We want people in our schools who can interact in a compassionate way; people who understand childhood development. Schools need counselors, not police. Even the most caring and best-trained police officer cannot, and should not be expected to, operate as counselors in our schools.

tudy after study has shown that arrest rates, particularly for Black students for minor offenses, are higher in schools that have officers, despite efforts to teach de-escalation. Arrests have terrible consequences for students. When a student is arrested, the odds of that student dropping out of high school doubles. Just a single court appearance for a student makes that student four times more likely to drop out. Those statistics bear out in real-world consequences. Just 26% of students arrested graduate from high school. A study published in Adolescent Research Review in 2016 reviewed and analyzed existing research and found that schools with police have higher rates of exclusionary discipline, such as out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, than do other comparable schools. Which begs the question: If the consequences for students being arrested are so significant in shaping their young adulthood, why are police officers even in schools in the first place? Advocates say that police presence in schools is a matter of keeping students safe.

Police should not be in our schools. The harm caused by a police presence in schools far outweighs any arguments about the presence of police making a school safer.

As cities across the country debate police reform in the wake of massive civil unrest following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, many people have questioned whether officers belong in schools.

Entire teams started putting out statements and talking about action plans that came out of conversations between management and labor. Instead of players striking, it was teams announcing that they would not be playing: “labor and management against racism!” The Baltimore Ravens are a great example of this, putting out on the team letterhead a statement decrying racism, calling for the arrest of Breonna Taylor’s killers, all with the aim—at least for now—of appeasing some fed-up football players whose season is supposed to start in less than two weeks.

That led to the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision not to play Wednesday in their playoff game against the Orlando Magic. Other NBA teams followed suit. Then the WNBA teams announced that they would be sitting out, which was stirring, but not surprising. Then Major League Baseball joined the strike, which really was stunning given its conservative history and paucity of Black American players. Then Major League Soccer and, gobsmackingly, the National Hockey League. Naomi Osaka, the tennis star of Japanese-Haitian descent, also bowed out of her tournament and tweeted the following, which summed up so many of the feelings across the sports world:

The NBA and WNBA players argued back in June about whether to play in this Covid-free bubble or if they should just sit out the season so as not to distract from the demonstrations in the streets.