Bring Back School Police to LA Unified Campuses!

Parent petition demands physical safety and respect for students, teachers, staff, and the community — with 2,500 supporters

Maria Luisa Palma
Oleada
4 min readMay 25, 2024

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Parents and students interact with Los Angeles School Police
Image by Red de Padres por la Seguridad Escolar
  • We are a group of volunteer parents undertaking a grassroots effort to stop the out-of-control violence, drug use and bullying in LAUSD schools, demanding the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education and Superintendent Carvalho to listen to authentic parent voices and Bring Back School Police!
  • Prior to the pandemic, there was a school police officer assigned to every high school, and a school resource officer was typically shared between two middle schools.
  • As a result of the “Defund the Police” movements in 2020, the LAUSD Board of Education cut the school police budget, and officers were removed from campuses when schools reopened after the pandemic for the 2021–22 school year.
  • Supported by the teachers union UTLA, community organizations (including Students Deserve and Inner City Struggle) organize and bring Black and Brown students to speak at Board of Education meetings AGAINST school police and to advocate for the complete elimination of the school police department.
Reported Incident Data doubled after removal of school police for year 2022–23 — source is LAUSD slide.
Image by Author (Source: https://www.lausd.org/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/1057/04-18-24SSCAgendaPacket.pdf#page=13)
  • Incident data reported by LAUSD on April 18 indicate reported incidents have doubled (fighting and controlled substances) since school police officers were removed from campuses and discipline policies became more lenient.
  • Parents want the Board of Education to reinstate full funding in the district budget to the Los Angeles School Police Department and authorize school police to work on and off school campuses to:
    Support order and discipline,
    Deter the sale and use of drugs,
    Deter recruitment of students to gangs,
    Deter the use of weapons and bullying, and
    Foster respect for the entire student population.

Official LAUSD videos of parents turning in 2,500 petition signatures:

On April 16, 2024, La Red de Padres por la Seguridad Escolar turned in 1,500 petition signatures to the LAUSD Board of Education and Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. On May 7, the parents turned in an additional 1,000 signatures. The signatures were mostly collected on paper, talking one on one to parents and other community members.

Support our Parent Petition!!!

National and local media coverage of our parent advocacy:

© 2024 Upp Gloggen, Inc.

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Maria Luisa Palma
Oleada
Editor for

Contrarian, Critic, Disruptor. All my edges are sharp but I love a good laugh. Advocate for independent thought. General misfit known for ongoing rants.