Community Speaks Out Against Bill That Could Lead To More Police In Schools

By Taylor Johnson | OBSERVER Staff Writer

A state senator wants to increase law enforcement agencies’ presence in local schools, prompting local advocacy groups to protest the proposed bill.

Drafted by Sen. Susan Rubio, D-West Covina, Senate Bill 19 sets to punish people who make threats at schools or places of worship and would expand California Penal Code 422, which prohibits criminal threats more broadly. Advocacy groups believe the bill will harm Black and brown students instead and widen the issue of the school-to-prison pipeline.

“As a teacher with 20 years in the classroom, I’ve seen firsthand how threats against schools disrupt learning, traumatize students, and leave families fearing for their children’s safety,” Rubio said in a March press release. “No parent should have to wonder if their child is safe at school. No family should second-guess visiting a place of worship out of fear.”

The Black Parallel School Board joined the Attorneys for Criminal Justice, California Public Defenders Association, Central Valley Movement Building Organizing Institute, Children’s Defense Fund’s California branch, Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, and other organizations in sending letters opposing SB 19.

“Factors such as explicit and implicit bias unfairly influence how teachers and administrators interpret student behavior, resulting in disproportionate adverse effects on Black, brown, and disabled students,” said a letter sent by the Black Parallel School Board. The letter also explained that SB 19 would worsen the problems in state penal code 422, as the proposed bill does not specify how a threat must be communicated. That could broaden the scope of conduct covered by the state.

The Black Parallel School Board’s letter also said the current penal code already has been used against children engaging in schoolyard disagreements, social media, and artistic expression.

“Schools should be safe, welcoming, and affirming learning environments for all students and should take measures to ensure the California Constitution’s promise of equal educational opportunity for all students,” the letter said. “Creating new crimes does not realize this vision. This bill, while intended to serve as a shield to protect school communities, is far more likely to be wielded as a weapon against them.”

Sally Ching, policy director for the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, said she believes the bill represents a reactionary response to common student behaviors. She said districts need more resources that support students.

“There are so often times where students are not actually a threat. They may be experiencing some sort of distress or trauma and just need support instead of just needing to be punished,” Ching said.

A 2021 report by the ACLU found Black students’ arrest rates are 7.4 times higher in schools with assigned law enforcement than in schools without, and their law enforcement referral rates are 4.7 times higher.

The report also found Black students are three times more likely to be referred to law enforcement compared to white students.

Onethia Yemona, an instructional aid working at a Sacramento City Unified elementary school, said she is very concerned about the bill’s impact on marginalized students, especially for those who are neurodivergent, Black, brown or LGBT.

“I am anticipating that if it were to pass it could be used as yet another excuse to punish and ultimately further criminalize our students,” Yemona said. “I am particularly concerned about the vague notions presented in the text of the bill.”

Yemona said the word “intent” in the bill is problematic, as young children and teenagers often say they will do things they do not intend to carry out because they may not fully grasp the ramifications of their words.

Yemona also had issues with the bill’s use of the word “threat.”

“The threats that students often make are a direct result of frustration about not being heard, understood or about incidents of bullying not being addressed while they are at school,” she said. “The bill completely disregards the role of responsible adults at schools to mitigate the conflicts between students or staff and to prevent the escalation of those conflicts into threats or violence.”

Yemona believes lawmakers’ ultimate goal should be to invest in caring and knowledgeable educators, staff and mental health professionals, not law enforcement.

Yemona said lawmakers “prioritize siphoning off funding to law enforcement under the guise of ensuring safety” while in the meantime cutting budgets to school districts. She said such choices leave districts unable to hire needed counselors and support staff who can “intervene in real time to prevent escalation to violent outcomes.”

Local parent Charlotte Banks agreed the bill can lead to harm and can create a faster and shorter ushering of children for the school-to-prison pipeline. She believes the bill will justify and normalize anti-Blackness and create more trauma for Black children.

“In America’s current cultural zeitgeist Black children’s emotions are criminalized,” Banks said. “Black children’s joy, sadness, and excitement are treated as aggressive and something to stamp out and/or control, versus soothe or understand. SB 19 is a codification to criminalize Black children’s emotions.”