POLICE-FREE SCHOOLS MOVEMENT ADVANCES: A majority of the Denver Public Schools Board of Education members is expected to support a resolution — possibly on Thursday — to remove police from the city's public schools. "WE HAVE THE VOTES!!!!!" tweeted Denver School Board Director Tay Anderson, highlighting the story by Chalkbeat Colorado. — The effort follows the Minneapolis Public Schools Board last week unanimously voting to terminate its more than $1 million school resource officer contract with the police department in the city where Floyd died. In Portland, Ore., the superintendent announced on Thursday that the district was "discontinuing the regular presence of school resource officers," The Oregonian reported. — "We've been calling for the last two years to remove police or SROs out of our schools, and now with George Floyd's death, people are upset, and this is just the moment to say ... these are the same police that are killing people like George Floyd and many others around the country," said Elsa Bañuelos of Padres & Jóvenes Unidos, a group backing the Denver resolution. — Anderson, who has been leading protests, told Chalkbeat Colorado that the resolution would direct the schools superintendent to end the contract. The superintendent said she wants to "bring about the change that's needed," Chalkbeat reported, but she also referenced students' positive relationships with school resource officers and the need to think of safety. — Activists argue such policing in schools has a disparate impact on students of color. The Advancement Project National Office, a nonprofit that focuses on racial justice, says the movement is gaining traction in a host of other cities across the country. — The Chicago Teachers Union is pushing for an end to the public schools contract with police, but Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday said that isn't happening. "We are not going to do that, unfortunately we need security in our schools," Lightfoot said, according to ABC in Chicago. — Happening today: President Donald Trump is meeting with a law enforcement panel and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is meeting with Floyd's family in Houston. DEMOCRATS TO UNVEIL POLICE REFORM PACKAGE: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass and other congressional Democrats will unveil legislation today to "end police brutality, hold police accountable, improve transparency in policing and create meaningful, structural change that safeguards every American's right to safety and equal justice," Pelosi's office announced. — There's hope for a bipartisan response to Floyd's death, Melanie Zanona, Sarah Ferris and Heather Caygle reported. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he believes the two sides can "easily find common ground." — The National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers last week joined 400 other civil rights organizations in calling on congressional leaders to pass police reform legislation. Today, the two unions are seeking signatures from their state and local leaders on a joint letter to America's students, pledging solidarity with those who are protesting and calling for racial justice following Floyd's death. — The letter says they recognize the "deep frustration and anger" people feel "as a new generation of young African Americans watch the violence of modern-day lynchings and brutality by police." The unions encouraged students to continue organizing, saying it will ensure that the country elects decision-makers in November "who will act on reform." |
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