TSD students and allies call on the superintendent & Tukwila city council to sever all existing contracts and cut any financial ties with the Tukwila Police Department.
#StudentsHaveHadEnough We've had enough of policing in our schools and police violence in our streets and homes. We've had enough with the police budget increasing while schools remain underfunded. We've had enough with school resource officers replacing trained counselors.
The Seattle Police Department along with neighboring cities (including Tukwila) have been instigating protesters and have repeatedly demonstrated with their actions that BIPOC are expendable (meaning to little significance) to them. Throughout the past week, and for many even longer, police departments everywhere have become symbols of fear to the children they were sworn to protect.
In response to the murder of George Floyd, Minneapolis Public Schools voted unanimously on June 2nd to terminate their contract with the Minneapolis Police Department. Similar actions are being pursued by school districts around the country in New York, Illinois, Oregon, North Carolina, and more. We demand Tukwila Public Schools to follow suit and immediately terminate their contract with the Tukwila Police Department.
We appreciate statements released by the schools and district as a whole and ask that they back their words with actions. Serve and protect the students that you do this job for by ending your partnership with the Tukwila Police Department today.
Allocate those funds toward providing counselors and more support for students through restorative justice efforts. We understand this might seem like a dramatic action & potentially dangerous. But, the students that created this (along with others) believe we would be better served with more counselors and mental health experts rather than armed officers.
This was created to show the Tukwila city council what members of the community want to see happen
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
HuffPost article: "Amid Uprisings, Schools Consider Terminating Their Contracts With Police"
https://tinyurl.com/y76eplf8ACLU Washington on police in schools:
https://tinyurl.com/y83p29po Thank you,
Harpneet Kaur & Courtney Promvongsa
