Police In Framingham Schools Will Be Focus Of Panel This Week

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Parents and students in Framingham seeking to remove police from schools will host a talk with Framingham State University this week. The event will focus on the impact police in schools have on students, according to organizers.

Framingham students and the group Framingham Families for Racial Equity in Education (FFREE) began pushing for the removal of police in Framingham schools over the summer following nationwide protests. Top officials, including Mayor Yvonne Spicer, Superintendent Robert Tremblay and former chief Steve Trask, were involved. FFREE collected more than 500 signatures on a petition for the effort. Framingham police typically patrol the high school and Keefe Tech, but those schools have mostly not been open during the pandemic.

Since the summer, changes at the state level have made it easier for school districts to remove police.

In December, Gov. Charlie Baker signed a new police reform bill. Among other items, the law ended the requirement that school districts station police in schools. That requirement was put in place in 2014 following the Sandy Hook mass shooting.

Some districts are already looking at phasing out police. Worcester is aiming to pull school resource officers by the beginning of 2022, although local activists want them out as soon as the beginning of the 2021-22 school year.

The panel will include former Framingham student Mateus Costa; Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee attorney Matthew Cregor; Framingham High School senior and Black Student Union president Gaina Jean Pierre; and Framingham State University sociology professor Zeynep Gonen. FFREE's Meenakshi Verma Agrawal will moderate.

The panel begins at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday and will be held virtually. If you'd like to attend, sign up here.