Introduction

About Policing-Free Schools

Policing-Free Schools is a community-driven initiative focused on organizing for the removal of policing and carceral systems from educational spaces, while advancing transformative approaches to safety, care, and well-being. The work centers on advocating, mobilizing, and building collective strategies to shift policies, practices, and cultural norms that sustain policing in schools, with the goal of creating environments that are equitable, healing-centered, and life-affirming for all students. This includes leading campaigns such as the Provincial Campaign for Policing-Free Schools Ontario, as well as contributing to broader national and international movements working toward similar systemic changes (including organizational partners in so-called Canada, the United States and United Kingdom).

Their work, led by Founder, Director and Principal Consultant Andrea Vázquez Jiménez, builds on a history of successful community organizing, including efforts that led to the removal of police programs from school boards, and continues to provide resources, tools, and pathways for those looking to get involved.

Breakdown of Modules

Module 1: Grounding of Police and Policing in Ontario School Boards and Reducing Harm

• Introduces key concepts and foundational knowledge.

• Explores available data and evidence, defines what is meant by policing-free schools, and highlights examples of community-led campaign wins, while situating these efforts within an ongoing provincial movement.

Module 2: Overview of Police-in-School Programs in Ontario

• Examines how these programs operate in practice.

• Unpacks the different forms and names they take, who employs and funds them, and how they are reviewed, emphasizing that this is ultimately a province-wide issue rather than isolated to individual school boards.

Module 3: The Continuum of Policing

• Expands the conversation beyond formal programs to examine how policing persists in various forms within educational spaces.

• Introduces key ideas such as layered and tiered policing, the school-prison nexus, and the ways policing can continue even after specific programs are removed.

Module 4a/b/c: Best Practices for Harm Reduction

• Focuses on practical strategies and critical approaches to reducing harm.

• Distinguishes between reformist and non-reformist reforms, outlines ways to assess whether actions reproduce harm, and shares examples of policies and practices that can be advocated for locally.

• Addresses legal rights in relation to police in schools and highlights the role of community-based organizations in reducing carceral violence.

Module 5: Connect to Resources and Get Involved

• Provides pathways for continued learning, engagement, and action.

• Connects viewers to additional materials, tools, and organizing opportunities, encouraging ongoing participation in efforts to challenge policing in educational spaces.