Get rid of police at Fresno Unified schools? It would be better to reinvent them instead

The Fresno Unified School District is confronting what role police should have on local campuses. As has occurred elsewhere, police here get criticized for too often focusing enforcement against children of color.

Proponents of having less policing at schools want funds directed away from police and into services like counseling. By helping troubled youths, their thinking goes, safety overall will improve and the unfair treatment of Blacks and Latinos will end.

Strong arguments are also made by proponents of keeping police at schools to protect students, teachers and staff from anyone intent on causing harm.

A vigorous campaign has been mounted by those who want the school district to quit the $1.8 million contract with police for services at high schools and redirect the funding toward mental health services. The school board is to take up the issue at its June 16 meeting.

School district surveys

What does the community think? That is not easy to answer.

Fresno Unified conducted several surveys to find out, and the results, according to the district, show that most students, parents and staff want to keep student resource officers on campus.

But Fresno Barrios Unidos, the leading opponent of a new contract, finds flaws in how the surveys were conducted and says the results are not accurate. For example, Barrios says the surveys failed to include students who had interactions with officers. In another example, all the campus officers responded to the survey, despite the fact their jobs are stake in any contract.

Barrios Unidos says Black students in particular are targeted more by police than others. In the fall of 2019, the last full school period before the COVID pandemic, Black students accounted for 25% of all school-related arrests, but were just 7% of the enrollment at the campuses that had officers.

Does that mean police were unjustified in making those arrests? That is hard to know. Neither the district nor Fresno police have good data on the myriad factors leading up to those arrests. Was the officer wrongly targeting a race? Did the student act out because of problems at home?

The Black Parallel School Board, a group that advocates for Black students, has said this: “Policing in our schools teaches young people that they are viewed as criminals, not scholars.”

Fresno police Chief Paco Balderrama offers this response: “The manner in which we police has a lot to do with that perception. I have made it clear that I do not want my officers to be disciplinarians. They are to keep everyone safe and build trust with young people. That is the mission we will continue.”

The number of students arrested by police is actually low; the vast majority of youth at the campuses where officers are assigned do not get into trouble. In the report on the fall of 2019, the PD notes that there were 188 crimes committed at schools where officers were assigned. Total enrollment of those schools was 11,311 students. So crimes were committed by 1.6% of the student population.

Police needed for now

A petition with 700 signatures calls on the district to sever ties from FPD. Despite that and the vocal criticism, the school board should approve the contract for the coming year and keep officers at campuses for a simple, sad reason: As the tally of school shootings across America makes clear, there are dangerous people in society who use campuses for their twisted ends. It would be foolhardy to not have officers at the ready.

That said, the board’s goal should be to decrease policing to a minimal level as soon as is practical, while increasing other forms of assistance to students.

Toward that end, the board should consider a police oversight commission to ensure students of color are not being criminalized. Such a commission should have students, teachers and staff members, along with several trustees. Meetings could be held quarterly and involve Balderrama.

Another idea: campus officers should put aside the standard uniform in favor of a more approachable one. For instance, they could wear the logo T-shirt of the campus to which they are assigned.

Additionally, Fresno Unified needs better data to understand what causes students to get into trouble — mostly fighting. That information could yield new ideas for helping students and families deal with problems.

This is an important moment for Fresno Unified. Schools cannot be left unprotected, but in this era of racial tension, it cannot be business as usual. The board and Fresno PD have the opportunity to rethink a critical relationship that will influence young people well into the future.

This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.