Framingham Schools Not Obeying New SROs Agreement, FFREE Says

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A local group that has advocated to remove police from Framingham schools is sounding the alarm over the district's compliance with a new agreement governing the use of school resource officers.

In a recent news release, Framingham Families for Racial Equity in Education (FFREE) said that Framingham police and the school district entered into a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) in July. That document, based on a model produced at the state level, spells out police duties in schools, and limits when officers can intervene in school matters.

According to FFREE, the district has not met three key pieces of the new MOU: alerting the public that the agreement exists; setting up a process for students and staff to submit complaints about school resource officers; and providing data on items like school-based arrests and how much school resource officers cost the district.

"FFREE asks the Framingham School Committee, Dr. [Robert] Tremblay and Chief Lester [Baker] to comply with these state mandated standards to not put our children's safety and health at risk," the group said in a news release.

In response to FFREE, Superintendent Robert Tremblay said Framingham has submitted the new MOU to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for review. Tremblay said Framingham is waiting on guidance from DESE about how to report items in the MOU. Those items include the cost of SROs, a proposed budget for mental health support personnel and the number of school arrests, criminal citations and court referrals.

FFREE has been advocating for the removal of SROs since 2016 backed by students who say they feel threatened by police in schools — and the possibility of being arrested for minor offenses. The group collected hundreds of signatures on a petition for SRO removal in 2020. Framingham police still patrol in the high school and Keefe Tech.

Following protests in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd, Massachusetts passed a new state law on police reform. One part of the law eliminates a requirement that districts use school resource officers. The law also required school districts and local police to enter into new MOUs. The state's model MOU was developed by Citizens for Juvenile Justice and the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee