Thursday, September 10, 2020

Sept. 14 - Police in Schools


Monday, Sept. 14, 2020 at 6 – 8 pm

Public Forum  Hosted by School District of La Crosse


Community members interested in speaking at the forum should register by calling the superintendent’s office at 608.789.7659, or via email at lsteiger@lacrossesd.org.

Prospective speakers should register by 4:30 p.m. on September 14. Registered speakers will be given five minutes to speak during the forum.

For more information:

On Sept. 14th the School District of La Crosse will host a virtual open forum for members of the community to discuss the district’s ongoing review of the School Resource Officer (SRO) program. The program review is being used to determine if the existing partnership will continue, be modified, or eliminated. The current SRO contract between the district and the City of La Crosse expires in June of 2021.

School District of La Crosse Superintendent Dr. Aaron Engel : 
“Data shows that in schools where there are SRO programs, there is often an increased rate of suspensions of students of color, in particular Black students,”

“We’ve had some students share that SROs negatively impact their feelings of belonging and increase their fear while attending school. As a school district committed to the well-being of all of our students, we want to disrupt anything that negatively impacts belonging, increases fear, or contributes to the school to prison pipeline.”

“We know there are many in our district who support the SRO program and many who feel SROs should be removed from schools,” said Dr. Engel. “This open forum will give our community an opportunity to speak for themselves and allow others to hear the diverse viewpoints that are present.”

NEXT STEPS:
After the public forum, the next steps in the SRO program review will include an analysis of local, state, and national data, a continued review of published literature on SRO programs, and gathering of local data through surveys and interviews.
The Board of Education has charged district administration with providing a recommendation on the future of the SRO program no later than November 16, 2020.

No comments: