SEATTLE -- Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Denise Juneau made the announcement on Tuesday to suspend the district-wide partnership with the Seattle Police Department for one year. This includes four Seattle Emphasis Officers (SEOs) and one School Resource Officer (SROs).
The officers on school grounds provide assistance to kids in crisis, focusing on violence intervention and prevention in district schools. They do not provide enforcement but are armed inside school buildings.
Juneau said the removal of these officers will help to avoid any possible distress for students in school.
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Seattle Public Schools suspends partnership with Seattle police
Seattle Public Schools suspends partnership with Seattle police
The decision comes "in light of the current national events," Juneau said in her letter to parents, recognizing the national attention focusing on police brutality across the country and police conduct in Seattle.
Juneau spoke with students and parents of students in the district, staff, principals, and the Seattle Council PTSA, and gathered feedback from Latinx and Black community members before making the decision, she says.
During the school year, Juneau says the only time SPD officers will be present on school properties will be in cases of emergency.
"We will re-evaluate our relationship with SPD, but like any other organization that supports our students, they must be aligned to our strategic plan, and work to uphold the inherent brilliance and innocence in each of our students," SPS said in a tweet on Wednesday.
In her letter, she also called to attention recent incidents of local officers and the National Guard using school grounds for police demonstrations without SPS approval.
"(Seattle Public School) buildings and properties should be safe, welcoming spaces for students to learn and are currently used for distribution of meals, learning packets, books, and health resources, not for militarized responses," Juneau said.
The school board will take further action on the partnership between SPD and SPD at its meeting on Wednesday.
Seattle is now one of a small number of districts from Portland, Oregon, to Denver and Minneapolis that are taking a closer look at the role police officers play in their schools.
Nationwide, 43% of public schools had an armed officer present at least once a week in the 2015-2016 school year, the last time the National Center for Education Statistics released such data.
Here's the full letter: