In less than a week, the Edmonton Public School Board will decide whether to re-establish armed police officers in our public schools. We need your help right now to make sure this doesn’t happen.
Public schools are struggling and under-resourced because of UCP cuts. With fewer teachers and educational assistants, unmanageably large class sizes, and a lack of counseling and student mental health supports, our schools are under more stress than ever before.
We all want our schools to be safe. Cutting teachers and EAs and then adding armed police officers is not the way to do this.
Edmonton Public School Board has called a special meeting for April 30 to consider a motion to bring armed police officers back into our schools. They are also debating giving future decisions regarding police in schools over to the Superintendent, out of the hands of democratically elected representatives. Given significant issues with police accountability in Edmonton, this is a deeply troubling prospect.
Research shows that this will have negative consequences for racialized, Indigenous, low-income, and special needs students and erode efforts towards creating safe and caring learning environments. (Source 1; Source 2; Source 3; Source 4; Source 5; Source 6)
Please send your trustee a quick message to let them know you do not support armed officers in schools.
