On June 23rd, 2020, the San Francisco School Board introduced and voted to prohibit school collaboration with law enforcement and not renew the memorandum of understanding with San Francisco police. The resolution was co-written and pushed by Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth, who since the 1970’s, has been organizing and building power to end the criminalization of young people and students in the Bay Area.
In 2014, Coleman youth and parents won the passage of the Safe and Supportive Schools Resolution, which banned willful defiance suspensions, mandated the use of out-of-school suspensions only as a last resort, and promised system-wide restorative justice practices. That same year, after three years of organizing and negotiation, the San Francisco Board of Education approved a new Memorandum of Understanding between the San Francisco Unified School District and the San Francisco Police Department that aimed to reduce student arrests and police presence on campus. Schools will still be able to call police for “emergencies,” so the fight to protect our Black children and end criminalization at school will be ongoing for students and families. Coleman will continue to work to create change at the city level, through the Mayor and Board of Supervisors, and at the state level.
