Hello my name is Stacey Smith and I am a single mother of 4 in a low income community, that also has a very dense population. During these times I have come to the realization that our school budget is possibly being dispersed in a wrongful manner. With that being said I am going to petition to remove the SRO officers from our schools, and propose an alternate for the schools budget.

The youth of Chelsea MA, are affected in many ways having SROs in our schools on a daily basis. Having SROs in our schools sends an intimidating message to our students during these times where police brutality is being exposed on a regular basis. Not all children or their families have had pleasant experiences with law enforcement. Chelsea is also a sanctuary city where we are aware some families have experienced unpleasant experiences with ICE police, this is very traumatizing and instills fear.  Some students may be in fear and intimidated daily going to school and seeing SROs there each day as soon as they walk through the door. We also teach our children that school is a safe place so what is the actual need for SROs in our  schools if school is a safe place. Our children should be able to go to school and feel safe, but students also need to be comfortable to perform at their highest ability. Social media has exposed countless situations of police brutality that our children see. These situations of police brutality have happened to many people of color and even children of color, this can be mentally disturbing to our children. Children in our very own community may be in fear of this happening to them, especially seeing SROs in school each day. Marked cruisers outside of our schools parked also send a mixed message. Personally seeing these marked cruisers outside of Chelsea public schools gave me the impression that Chelsea public schools are very dangerous. For that  very reason I chose to enroll my middle school students into EXCEL, other parents I have spoken with had similar feelings.

There are a few solutions that could resolve having SROs in Chelsea public schools.

One solution would be to hire extra security guards, their annual salary is much less than what is being taken from the school departments budget to fund SROs. Another solution is to install metal detectors in schools, this also would be less expensive than funding SROs from the city's school budget. One last solution could be to employ mental health resources for children who need mental help, they can not get that from an SRO. That will also be less expensive to fund than funding SROs. 

If we remove SROs from our schools our children may feel less intimidated. The schools will be able to have more actual resources for students. The students may perform better without the intimidation of  SROs in school.  Chelsea will also have more officers for patrols or emergencies especially during these times.

If  we do not remove SROs from our schools our children will continue to be intimidated going to school. We may also see an increase of situations involving SROs and students, I state this because I have witnessed incidents where I have seen officers escalate situations rather than de escalate them.

My heart and soul is in this community, I have two sons who have graduated from  Chelsea High. Also I am a friendly mother who has had many conversations with the students of Chelsea and they have expressed uncomfortability with SROs in the schools. Multiple times I visited the school seeing SROs basically sitting in the office for most of the day doing nothing or using a cell phone was disturbing,  even so more now that I am aware the city of Chelsea funds this from the school departments budget.

Sometimes no one hears the childrens’ cries until they scream, let's not wait until that happens to react. With that being said I am calling upon the Superintendent of Chelsea public schools and the Chief of Police of Chelsea to remove SROs from Chelsea public schools budget.