The LA School Police Department (LASPD) should never have been defunded — not even partially. But the LAUSD school board let the bullies have free rein.
Not just the bullies in school. The bullies of the teachers’ union.
In 2020, the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) backed the absurd demand by Black Lives Matter activists to “defund the police” in school.
They said that (LASPD) officers “make kids feel unsafe,” particularly children from racial minorities.
The UTLA also said that “we believe that we do not need armed police roaming our halls, we need counselors who are provided with resources, nurses with sufficient medical supplies, and librarians with enough books.”
How does a librarian stop a school bully? Suspend his borrowing privileges?
The idea that minority children feared the LASPD was always absurd. The police protect kids in minority communities from gangs, criminals, and bullies. The police also protect the teachers themselves — not that the union showed any gratitude.
The board should have held its ground.
Instead, four members of the LAUSD board — Monica Garcia, Jackie Goldberg, Nick Melvoin and Kelly Gonez — voted to cut funding for the LASPD. Three members who opposed the idea — Richard Vladovic, George McKenna and Scott Schmerelson — were outvoted.
The LAUSD didn’t eliminate the school police force entirely, which is what Black Lives Matter and the UTLA had wanted. But it did cut $25 million from the LASPD budget — 28% of the total, eliminating 133 positions.
Few at the time seem to have listened to the parents of LAUSD, who — unlike teachers’ union officials — always put their children’s needs first.
Now, as The California Post has reported, parents are demanding a larger and tougher LASPD. Bullying is rampant at public schools in LA, and there just aren’t enough police to protect kids or to deter bullies.
The question is where the money will come from. LAUSD is famously short on cash.
That’s partly because the board buckled to UTLA yet again earlier this year, when the union threatened to strike in April.
The LAUSD board promised big salary increases — and ignored warnings from LA County that the district would be close to insolvency if the raises were approved.
As the district sorts out its finances, it should find cost savings that it can apply toward restoring the LASPD to full strength.
Our kids want to feel safe at school. The LASPD is crucial to that goal.
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The post Restore funding to the LA School Police — our kids deserve to feel safe appeared first on New York Post.
