Chicago pulled many of its school resource officers out of high schools, braced for chaos, and then… nothing like the meltdown critics predicted. Instead, a new study says the district’s community-led Whole School Safety process may offer a roadmap for districts across the country trying to rethink what safety in school actually looks like.
Researchers say the key was not just taking police out, but rebuilding safety with students and families at the center, prioritizing equity, and pouring money into mental-health services and restorative practices. Early numbers, they note, do not show the spike in serious discipline problems that opponents warned about.
WTTW first highlighted the findings from a study by the University of Chicago’s Consortium on School Research and the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital. The researchers argue that the process Chicago Public Schools used to build its Whole School Safety framework, rather than the single act of removing officers, is what other districts should really pay attention to.
What the research measured
The study team dug into several years of Chicago Public Schools discipline data and school climate surveys, comparing high schools that removed their school resource officers with those that kept them…