New rules for cops in CPS prevent officers from intervening in school discipline

Chicago police officers posted at schools are no longer allowed to intervene in student discipline but will, at least for the time being, remain in more than 70 schools.

Those are among the changes laid out in a $33 million agreement between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department — the details of which have been newly released — that sets the ground-rules for a much maligned program that puts officers in school buildings.

CPD cops called “school resource officers” have been in CPS schools for years, but concern over a school-to-prison pipeline that sees students arrested for in-school behavior has ratcheted up the intense public scrutiny on the program in recent years. A few notable incidents of excessive force have shined the spotlight even stronger in the past year.

The police department and school district hope the agreement, details of which were recently made public, will “maintain and promote the safety and security of students, teachers and other staff.”

Effective at the start of the current school year, the contract looks for officers to “foster a safe, supportive and positive learning environment for students” and “ensure safety and deter crime at schools.”

Officers, who will be uniformed and will carry their usual weapons, will patrol schools “while maintaining a visible presence,” the agreement says. They’ll have offices equipped with a computer terminal that can access private CPD databases. Officers will also have access to a wide range of school records, though private student information will only be provided if legally allowed.

The cops will still be allowed to make arrests if they determine a crime was committed, but they’re no longer allowed to intervene in school disciplinary actions. CPD is required to give CPS a monthly report about any arrests made on school grounds.

And if a principal, teacher or other CPS employee improperly asks an officer to get involved with school discipline, the officer is supposed to report that to a supervisor.

As for which schools have officers, the document posted on the CPS website redacted the names of the schools in the program. Moving forward, though, the decision of whether to place or remove an officer in a specific school will be up to principals and their Local School Councils — elected committees at each school that are comprised of parents, community members, teachers, support staff and students.

CPS and CPD officials will jointly screen officers for assignment to a school, and new requirements are that cops need at least three years of experience on the force and have to go through school-specific training separate from normal police training.

That school training, some of which started over the summer, aims to teach officers about building relationships with kids, de-escalation methods, implicit racial bias, and how to deal with the unique needs of students who have a disability, have a special education plan, are LGBTQ, have low English proficiency, are homeless or are immigrants.

The cops’ performance will still be supervised by CPD officials, but the contract includes a mechanism for CPS to file a complaint about a specific officer. The police department would receive the report and decide any discipline against the officer. The CPS Office of Inspector General will also keep its authority to investigate incidents involving cops in schools.

The agreement runs through Aug. 31, but CPS and CPD have two options to renew, each for a year. For this first year, CPS is set to make two $16.5 million payments to CPD, one by the end of January and the other by the end of September.

“Ensuring the safety and security of all students is paramount to Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department, and we remain committed to fulfilling the improvements outlined at the beginning of the school year,” CPS and CPD said in a joint statement. “Over the past several months CPD has revamped its policies, selection criteria, and training for school resource officers, and we continue to work together to build on codifying these efforts in partnership with school communities.”