Two South Bay School Districts End Campus Cop Contracts: Report

SAN JOSE, CA — Two South Bay school districts have terminated their contracts with local police departments in moves that will effectively eliminate the presence of law enforcement on their campuses, The San Jose Mercury News reports.

The Alum Rock Union and East Side Union High School Districts, both of which are in San Jose, joined a national trend in moving to cut ties with campus police amid the massive wave of civil rights protests that emerged in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death in police custody on May 25.

San Francisco and Oakland school districts recently terminated police contracts too.

Both South Bay district boards voted unanimously not to renew contracts with the San Jose Police Department, the report said.

A recent James Lick High School graduate told East Side Union board members that the presence of school resource officers at her school had been a source of anxiety for her and other persons of color at her school, the report said.

“I have grown up with police officers knocking on my door since the age of three and gradually became a trigger for my anxiety,” Daniella Acosta said, according to the report.

“When I see them on campus, I feel traumatized.”

Read more in The San Jose Mercury News