Fight to bring police back on school grounds heats up in Los Angeles

Los Angeles public schools should be allowed to decide whether or not police officers are stationed on school grounds, a safety task force, responding to calls by parents to restore officers, has recommended.

If adopted, the move would reverse hard-fought wins by student activists to keep police off campuses.

Currently, school police officers in the Los Angeles Unified School District spend their time patrolling areas around the school and are there to respond if there are emergencies.

The safety task force, established by the Board of Education, has sought to find ways to curb a rise in fights on campus as well as clamp down on vaping and the use of drugs, including fentanyl.

District data show a sharp rise in what the school system refers to as "fighting/physical aggression" incidents. The numbers have increased every year, except in years that students learned remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2017-18, the number of incidents was 2,270. In 2019, there was a 2% increase to 2,315. After students returned to school, the incidents jumped 28% in 2021-22 and by more than 54% year-over-year in 2022-23, according to data provided by the Los Angeles Times. As of April 15, the date of the most recent data available, the number sits at 4,786 — with more than two months to go this school year.

More than two dozen parents have called for increased police staffing and the return of officers on school grounds after an April 15 incident at George Washington Preparatory High School in South Los Angeles.

In that incident , which took place a few blocks from campus, a 15-year-old student died after an adult, a member of the "safe passages" program designed to make sure students get safely to and from school, was caught on camera before a fight broke out saying: "Let them ... fight. If they want to fight, let the ... police [inaudible]. ... I'm not breaking up s***. I don't give a f***." Ten seconds after the fight began, one against five, three shots were heard, and Elijah McGinnis III fell to the ground. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

“One student died because safe passages does not work,” said Diane Guillen, a leader on a key district parent advisory council.

Guillen said a parent group is collecting more than 2,000 signatures to demand the school board allow police back on school grounds.

The push is expected to be met with reluctance from student activists as well as members of the politically influential teachers union United Teachers Los Angeles.

Last year, at Susan Miller Dorsey High School in South Los Angeles, students said they felt safer and more respected after the school's police officer was dismissed. They said they were able to focus more on classwork and sought the aid of additional counselors when problems arose.

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While the school board is not expected to decide immediately on the return of police officers to campus, Los Angeles Unified School District schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho is purportedly revising a safety plan.

Calls to the teachers union as well as Carvalho by the Washington Examiner for comment were not returned.