100 signatures reached
To: Mayor Vi Lyles & Charlotte City Council
We Demand Police-Free Schools NOW: Call to Action From CMS Students
Defund the police and fund students education:
-Provide more mental health resources for students and staff.
-Diversity training for students and staff.
-Better curriculum and teaching for African-American Studies, and make African-American Studies a required course.
-Emergency response counseling for support for students in crisis.
-Spend on social workers, counselors and culturally specific supports for students.
-De-escalation training for staff and administration.
-Provide more mental health resources for students and staff.
-Diversity training for students and staff.
-Better curriculum and teaching for African-American Studies, and make African-American Studies a required course.
-Emergency response counseling for support for students in crisis.
-Spend on social workers, counselors and culturally specific supports for students.
-De-escalation training for staff and administration.
Why is this important?
Over the past week, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) has disregarded the right of the people to petition their government for change and brutalized peaceful protesters asking for justice for the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. But this comes to no surprise to us -- the CMPD used teargas, a chemical agent banned in warfare by the Geneva Convention, to assault fellow citizens asking for better treatment. CMPD is also in our schools criminalizing Black and brown youth and further strengthening the school-to-prison pipeline.
It’s time for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District (CMS) to provide real safety to students and immediately remove police from all of its schools. This demand may seem shocking to some, but it is the best way to create supportive environments for CMS students. Policing has its background in slave-catching and slave patrols. CMS, therefore, cannot have a relationship with such a system especially due to the fact that 36% of all students in this school district are Black.
With your help, we can force CMS to end CMPD’s multi-million yearly contract and move to #PoliceFreeSchools immediately. CMS should use those funds to provide more mental health resources for students and staff, and invest in the students academically and socially.
We know that the staff and police in our schools have racially profiled, and harassed Black and brown youth. School Resource Officers are unnecessary and not vital to promoting a healthy and safe environment in our schools.
“What we’re asking for is not just reasonable and responsible, but entirely possible. Following the murder of George Floyd, the Minneapolis Public Schools system saw the real danger that police officers posed to children, and passed a resolution to end their contract with the Minneapolis Police Department.” (https://grassrootscollaborative.salsalabs.org/policefreeschools2020/index.html)
You can help get police out of our schools by sending a message to the Superintendent, CMS School Board, Charlotte City Council, and Mayor Lyles. Ask them to remove police officers from our school and invest into the mental health and intellectual growth of their students instead. You can also sign our petition at MoveOn.org
It’s time for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District (CMS) to provide real safety to students and immediately remove police from all of its schools. This demand may seem shocking to some, but it is the best way to create supportive environments for CMS students. Policing has its background in slave-catching and slave patrols. CMS, therefore, cannot have a relationship with such a system especially due to the fact that 36% of all students in this school district are Black.
With your help, we can force CMS to end CMPD’s multi-million yearly contract and move to #PoliceFreeSchools immediately. CMS should use those funds to provide more mental health resources for students and staff, and invest in the students academically and socially.
We know that the staff and police in our schools have racially profiled, and harassed Black and brown youth. School Resource Officers are unnecessary and not vital to promoting a healthy and safe environment in our schools.
“What we’re asking for is not just reasonable and responsible, but entirely possible. Following the murder of George Floyd, the Minneapolis Public Schools system saw the real danger that police officers posed to children, and passed a resolution to end their contract with the Minneapolis Police Department.” (https://grassrootscollaborative.salsalabs.org/policefreeschools2020/index.html)
You can help get police out of our schools by sending a message to the Superintendent, CMS School Board, Charlotte City Council, and Mayor Lyles. Ask them to remove police officers from our school and invest into the mental health and intellectual growth of their students instead. You can also sign our petition at MoveOn.org