Reigniting a long-simmering debate about police patrols at Los Angeles Unified schools, a group of parents on Wednesday called for officers to be returned to campuses after a student was attacked at Franklin High School and died after falling over a fourth-floor railing.
Parents voiced deep concerns about bullying and what they see as a lack of security at their children’s schools, shaken by the tragedy at Franklin High in Highland Park that has prompted an outpouring of support for the family of the student who died and calls for stepped-up safety measures district-wide.
“We want police inside the schools,” Diana Guillen, who leads an LAUSD parents group focused on school safety, said at a news conference.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office has identified the student who fell as Xavier Nungaray-Martinez, 17, and determined he died by suicide.
Officials have not released details about what preceded the fall.
In cellphone video footage, one student repeatedly hits a student who is on the ground. A teacher stands between the students, and the boy on the ground slowly gets up. The student who beat the other backs off, giving him a shove as he does. The boy who was hit turns away. Then, the attacker delivers one more punch that knocks the boy to the floor. The boy gets up and runs out the door, with the attacking student shouting at him to “run” using a racial slur.
In another video, the boy who was hit, identified by community members as Xavier, jumps over a fourth-floor railing as the student who appears to be the attacker approaches.
In a statement Wednesday, the Los Angeles Police Department said they are investigating allegations that “bullying may have contributed to the student’s death,” but so far have not identified evidence establishing a connection.
“The investigation remains active and ongoing, and this preliminary assessment should not be interpreted as a final determination of the circumstances surrounding his death,” the department said. “The Department recognizes the concerns expressed by the student’s family, classmates, and the broader community and remains committed to conducting a thorough, objective, and impartial investigation.”
The Wednesday news conference included Franklin High parents, who also spoke during the public comment portion of a Board of Education meeting, demanding that the district staff police officers on campuses.
Margarita Giron told board members her daughter was a victim of bullying at LAUSD and asked them what they were waiting for before they took further steps to address school safety.
“What is it?” she said, her voice quaking. “Are you waiting for one of your own to die to take action?”
“If you guys don’t do something, we are going to go higher than you,” she added.
Board members did not comment or address parents, as is their practice during public statements.
School board member Rocio Rivas, who represents Franklin and whose son attends the school, was not immediately available to comment Wednesday. Last week she issued a public statement saying that as a Franklin parent she “knows there is a lot of pain and confusion among students, staff and families,” and said the district is providing increased mental health services on campus.
The news conference, attended by more than a dozen parents, was organized by California Rising, a nonprofit that describes itself as advocating for public safety, and cleaner, stronger neighborhoods.
Veronica Mendoza said her son Edgar, a senior at Franklin, saw the fall and returned to school Tuesday.
Mendoza said that an increase in school police is the only action that she feels could help her son and his peers — and provide more clarity to families when incidents occur.
“I’m very worried,” said Mendoza, who’s heard of several fights and incidents in which sharp weapons were pulled out at the school. “I feel like my house is safer right now than school with everything that’s happening.”
An LAUSD spokesman said he did not “have info on any recent on-campus events” when asked about Mendoza’s comments.
School board cut police in 2020
In June 2020, the school board voted 4 to 3 to remove police from campuses in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and nationwide protests over racial justice. The board also cut the school police budget by $25 million, about 35%. Ultimately, the reorganization eliminated 133 positions: 70 sworn positions, 62 non-sworn ones and one support staffer.
Until that time, a typical high school had one permanent officer and two middle schools would split an officer. There also were patrols, detectives and special investigators.
The district concurrently ramped up student support through the Black Student Achievement Plan and other efforts. A board majority also defeated a proposal to let school communities or a principal decide if an officer should be stationed at a high school — either permanently or temporarily.
Online sources indicate that the district’s school police department currently has about 270 sworn officers, 61 non-sworn safety officers and 40 civilian staff members. Non-sworn officers are typically unarmed.
In June, the school board approved a budget plan that cut the school police budget by $3.5 million in 2026-27 and by $7 million in 2027-28.
In a statement, an LAUSD spokesperson said “school safety is a shared responsibility, and we continue to work with school leaders, staff, families and our law enforcement partners to ensure campuses are safe and supportive places for students to learn.”
Raul Claros, the founder of California Rising, said he believes the 2020 board decision to remove police from campus was a response to the politics of the time.
“Let’s be clear. The reason why the school police is not on our campuses today is because of political rhetoric,” said Claros, who ran unsuccessfully to unseat Los Angeles City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez in the June primary. “To the board members who know better, you didn’t always believe school police shouldn’t be on campus, but you got afraid of cancel culture.”
Divided stances on school police
Since then, the issue has divided parents and others.
On one side are some parents, police union leaders and students who participate in the district’s police academy magnet programs. They see police as offering a crucial deterrent and emergency response force to threats from outside a campus. They also view police as a visual deterrent to on-campus bullying, gang influence and criminal activity, such as drug sales.
But at least as loud a voice comes from student activists who support eliminating school police and point to academics who have concluded that police have historically targeted minority students for unequal enforcement. These students say any effort by police to deter bullying or fights would be more effectively handled by counseling, fully staffed non-police adult supervision and staff trained in de-escalation.
At another board meeting, on Tuesday, Mau Trejo, an organizer with the group Students Deserve, told board members that in the wake of Xavier’s death, “school police are not the answer.”
Instead, he called on the district to add more counselors and psychiatric social workers and to focus on “peacebuilding” and restorative justice practices, which emphasize students learning to take personal responsibility for their actions, as well as taking steps to remedy the consequences of inappropriate behavior.
“We have to center [Xavier’s] life and ask ourselves what we can do differently to better support young people across LAUSD,” Trejo said Tuesday. “We know that Xavier experienced bullying and was involved in a fight before his death, and we cannot change what happened. What we can do is ask whether our schools have the resources and are equipped to intervene when students are experiencing harm and conflict.”
The last speaker at Wednesday’s meeting was a woman who identified herself as a relative of Xavier’s.
Standing at the lectern, flanked by more than 10 others in support, the woman called for the school district to provide more security at Franklin High School to prevent another fatal tragedy.
“Where were you when the child pleaded for help?” said the family member, who attended the board meeting on the family’s behalf. “Where were you when the child was being attacked in the classroom? Where were you, can you please give me an answer?”
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