The newly-elected mayor of Boston has vowed to press ahead with her plan to remove police from schools - speaking the day after a 61-year-old headteacher was knocked unconscious by a 16-year-old female student.
Michelle Wu, who on Tuesday night became the first woman and first person of color elected as mayor of the city, campaigned on a progressive platform.
On Wednesday afternoon an unnamed teenage girl was arrested after Patricia Lampron - the principal of Dr. William W. Henderson Upper Campus school - was taken to the hospital to treat a head injury and broken ribs.
Lampron had reportedly asked the girl, at the end of the school day, to leave the grounds and the girl punched her, knocking her out cold for four minutes.
Wu, 36, was asked on Thursday if the attack had made her reconsider her policing policy in schools.
'No,' she replied.
Michelle Wu, the newly-elected mayor of Boston, campaigned on the promise of keeping police out of Boston's schools. She said that Wednesday's attack on Principal Patricia Lampron had not changed that
Patricia Lampron - the principal of Henderson Upper Campus school - was knocked unconscious in an attack at the school on Wednesday. A 16-year-old student has been arrested and charged with assault and battery
She called the attack on Lampron 'an incredibly horrific, tragic situation.'
But she insisted that having police officers in schools was not the answer.
'All throughout the system we need - particularly in this moment coming out of the pandemic when there's been such stress, anxiety, trauma on our families - to be putting more resources into social and emotional supports, into the wraparound services that our schools should be providing,' Wu said on Thursday.
In her campaign manifesto, one of the pillars of her education plan was titled: 'Ending the criminalization of students'.
Wu's campaign manifesto includes the pledge to 'end the criminalization of students'
Wu wrote: 'Metal detectors have been found to negatively impact students' sense of safety at school, while school resource officers (SROs) disproportionately criminalize Black and Latinx students, perpetuating the school-to-prison pipeline.
'We must immediately move to dismantle these punitive measures and reinvest in restorative justice practices employed by trusted, adult school community members.
'We must also codify a policy for stronger surveillance oversight and accountability that protects BPS students – including undocumented students – from having sensitive information shared with the BPD or the BRIC.'
A police reform law in 2020 eliminated the requirement of Boston's schools to have police officers inside. Boston police also lost their power to arrest students
