Kids Deserve Safe Schools

Every day, our kids go to school facing undue stress and agitation. From fear of bullies to stress of gun violence to anxiety over a constant police presence, the circumstances for learning, growing, and thriving are often hindered. We want to cultivate environments where students have confidence to progress in their education in a healthy and safe manner.

• Implement and utilize restorative practices across all district schools;
• Prioritize mental health resources - including hiring more social workers and counselors - to support students;
• Increase transparency around disproportionate discipline and policing in schools.

More details on our goals can be read below.

As it stands, Black and Brown students and students with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by current disciplinary practices in CPS. Our goal is to help CPS restore social workers, counselors, and police to their respective goals and roles. In doing so, CPS students will thrive through restorative practices and mental health supports. Our already overburdened public service professionals will no longer be taxed with the work of others.

The vast majority of school incidents can and should be handled by teachers, mental health counselors, social workers, and restorative justice practitioners. By shifting to a restorative justice framework, students can benefit from the social-emotional support they deserve and police are not overburdened.

Polling conducted in 2022 reveals that parents of CPS students and recent CPS graduates want to prioritize social-emotional learning and support students by investing in experts trained to support students’ mental health. Together, we can make this a reality.

1. Implement and utilize restorative practices across all district schools. Enact a policy to fund and expand Social-Emotional Learning support staff so that teachers have more resources to support students in crisis. Expand the district's investments in restorative practices by providing training to all student-facing staff and CPS administrators, and ensure that training addresses intersectional concerns, including racial and disability inequities in suspensions, expulsions, and other types of classroom removal. Provide staff with necessary resources for restorative practices, including specialized rooms for restorative circles. Implement youth mentorship programs that connect CPS students with members of the Cincinnati community.
2. Prioritize mental health resources - including hiring more social workers and counselors - to support students. Enact a policy to prioritize funding and hiring for social workers, counselors, and nurses. Increasing student interactions with mental health professionals provides students with direct access to the emotional support services they deserve. By delivering these resources, students in need of mental health support can feel safer as they navigate challenges. To ensure that CPS students have the necessary mental health resources to be safe and supported in CPS, the district must hire enough staff to attain the minimum student-staff ratios recommended by the American School Counselor Association (250 students: 1 counselor), School Social Work Association of America (250 students: 1 social worker), and American Nurses Association (750 students:1 nurse). This means that CPS must hire 104 social workers, 83 more counselors, and 32 more nurses just to meet the minimum ratios to support CPS students. For schools with high proportions of students who have experienced Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs), CPS should affirmatively provide more than the minimum recommended ratios of student mental health staff.
3. Increase transparency around disproportionate discipline and policing in schools. Enact CPS policies to address racial and disability inequities in school discipline and policing. Require that data regarding interactions between school police and CPS students be collected and published to the public on a monthly basis. Enact, in consultation with community stakeholders, a clear Use-of-Force policy and intervention guidelines for mandatory police actions. Require immediate parental notification when police interact with students, and prohibit police from interrogating students without the opportunity for parents or guardians to be present. By the 2025-2026 school year, when appropriate alternatives—such as expanded restorative practices and training for school staff—are put in place, reevaluate role of police in schools.