How South Side High Schools Voted To Keep Or Remove Cops

From the South Side Weekly:

Published on August 19, 2020

By Jacqueline Serrato

In contrast with school districts in other cities, Chicago’s Board of Education voted in June 4-3 against terminating Chicago Public Schools’ $33 million contract with the Chicago Police Department. Officials said that cops-in-schools decisions were better left to seventy-two individual Local School Councils (LSCs) and that they had until August 15 to do so.

Seventeen schools in the city did not have enough votes (aka quorum) and nine schools in the city had no LSCs or had “non-functioning” LSCs, which the CPS website defined as those unable to convene members besides the principal. Charter schools don’t participate in the School Resource Officer (SRO) program.

With Mayor Lori Lightfoot reluctantly allowing CPS to do full-time remote learning for the fall semester under pressure from parents and teachers due to consistent COVID-19 trends, the school board recently had to slash its CPD budget in half. The board expects to vote on renewing its contract August 26. Here’s how South Side high schools voted:

High School with SROs
LSC Votes
Result

Air Force Academy
12-0
Keep

Austin Academy
No quorum
Keep

Back of the Yards
6-5
Remove

Bogan
No quorum
Keep

Bowen
No quorum
Keep

Bronzeville
No active LSC
Keep

Carver Military Academy
No quorum
Keep

Chicago Vocational
10-0
Keep

Collins Academy
No active LSC
Keep

Corliss
8-1
Keep

Crane Medical
No quorum
Keep

Curie Metropolitan
7-4
Remove

Dunbar Vocational
No quorum
Keep

Dyett Arts
No active LSC
Keep

Farragut Academy
8-0
Keep

Fenger
No active LSC
Keep

Gage Park
4-3
Keep

Goode
8-0
Keep

Hancock
6-4
Remove

Harlan
No quorum
Keep

Harper
5-3
Keep

Hirsch Metropolitan
No quorum
Keep

Hubbard
9-0
Keep

Hyde Park
9-0
Keep

Jones College Prep
7-5
Keep

Juarez Academy
7-1
Remove

Julian
No quorum
Keep

Kelly
6-Y;4-N
Remove

Kennedy
7-1
Keep

Kenwood
9-0
Keep

King College Prep
6-3
Keep

Lindblom Math and Science
7-4
Keep

Little Village Lawndale
11-9
Keep

Manley Career Academy
No active LSC
Keep

Marshall
No quorum
Keep

Morgan Park
10-0
Keep

Phillips Academy
No vote
Remove

Raby
No active LSC
Keep

Richards Career Academy
7-3
Keep

Solorio Academy
7-1
Keep

Tilden
No quorum
Keep

Washington
6-5
Remove

Westinghouse College Prep
6-4
Keep

Williams Prep
No quorum
Keep

Young Magnet
8-5
Keep

Visit cps.edu/votesro for final tally

✶ ✶ ✶ ✶

Jacqueline Serrato is the Editor-In-Chief of the South Side Weekly. She last wrote about the intersection of Black Lives Matter and decolonization.

The South Side Weekly is a nonprofit newspaper dedicated to supporting cultural and civic engagement on the South Side, and to developing emerging journalists, writers, and artists. Read more at southsideweekly.com.