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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jaylene F., Youth Leader from Future of Tomorrow and Urban Youth Collaborative
9:08:27
ยท
3 min
Jaylene F., a youth leader from Future of Tomorrow and Urban Youth Collaborative, testifies about the negative impact of police presence in schools and calls for investment in student support services instead of policing. She shares her personal experience of feeling anxious and humiliated due to security measures at her school.
- Demands a hiring freeze on school cops and elimination of vacant positions
- Calls for reallocation of funds towards restorative justice, mental health support, and other student-focused programs
- Estimates that cutting 675 vacant school cop positions could free up $100 million for student support services
Jaylene F.
9:08:27
Good afternoon.
9:08:28
My name is Jaylene Frias.
9:08:29
My pronouns are my pronouns are sheher, and I am a youth leader with Future of Tomorrow and Urban Youth Collaborative.
9:08:36
Today I'm here to ask you that you start investing in our schools and communities and stop prioritizing racist police practices.
9:08:44
School cops are not helping us stay safe.
9:08:47
In my experience, I feel very anxious when I have to go to school every morning.
9:08:51
Getting getting to school and stepping into the building, the first thing I see is metal detectors, police, and scanning wands.
9:08:58
One day, I was wearing boots that according to them had metal in the stool in the sole.
9:09:03
So I got pulled to the side in front of all my peers I was doing something wrong.
9:09:07
For me, it was a degrading experience.
9:09:09
I felt humiliated and terrified while being searched as I saw this cop go over to me and tell me to stand in front of a wall.
9:09:17
The entire day, all I could think about was the feeling of being targeted as some criminal who did something terrible.
9:09:26
We do not need police in our schools.
9:09:29
All we need is guidance and real support.
9:09:31
My peers and I need to feel safe in what is supposed to be a sanctuary, and you finally need to understand the real safety to us means resources.
9:09:42
We need mental health support, more access to extracurriculars, restorative justice, and more guidance counselors so we don't have to wait for we don't have to wait weeks before talking to someone about our needs.
9:09:54
We need fully funded programs like community schools and student success success centers that provide us with some some of the extra help in the system that is failing to provide.
9:10:06
We need to be we're being set up to fail.
9:10:09
Today I'm here to ask you to prioritize our education, to look at us as the brilliant and unique students each one of us are and invest in our future.
9:10:19
I demand I demand you and the mayor to prioritize our care, not criminalization by first securing a hiring freeze on school cops that does not allow to fill for alteration.
9:10:34
Cut funding for the remaining vacant school cop positions and use funding from both of these divestments to protect and expand restorative justice, mental health, and other staff practices that help students learn and thrive.
9:10:48
You must cease all NYPD recruitment, hiring, and training of school cops.
9:10:52
Do not hire any new school police and permanently eliminate any school police academy classes.
9:10:59
This should be the first step towards full elimination of all school police positions.
9:11:03
By not hiring new cops and cutting the current 675 vacant school cop positions, we could immediately have $100,000,000 to protect and expand restorative justice, mental health, and other programs, and we need to have real state need to have real safety and support.
9:11:24
It is time for the mayor and the city to start prioritizing our education, to invest in the promising future of the city, to invest in us, the youth, the students that will hopefully someday be leading the city and our communities.