Portland Public Schools Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero tweeted Thursday morning that PPS would discontinue the presence of Student Resource Officers in schools and re-examine the district’s relationship with the Portland Police Bureau. The announcement marks an end of several years of conflict between the district and student and community members who advocated for the end of PPS contract with the PPB.

The announcement came after a week of demonstrations across all 50 states and the world protesting the death of Minneapolis citizen George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis PD Officer Derek Chauvin as well as countless other examples of police brutality against black citizens.

“The time is now,” said Guerrero. He plans to use “new proposed investments in direct student supports, including social workers counselors, and culturally-specific partnerships,” to make up for the absence of SROs.

In 2018, PPS had planned to pay the PPB over $1 million dollars annually police officers to patrol district schools, but student resistance halted the contract.

While several Twitter accounts criticized the decision, the tweet was met with mostly praise from the PPS community, having been retweeted over 400 times in its first hour. Many accounts commented that Guerrero’s decision is the right call for students and for racial equity.