Ezekiel Lu: DC must invest in evidence-based interventions to keep students safe
The debate around School Resource Officers (SROs) in DC schools and elsewhere has become increasingly divisive. The District funds SROs, but not in every school. In 2021, the DC Council voted to remove police from schools completely by 2025. In 2020, control over the unarmed school security guard contract was shifted from the police department to DC Public Schools (DCPS). Even as the council has recently repealed the scheduled drawdown of SROs, there remain calls for SROs to be defunded on a faster timetable. DC policymakers should take those calls seriously by exploring evidence-based measures to keep students and educators safe.
I am a rising high school senior in DC who recently interviewed 41 District students about SROs. Responses to my questions about SROs were heated, reflecting the strong feelings seen nationally on the topic. Many of the people I talked to offered personal anecdotes to back up opinions; some included insults against those on the other side of the issue.
Annika Jobanputra, a senior at Washington Latin Public Charter School, shared with me how the value of SROs in her school depended on the context: “I personally believe that SROs are a good thing when fights occur, but if they have weapons I don’t think it’s healthy for the school environment ’cause it would cause students to feel timid, and you don’t fight violence with violence.”
DC would benefit from exploring when and where SROs are appropriate or helpful. For this, we may learn from the results of other jurisdictions’ decisions to fund (or defund) SROs. School districts in Tennessee, Michigan and Virginia have increased investments in SROs, whereas some California, Wisconsin and Colorado school districts saw decreases. The effects on school disciplinary actions are not completely clear. After reducing SROs, school districts in Massachusetts and Virginia saw increases in disciplinary action against students while California, Wisconsin and Colorado saw decreases. Further complicating matters, several of these jurisdictions have flip-flopped on policies, a warning for DC not to make hasty decisions. After removing SROs in 2021, officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, reinstated them this April. In California, the Pomona school district brought back SROs in 2021 after removing them a few months earlier.
We need clarity on who would take on the responsibilities of SROs before removing more of them from DC schools. At the DC State Board of Education’s public meeting on May 17, Ward 7 representative and board president Eboni-Rose Thompson shared a poignant example emphasizing the importance of properly preparing for any removal of SROs: “In the last 60 days, I’ve had at least two shootings outside of a high school [in Ward 7] during dismissal time, and I was called asking if I have the phone number to the principal … because we no longer have SROs in the vicinity to let the school know to lock down.”
Although some students stated that they had never had a favorable interaction with an SRO, a School Without Walls High School senior told me that he had only positive experiences: “They are friendly and part of the school community, but different schools have different circumstances.” The conversation on school safety should not start and stop with whether or not we fund SROs. The program’s operations matter, too. DC should put more thought into how SROs engage with their school communities and how they are managed by the school system.
Several students called for the removal of SROs from District schools. For example, Henry Marks, a student at Jackson-Reed High School, shared that he would feel safer if DC invested in alternatives: “We need to invest in networks of behavioral health staff, restorative justice coordinators, and other intensive resources in and out of school to make sure we’re building kids up, not permanently harming their futures.”
Local advocacy organization EmpowerEd has proposed a series of alternatives, such as implementing transformative/restorative justice practices, funding youth development programming, and increasing non-SRO support staff. Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker has introduced legislation that would require the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to create guidelines to review and enhance school safety plans; fund school safety directors; and direct the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education to establish a protocol for emergency response agencies to share critical information about ongoing safety incidents in schools and child development centers.
If the District decides to remove SROs, it would be wise to make sure that other measures are thoughtfully put in place to keep students safe. The majority of people I interviewed had strong opinions about whether or not schools should staff SROs. However, I noticed that few people knew about other programs or resources available to keep students and educators safe, despite ample evidence to support investments in programs such as Emotional and Behavioral Health Crisis Response and Prevention, the Student Safety Coach Model, and Caring and Safe Schools.
When I asked my peers in the YMCA DC Youth & Government Program, we agreed that all three of these are promising solutions. In my opinion, the approach that has shown the most promising result is Emotional and Behavioral Health Crisis Response and Prevention; in 2019, preliminary data found 56% fewer suspensions and 75% fewer office referrals compared with control group schools. The program aims to provide training, organization and support to schools and their community members with the primary goal of preventing and addressing students’ emotional and behavioral health crises.
DC should invest in evidence-based initiatives to protect students and educators. The politicized debates around whether such programs should supplement or replace SROs should not preclude us from seriously exploring these initiatives.
Ezekiel Lu is a rising high school senior at Templeton Academy and is part of the YMCA DC Youth & Government Program. He is currently special assistant to Allister Chang, who represents Ward 2 on the DC State Board of Education.
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