The Minneapolis school district has severed its decades-long relationship with the city’s police department in response to the death of George Floyd in police custody.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that the school board has voted unanimously to terminate the police department’s contract to provide school resource officers. Superintendent Ed Graff was directed to come up with a new plan for school safety by the board’s Aug. 18 meeting.
“I value people and education and life,” school board chairwoman Kim Ellison says. “Now I’m convinced, based on the actions of the Minneapolis Police Department, that we don’t have the same values.”
The Minneapolis school district has contracted with city police since 1967, a district spokeswoman says, except from 2004-2009, when it worked with park police. Under the existing contract, the district was paying Minneapolis police $1.1 million annually for its services.
A group of North High School students spoke against the removal of school resource officers. Their school resource officer, who is also their football coach, is “like a father,” they said.
