Both School Board President Gloria Reyes and Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway announced they will be putting votes before their bodies to end the police contract with the Madison School District!
MADISON SCHOOL BOARD
At 4:43pm this evening we recieved the following press release:
MMSD Board to Vote on Contract with Madison Police Department and SROs
Board Schedules Special Session Meeting for Monday, 4:00 p.m.
MADISON – Today, Madison Metropolitan School District’s Board of Education President Gloria Reyes, announced that the Board will hold a special session meeting on Monday, June 29, to discuss and vote on whether or not to continue the Board’s current contract for School Resource Officers (SROs) with the City of Madison Police Department.
“The safety and wellbeing of every student that walks through our doors each day is a tremendous responsibility,” said Board President Reyes. “As leaders in education, we recognize that now is the time to intensify our commitment to dismantling systemic racism by addressing inequities that only serve as mechanisms of division, and this decision is a significant step.”
“SROs, who are present in four of our 52 schools, are one component of a much larger comprehensive safety and security plan that works each day to keep our schools safe,” said Interim Superintendent Jane Belmore. “School safety is the responsibility of the entire community. Providing safe, secure and welcoming schools is necessary to ensure that all students have the opportunity to access learning in a safe student centered environment.”
The MMSD District Safety and Security Team, school leaders and the Board of Education will continue to guide the work of school safety with a commitment to ensure a comprehensive approach that includes the area of prevention, mitigation, response and recovery, maintains collaboration with multiple entities, is based on research and best practices, adheres to state statute and BOE policies and is guided by data.
MAYOR’S PRESS CONFERENCE
Just 7 minutes later the Mayor held a press conference to announce:
1. That there will be a resolution to end the contract with the school district to have police in schools. Sponsors include Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, President Sheri Carter, Alders Shiva Bidar, Samba Baldeh, Donna Mooreland, Barbara Harrington McKinney, Arvina Martin, Rebecca Kemble, Keith Furman and Patrick Heck. I’d expect Max Prestigiacomo, Grant Foster and Tag Evers to also sign on, plus more?
2. That she asked for police to expedite investigations into cars driving through crowds, but also crimes that may have been committed.
3. That she asked for the courts to expedite the Yeshua Musa case and have it be resolved quickly.
4. That they were looking into models that would shift mental health and other calls away from police and towards other qualified professionals. Arvina Martin was the person who spoke on this issue.
The full press conference can be seen here.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
Congratulations to Freedom Inc, the Youth Squad and all their patner organizations, allies and co-conspirators that have been working too hard for too long to make this happen! Sadly there is more important work to be done, but congratulations!!!!!!
