See them as students, not suspects

Note: The school board approved the contract in a 6-1 vote, with Merschbrock voting no.

Tonight (Monday), the Cedar Rapids school board will decide whether to renew a contract with the Cedar Rapids Police Department to place police officers in district high schools. The program, which costs around $400,000 annually to the district, has been the subject of debate each year since the nationwide protests against police brutality in the summer of 2020. As a board member, I see too many questions unanswered regarding the program’s effectiveness. I believe the funding should shift to more appropriate positions to support students and staff in schools and that doing so can help change the conversation about young people.

A layered approach should be taken to replace the many roles the uniformed and armed officers attempt to fill on campuses now. In local middle schools, where police have not operated in a daily position for the last two years, this approach has already taken shape. Security paraprofessionals are used in some schools to do basic campus checks and provide an extra set of eyes. Engagement specialists work in buildings to get to know the student population and make connections with the community, so they can provide guidance and a positive influence. Restorative justice facilitators work at several campuses to help students resolve conflict and learn ways to handle their differences peacefully. Together, these positions can handle the ups and downs at any school without making students feel unsafe with an officer patrolling the halls.

These changes would be a step toward recognizing young people as the learning, growing citizens they are. When the school board addressed this issue in years past, the comments I received in emails and read online were concerning. The worst used racist tropes, calling students “thugs” and “criminals.” More respectable members of the community described schools as a “circus” and students as “chaotic,” “destructive,” and “out of control.” That has not been my experience as a parent of students in Cedar Rapids schools or working in neighborhoods around the city. When teenagers walk through their school doors, we should see them as students, not suspects.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed legislation that targets the gender identity and sexual orientation of students and staff. When the Supreme Court overturned the Roe v Wade decision last year, they removed a fundamental right to personal privacy. These decisions open the door to even more surveillance and policing of young people. Keeping a permanent police presence in schools is increasingly at odds with our ideals of a free and equal society.

Dexter Merschbrock is a member of the Cedar Rapids school board.