PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The school board in Portland voted early Wednesday to remove school resource police officers from the city’s high schools amid protests nationwide and in Maine calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality.
The Portland Board of Education voted 7-2 in favor of the proposal after a seven hour meeting.
Superintendent Xavier Botana recommended that the district end the program.
“We have been prioritizing the safety of some over the trauma of others and it is within that context I believe we need to move away from the SRO,” he said. The agreement with the Portland Police Department allowed one officer each to work as resource officers at Deering High School and Portland High School.
The moves follows protests in response to the racial reckoning over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
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