliceFreeSchools!

We demand city leaders:

DIVEST!!! Remove all forms of police from D.C. schools including DC police officers, special police officers and security officers that are contracted &/or managed through the Metropolitan Police Department.

INVEST!!! in resources that will create a safer, healthier, more equitable school environment.

TAKE ACTION

There are lots of ways we need you to take action right now:

1. Sign and share our petition: http://tinyurl.com/DCpolicefreeschools
2. Tell your Story: Write or record a video sharing your story and/or expressing your support for Police-Free Schools (feel free to use talking points below.) 

1. Post your video on social media! Please use the hashtag #PoliceFreeSchools and tag @BlackSwanAcad and councilmembers.
2. Email us your story and/or video. Send to  oukah@blackswanacademy.org

3. Engage on social media: Check Out Our Social Media Toolkit.

#PoliceFreeSchools Email & Testimony Template

Here are some additional resources to ground you in the conversation around Police-Free Schools:

* Watch and Read These Testimonies

from Police-Free School Organizers and Allies*

Tweet threads:

https://twitter.com/BlackSwanAcad/status/1283537345069932549?s=20 

https://twitter.com/BlackSwanAcad/status/1280265347518562304?s=20 

[INTRODUCTION]

Dear Councilmembers,

• Who are you?
• Share if you identify as any of these [student, parent, educator, organizer, advocate...]
• What ward do you live in?
• What groups are you affiliated with?
• Why are you writing them? [ Ex: I am writing you regarding my support for Police-Free Schools, including investments in resources that keep young people safe]

[OUR DEMAND - #POLICEFREE SCHOOLS]

(Select one to include in your letter)

1. Our demand is simple, "Love Us. Dont Harm Us". Divest from police in our schools and invest in the social-emotional health and well being of youth including; increased mental health supports; development and support for qualified teachers to reduce reliance on permanent substitutes; and violence interrupters within our schools and community.
2. DC does not need police in our schools and should take immediate steps to divest from school policing and redirect that money in education and mental health supports.  
3. The police that are killing Black people and that continue to harass Black youth in the community, are the same police that are in our schools. We can not continue to put our youth in harms way. We demand police free schools!
4. Use your own words.

[YOUR PERSONAL STORY]

• Why do you want police out of schools?
• What resources should the city invest in to support students and keep us safe in schools and in our communities?
• If you have personal interactions/frustrations with police in schools, please share
  

[FACTS ABOUT POLICE IN D.C. SCHOOLS]

• Pick 1-3 compelling arguments from below. Feel free to add your own.

1. DC students are policed in their school by security guards, special police officers, and the Metropolitan Police Department.  Over the last school year, Our city spent about $25 million dollars a year on school security within DCPS alone,^[1] and about another $10 million on MPD officers to patrol DCPS and charter schools.^[2] 
2. When police are in our schools, Black students are more likely to be arrested. In DC, 92% of school-based arrests are of Black youth.^[3] Higher discipline rates for Black youth are not due to higher rates of misbehavior, but instead due to systemic racism.  
3. 60% of girls arrested in DC are under the age of 15.^[4] 
4. There have been multiple high-profile cases of D.C police handcuffing and harassing youth of color as young as 9 years old.
5. During SY2019-2020, MPD picked up youth for truancy over 1,500 times. Young people need social workers, case managers and educators to help them re engage, NOT increased police presence.
6. Black girls are arrested at a rate 30 times that of white girls and boys.^[5]
7. Strengthening our mental health infrastructure and ensuring our young people have increased access to mental health professionals is imperative especially now to address the trauma caused by covid19, police violence and racism.
8. So far Los Angeles, Minneapolis Public Schools and Parks and Recreation Boards passed resolutions terminating their relationships with the Minneapolis Police Department.^[6] Wisconsin, Portland, P.G County, Dever, Chicago, and other jurisdictions have either joined them or are not too far behind.
9. Now, more than ever, we need to invest in the experts and resources to support youth in addressing the increased trauma associated with covid-19, poverty and racism.^[7]

[THE DEMAND]

• Please add this demand to your letter. If there are other investments you’d like the city to  make that DO NOT police or cause harm to youth, please add.

DIVEST from all forms of police in D.C. schools including DC police officers and security officers contracted through the Metropolitan Police Department.

INVEST in resources that will create a safer, healthier, more equitable school environment.

• Eliminate/abolish the MPD School Safety Division.
• Prohibit all MPD from carrying weapons on & around school grounds (including school events_.
• Prohibit all MPD from doing wellness checks or home visits
• Prohibit all MPD from picking up truant youth.
• Defund the cadet training program and invest into pipelines to careers that actually keep us safe.
• End school security contract and higher diverse safety squads that are preventative, trauma informed and ani-oppressive. Safety squads should be inclusive of mental health professionals, community members responsible for safe passage, de-escalators, outreach persons and mutual aid coordinator.
• Expand school-based mental health

• Reinvest violence interruption model that is school based, ensure gender equity lens 

Updates and our positions on related items to #Police-Free Schools:

[School Security Contract] On July 7th, D.C. council voted to remove the DCPS school security contract from MPD and return it to DCPS where it belongs. This act also requires DCPS to reimagine the role of security and begin a community-led process to shift resources to more care-based positions/programs.

• This does not impact school police officers or the physical presence of traditional unarmed security guards. We do however view this as a small, necessary step towards:

• Reducing the role and power of MPD
• Increasing oversight and accountability of schools
• Re-imagining the role of frontline staff (including security guards) to intentionally create a welcoming,safer, healthy,equitable liberatory environment for all students.

• We recognize the primary role of security guards that involves daily searches, guiding youth through metal detectors, and surveillance contributes to the school to prison pipeline, feelings of harassment and an unwelcoming environment that is not conducive to a liberatory learning environment. This must change.

[Police-Free Schools Resolution] On July 15th, D.C.’s State Board on Education passed a resolution in support of Police-Free Schools.  While we believe the removal of police from schools can and should happen immediately, we believe that it is SBOE’s obligation to advocate for the well-being of D.C students and welcome SBOE as allies on our journey to Police-Free Schools. We are in support of the resolution from the SBOE to remove police from schools and their call on Mayor Bowser and Deputy Mayor of Education to start the work immediately to create a plan to work with Black and Brown led youth organizations, school leaders, experts in mental health and violence prevention to create a student-centered set of recommendations for creating and maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment in police-free D.C. schools that will then be reflected in the Mayor’s FY2022 budget.

[Police Reform Commision]- While we did not support the Police Reform Commision when it was proposed because its potential to delay efforts to intentionally defund MPD, now that it is moving forward, it is imperative that the following take place:

1. There must be specific recommendations for the removal of police from schools before SY2021-2022 and the investments necessary to create a healthy, safe, equitable learning environment without relying on the policing and criminalization of adolescent behavior and responses to trauma.
2. Members of Black & Brown led youth organizations must be appointed to this commision, including organizations representing youth experiencing homelessness, formerly incarcerated youth (or those involved in the juvenile justice system), truant youth and/or other marginalized groups of young people.
3. Members of the commission must attend teach-ins and/or political education sessions to deepen their understanding and analysis on defunding the police, abolition and/or police-free schools. Given the social conditioning, normalization and bias we all have around policing, in order for this commission to be effective and not further perpetuate the policing and criminalization of Black and Brown communities, appointees must be willing to have challenging conversations to begin to unpack and unlearn some of the bias we have.