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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Madison District Joins Movement to Remove Police from Schools

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Tuesday, June 30, 2020   

MADISON, Wis. -- One of Wisconsin's largest school districts has decided to stop having police officers stationed inside its school buildings. The action taken by the Madison district comes as the nation reckons with how law enforcement should be structured and utilized.

On Monday, the Madison School Board approved an immediate termination of its contract with the city's police department.

Bianca Gomez is youth justice director with the group Freedom Inc., which had been advocating for such a move even before the police killing of George Floyd. She said black students are unfairly singled out by school resource officers.

"We know that when our children are misbehaving or doing things that kids do, they're not seen as children, they're seen as criminals," Gomez said. "And having a police officer in the school whose job is to find and seek out criminals, they're going to automatically target black children."

According to school district data covering the years 2012-2016, black high school students in Madison accounted for more than 80% of arrests, despite only making up about 19% of enrollment.

Opponents of removing police from schools say the training provided to these officers put them in a good position to handle certain situations that develop on campus.

But Gomez said in her group's eyes, community policing and other solutions haven't done anything to fix the issue. She said a police presence can be harmful to the well-being of minority students, and added that districts must enact transformative justice in schools.

"Instead of punishment, instead of racist disciplinary policies and practices in our schools like zero tolerance, we're demanding a way of solving problems and solving social issues and solving harm without causing more harm," she said.

She said that should include more mental-health evaluators.

In Minnesota, where George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, some large school districts have severed ties with local departments. But not all districts are following suit. The Chicago School Board voted down the idea, though more discussions are planned by city leaders.



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