As school districts around the country grapple with the role of officers in schools, Aurora Public Schools is renegotiating an agreement with a police department that has been the subject of intense public scrutiny.

District officials say they aren’t expecting much to change in the agreement, but some students and parents say it’s time to reconsider whether police belong in schools at all.

“You have the gun and all of that, the taser,” said Ashley Agyepong, a 16-year-old Aurora student, at a recent youth forum. “You see what’s happening on the TV and you never think of it, but then it hits you. Reality sets in. It can happen here.”

As protests roiled the country after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, demonstrators in Colorado renewed calls for justice for Elijah McClain, a young man who died after Aurora police restrained him and paramedics injected him with ketamine, a sedative.

Throughout the summer, police clashed with protesters, in one case breaking up a vigil by violinists for McClain, and new incidents of police overreach raised questions about the department’s culture.

In one incident in August, police approached a Black family in their vehicle in a parking lot after the plates were incorrectly flagged as stolen and ordered the mother and children to lie on the ground at gunpoint. Some were handcuffed. The youngest child was 6.

Neighboring Denver adopted a plan early in June to remove school resource officers, who are armed and sworn police officers, from its high schools, but the push hasn’t gained much traction in suburban communities.

Board members in Aurora made clear they would not “be followers,” and expressed less concern about their situation, which they said is different than Denver’s.

In an open letter to the community in June, Aurora Superintendent Rico Munn argued that the phrase “defund the police” should not be seen as radical or scary. He claimed that Aurora had already done this, because it increased resources for student mental health and training for teachers and does not pay the officers stationed at its high schools. The police department pays school officers’ salaries.

Munn said police in schools should be “the subject of robust debate” but did not take a position.

Now, the debate is resurfacing. While most Aurora students are learning remotely for now, eventually they’ll be back in schools and issues of racial justice and equity remain on their minds.

Aurora students held a virtual town hall last month where they expressed an interest in removing school resource officers.

Parents have asked questions, including Evette Mitchell, the parent of a student who last year was tackled in a school hallway by campus security officers, prompting calls in the district to rethink school security.

“Parents out here in Aurora are scared of the police,” said Mitchell, a mother of two Aurora students. “Schools are not listening to us.”

Some board members who have voiced support for the police officers in schools now have questions.

“I’d like to hear more specific examples from students,” said board President Kayla Armstrong-Romero. “There are changes that need to be made, but I think there’s a unique opportunity in Aurora.”

The Aurora school district serves almost 40,000 students, a majority of whom are students of color. It is considered one of the most diverse districts in the state. Aurora has two school resource officers at each of five comprehensive high schools, in addition to 13 district-employed campus safety officers.

Munn has touted Aurora’s relationship with its police department as a success and model for other districts. He said he’s seen a dramatic decline since 2014 in major disciplinary incidents; a significant increase in students, parents and staff reporting feelings of safety and support; and an overall increase in academic performance.

“Aurora Public Schools has been committed to this work for several years and it has led to safer schools and improved educational outcomes for students,” Munn wrote.

But a Chalkbeat analysis of data shows that while Aurora schools have made strides in reducing the total number of students referred to law enforcement and ticketed or arrested, Aurora Black students are far more likely to face any kind of discipline, including tickets and arrests.

District numbers show that in 2011-12 it recorded 575 referrals to law enforcement. The number declined to 186 referrals in 2018-19, but last school year increased to 220, even though students switched to virtual learning in mid-March.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit covering education in the U.S.