Hundreds of Bothell High School students walk out after WA school board removes cops on campus

( Post Millennial )

Hundreds of Bothell High School students walked out of class on Monday after the Northshore School Board voted to eliminate the school’s longtime School Resource Officer program, a decision many students say ignored overwhelming community support and misrepresented minority students.

Students estimated that roughly two-thirds of the student body participated in the demonstration, equating to hundreds of students, protesting the removal of Officer Garrett Ware, an armed Bothell Police Department officer who has served on campus since 2017. Bothell High was the last school in the district to continue retaining an SRO after Northshore eliminated the program at Woodinville High School in 2022.

The walkout came just days after four of the district’s five board members voted against renewing Ware’s contract despite support from students, parents, faculty, and school administrators. During public debate over the program, several board members cited concerns about racial equity and student harm tied to police presence in schools. But some minority student leaders say they felt their communities were being used to justify a decision they did not support. Students have collected over 3,600 signatures on a petition to reinstate the SRO.

Malik Lopez-Terron, president of Bothell High’s Black Student Union, pushed back against claims that minority students broadly opposed the officer’s presence. He told Fox 13, “We have had conversations during our club times about the SRO program,” Lopez-Terron said. “And I can say only one student has ever expressed discomfort with our program. But we don't just remove a teacher whenever one student feels uncomfortable, and that student doesn't represent our values as a whole.”

Lopez-Terron also criticized district officials for invoking concerns from “students of color” without providing evidence to support those claims. “They're using some reports of colored students feeling unsafe with an officer on campus, but they're not able to provide those reports,” he said.

Students and parents repeatedly argued that the board ignored the actual experiences of students who interact with Officer Ware daily. “They voted without educating themselves on what he does at this school on a day-to-day basis,” parent Erin Peistrup told the outlet. “It's not just about safety; he engages with everyone on this campus; they adore him, they love him.”

The controversy comes amid ongoing concerns over school violence in the Seattle area after multiple districts moved to eliminate police on campus following the 2020 George Floyd riots. Seattle Public Schools removed School Engagement Officers in 2020. Since then, the district has faced a string of violent incidents, including fatal shootings.

Students at Bothell High pointed to a recent knife-related incident on campus as evidence that the SRO program remains necessary. Student body president Avery Jensen told KOMO News that Officer Ware responded immediately during the lockdown. “We were in lockdown in our classrooms for around an hour, and he was there to respond right away,” Jensen said. “It just is such a sense of security at our school.”