The People's MOU (Memorandum of understanding)

Safe Schools Somerville - formerly “Justice for Flavia” - produced a plan that will protect us from the harms we’re worried about (weapons in schools, etc), all while limiting the harm that police in schools produce. This MOU limits police presence to the legal requirements under MA State law, and involves parents at every step when police are engaged by the Somerville Public Schools.

https://architectureofinjustice.com/people-s-policy-mou 

Police in schools cause harm

Here is a collection of data backed resources on this topic

https://www.cfjj.org/policing-in-schools 

Police don't stop school shootings

Really. They don't. And sometimes they make it worse.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/18/police-schools-may-not-make-kids-any-safer/ 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/26/us/mass-shooting-school-security.html 

Somerville School Committee Resources

Official School Committee site for the Special Policing SubCommittee

Official School Committee site :: Past Meeting Notes & Handouts & Upcoming Meeting list

Video Recordings of School Committee meetings from 2010 to August 2022  - this page is a bit of a mess, to get at the past School Committee meetings, scroll down to the bottom, click on "See more..." and when the page reloads you can filter using the dropdown to just see School Committee meetings. 

Video Recordings of School Committee meetings from August 2022 going forward - again, you can use drop down filters to find the School Committee meetings.

Support Flavia!

Architecture of Injustice - a website Flavia put together to document her struggle. This site includes a link to a GoFundMe to help offset Flavia's legal bills in her fight for justice. 

Talking Points

In early January 2023, the Subcommittee will vote on a proposal to send onwards to the full School Committee. The policy proposed by Mayor Ballantyne has good elements (some of which we proposed!), but before this plan moves forward we need the following guarantees:

• Police will not be stationed in any school building.

• A definition of a limited and specific list of reasons that administrators will use to call police into the schools.

• The policy must apply to the whole district, including lower schools.

• Parental Consent will be required for any “Relationship building” activities between students and police.

Our primary concerns with the City + District proposal lie in the vagueness and incompleteness of the proposal. Details matter in cases of policing, so they must be spelled out. 

Finally, as the proposal narrows the possible scope of imagination around how we might create safe schools in Somerville, we commit to continuing to broaden the conversations about safety beyond just being about police.