Amid protests, Chicago Board of Ed votes to keep school police, but also moves to create phase-out plan
The Chicago Board of Education will enter into another yearlong contract with the Chicago Police Department, this time not to exceed $12.1 million.
In the meantime, the board gave Chicago Public Schools seven months to come up with a comprehensive plan to help schools develop alternative school safety strategies.
As students continued to protest the use of school police outside CPS’s Loop headquarters Wednesday, the board voted 4-2 to approve the CPD contract. Elizabeth Todd-Breland and Amy Rome voted no, while Board President Miguel del Valle, Vice President Sendhil Revuluri and members Dwayne Truss and Lucino Sotelo all voted in favor. Luisiana Melendez abstained.
As soon as the votes were in, some of the protesters began chanting the names of the members who favored the contract, cursing them along with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Police Department. Leaders put out calls for more supporters of police-free schools to show up to CPS headquarters, saying the school had ignored their voices for too long.
