![Minneapolis Police officer and school resource officer Drea Leal does her rounds in the hallways Friday, Jan. 18, 2019 at Minneapolis Roosevelt High, in Minneapolis, MN] DAVID JOLES • david.joles@startribune.com A debate is brewing over the use of Minneapolis police officers in the city's public schools. Students for Education Reform recently petitioned the school board, calling for changes in how school resource officers are used. They want them to be trained better to serve as mentors to the s](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/NIAXN3EZ463DTSMIC6FXSSDIFQ.jpg?&w=1080)
As a member of the Winona school board, I made the motion to terminate the contract between the Winona Area Public Schools and the Winona Police Department for a school resource officer (SRO).
I made this motion based on my experiences as a public defender handling juvenile cases in southeastern Minnesota. I made the motion after carefully reading the contract which described outdated policing practices for the SRO. It was a time for change, and change could come about only if we shed the past and created a space into which new knowledge and practices could be applied.
I disagree with the editorial "Districts may regret booting school cops" (June 26).
I did not make the motion in the belief that now schools would lack a safety plan. In fact, schools including Winona have done extensive safety planning. Winona's safety plan includes staffing other than SROs.
Winona has four nonuniformed safety officers who are employed by the school district. At least two of these officers are on duty and generally can be found in the open areas of the high school during the school day observing activity, engaging students in conversation, and when necessary, intervening in conflicts. Winona employs tools such as ASIS and trauma-informed intervention, and trains non-police staff in these.
Safety was, is and will be a foremost concern of school districts in Minnesota, including Winona. Schools are prepared to go forward without SROs.
I heard from many members of the public, and most urged us to terminate the contract. These letters reflected an enormous intelligence about the issues surrounding student learning, educational psychology, individual and group behavior, and policing. Many writers explained how an authoritarian or "warrior" policing model was not a good fit for education. Others discussed how the youth mind responded to the school environment, and how students did not learn when violence or fear were used to control the school space.
I did not hear, and do not believe, that the Winona police were bad people or that we did not need good policing in our community. What I understood was that a uniformed police officer was not a good fit for the routines of a school day.
