DES MOINES, Iowa — Police officers in Des Moines Public Schools may soon be a thing of the past.
The Des Moine School Board met Tuesday night to discuss whether or not the school resource officer (SRO) program contract should stay intact.
School officials said they started looking into the program following the death of George Floyd last summer.
"We'll still use police officers when there are violations of the law that we need enforcement on campus for," said Jake Troja, director of school climate at DMPS. "But we really feel that the data strongly told us that we don't need an officer on school grounds every day to respond to those violations of the law."
Before making this decision, DMPS surveyed parents and students. The district also looked back at historical data relating to student crime reports.
"What we found is Black students, specifically, are six times more likely to be involved in the juvenile justice system than their white counterparts within our schools," Troja said. "So that was an extreme marginalization of students and we saw that historically done over the last 10 years."
About half of students surveyed by the district said having school resource officers made them feel safe.
Others reported feeling uncomfortable with their presence.
The Des Moines Police Department said they've provided the service in one form or another to the district for 22 years.
"It's been a part of the national narrative all summer long," Des Moines Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said. "The school district polled the families and the student body that they serve and this decision was the result of that. We're going to continue to support the mission to keep the school safe; it's just going to look a little different."
Superintendent Thomas Ahart said he expects the whole matter will be voted on at their Feb. 16 meeting.