MILWAUKEE (SPECTRUM NEWS)— On Wednesday evening hundreds came out to Milwaukee Public schools administration building hoping to get their voices heard ahead of Thursday’s MPS special virtual meeting, which will decide if Milwaukee Public Schools will terminate their contract with the Milwaukee Police department for school resource officers.
The movement lead by Leaders Igniting Transformation or LIT was founded 3 years to build up and train young leaders to use their voice to shape the policies that affect their lives.
“Here we are in June of 2020 finally close to terminating contracts between MPS and Milwaukee police department and we do realize that it took the death of another black individual to be shown all over social media and for uprisings to happen not just in the US but in other parts of the world for this to be possible. We are on our way to be the 4th or 5th school district and it makes us really happy to finally see this but its really unfortunate the circumstances in which they are happening,” says Cendi Tena, director of high school organizing Milwaukee LIT.
Former MPS student Ken'Triana McDade says Milwaukee police do not make schools safer. “It scares us. We don’t want to see people who have guns just roaming through our halls. We want a community where we can express ourselves freely. We are at school to learn.. that is the number one purpose of getting an education,” she says.
Most school districts have resource.officers, but LIT believes discipline and over-policing overshadow the bigger problem -- the need or mental health services.
High school sophomore Johnny Spingola says while having a mental health issue, he was pushed to the ground by a resource officer. “He pushed me onto the ground and got on top of me and said it's lunchtime you are not going to the office ..its lunchtime and you are supposed to be here so he got on top of me I couldn’t breathe and I felt trapped and my anxiety was getting worse,” Spingola says.
Stories like Spingola’s are why students and young leaders are showing up to take responsibility and pave their future.
The MPS virtual board meeting is scheduled for 5:30 PM on June 18, 2020 and will decide if MPS will terminate their contract with the Milwaukee Police department for school resource officers