The following blog post is published as part of our Reimagining Public Safety initiative.
For more information on how to build public safety in schools using police alternatives, read our School Safety issue brief.
Last month, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced his support for removing police officers from the city’s public schools.
His administration should approach this change as an opportunity to invest in a proven strategy for supporting students: trained mental health professionals.
When the Los Angeles Unified School District replaced its officers with school-based mental health professionals – specialists trained in conflict resolution and providing socio-emotional support for students – it saw not only a reduction in suspension rates across the district, but an increase in math and English proficiency scores, and in the number of students who were on track in their college preparatory classes. Other studies found that increasing the number of mental health professionals available to students resulted in a reduction in violence, threats of violence, and even a reduction in off-campus suicides.
We even know how many mental health professionals to put in schools to meet students’ needs. Both the American School Counselor Association and School Social Work Association of America recommend one school counselor and social worker per every 250 students, and one school psychologist per every 500 students. If we care about the welfare of our youth, we need to staff our schools in a manner that creates a space that is conducive for learning and sets them up for adulthood. That’s how we achieve lasting public safety.
Chicago has a chance to become a leader in school-based public safety innovation if it prioritizes communicating and measuring the effects of these changes to the broader public. At a time when public safety decisions can be highly politicized, having real evidence about what works - assurances that new approaches will keep children safe - are key. That would align with Mayor Johnson’s commitment to meaningful transparency.
Just as importantly, data-sharing would empower other cities with empirical data to replicate the policy and its implementation. As a part of this new approach, Chicago should track changes in 911 calls for police to schools, disciplinary actions within the school, incidents of violence, and test scores and attendance. The City should commit to releasing these data on a regular basis, and identify an excellent independent evaluator among the many first-class research universities within its borders.
Peer cities look to one another for innovative solutions to public problems, and all too frequently policies go unevaluated. As a result, lessons must be re-learned, and taxpayers often bear the bureaucratic cost. Now that Mayor Johnson has taken a major step toward do better by its children, he should seize the opportunity to serve as a national example.