Students need mental health and social support. Policing in schools does not provide this support, but it does cause harm by increasing fear & worsening school climate, facilitating a culture of punishment & criminalization,  increasing student arrests and causing greater challenges to students once arrested, and disproportionality harming students of color and students with disabilities. 

Students, parents, and community members asked for the complete removal of School Resource Officers (SROs) from schools, and for mental health support and restorative justice for students. Instead of removing SROs, County Executive Marc Elrich retained the police positions and transitioned the same armed police officers into Community Engagement Officers (CEOs).

Community Engagement Officers, or CEOs, are repurposed School Resource Officers (SROs) with a different job title.

• These armed police officers are still solely assigned to clusters of schools.
• Nothing in the new Memorandum of Understanding explicitly states that CEOs will not be in school buildings (the main thing that is supposed to differentiate them from SROs).
• CEO police communicate directly with school administration and security.

This CEO police model is still harmful, and student needs are still not being met. Because there are no full-time social workers, behavioral therapists, or restorative justice practitioners at each school, students are not getting enough support, and staff & administrators will more likely to turn to the police instead of other professionals. The root causes of conflict and violence in schools are not being addressed. Students are being punished but are not being fully supported. Because many students experienced loss and hardship during the pandemic, students need support now more than ever and are not getting it. 

County Executive Marc Elrich, and County Council, please:

• Fund a full-time culturally competent and trauma-informed social worker in every MCPS high school, and fund restorative justice training and a restorative justice practitioner at every high school. 
• Remove CEOs, and fully remove police in and near schools. This includes prohibiting regular police check-ins or regular surveillance at or near schools, before/after school, or during open lunch periods.