Secretive police meetings over cops in schools a ‘dog and pony show,’ community members say

Community groups remain skeptical of the Chicago Police Department’s efforts to address the use of police officers in public schools after a series of invite-only meetings have largely been shrouded in secrecy.

Nine months after the Office of the Inspector General released a scathing report about the department’s lack of oversight and poor training of school resource officers, neither police nor Chicago Public Schools officials will say if the two institutions have met to discuss the report’s recommendations.

Since April, police have held eight “community input meetings” to talk about school resource officers. All but one have been closed to the general public.

Veronica Rodriguez, a youth organizer with Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, attended a meeting with police April 13 at Back of the Yards High School, but said she found the meeting largely unproductive.

“They weren’t listening or having a discussion. It felt like they were just trying to defend having police in schools,” Rodriguez said.

According to Rodriguez, police at the meetings told attendees they couldn’t take pictures. They couldn’t ask questions until the end.

“It seemed like [police] were trying to control the narrative, just to say that they held a meeting with the community, even though the community wasn’t invited,” she said.

The sole meeting that was open to the public was held May 6 at Dunbar Vocational Center Academy.

“CPS and CPD should have hosted meetings with robust community engagement across the city, with plenty of warning for stakeholders,” said Jennie Biggs, a spokeswoman for Raise Your Hand, a coalition of parents and community members concerned about public education in the city. “This is a critical conversation that demands authentic community engagement.”

Biggs said Raise Your Hand has not been invited to participate in the meetings.

Shannon Bennett, deputy director of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, called the meetings “a dog and pony show,” and said his group was also not invited.

“There’s an issue of transparency that’s looming over this entire process,” Bennett said as to why his organization would likely decline to participate in the police department’s outreach efforts in the future, as well.

All of the community groups who spoke with the Sun-Times said they’re opposed to police being assigned to schools, and would prefer resources go toward full-time social workers, nurses and restorative justice programs.

The issue of police in schools was exacerbated earlier this year when officers assigned to Marshall High School were recorded pushing student Dnigma Howard down a flight of stairs, shocking her with stun gun and repeatedly hitting her. Dnigma was initially charged with battery in the incident, but the Cook County state’s attorney’s office dropped the charges a week later.

In April, the Sun-Times published security camera footage from the school that appeared to show the officers’ initiated the physical confrontation.

Chicago police have also declined to say which officials have met with school leadership.

”We didn’t take a formal attendance of who had attended any of the previous meetings,” police spokesman Luis Agostini said in April.

CPS spokesman Michael Passman said it is inaccurate to suggest that CPS has not been an active partner in the engagement process, citing principals and “key advocate partners who have been highly engaged” on the issue.

Christine Geovanis, of the Chicago Teachers Union, which represents more than 27,000 members involved in the schools, called CPS’ claims “a load of bull crap” and said the union also wasn’t notified.

“If all they think this issue is worth is a token hour of discussion where many [stakeholders] weren’t even told about the meetings, they’re not actually looking for an active public dialogue,” Geovanis said.

The Inspector General’s report released last year found that officers assigned to schools lacked specific training in working with students, and that no one was keeping track of which schools the officers worked at. The police department had no rules for the selection, placement and evaluation of those officers and had not entered an agreement with CPS over the officers’ responsibilities since 2016, the report said.

Attorney Andrew M. Stroth, who represents Dnigma, has accused police and the Board of Education of allowing the girl to be battered by failing to implement the report’s recommendations as part of an ongoing federal lawsuit.