Research as Copaganda?

An Abolitionist Framework for the Study of Police in Schools

Authors

  • Hannah Baggett Auburn University
  • Carey Andrzejewski Auburn University
  • LaKendrick Richardson Auburn University
  • Brucie Porter Auburn University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14288/ce.v17i1.187224

Keywords:

abolition, copaganda, school-based police, school resource officers

Abstract

Recent global discourses about policing have interrogated the role of police (e.g., the #DefundthePolice movement) and amplified decades-old calls from scholars, educators, students, and activists to remove police from schools (e.g., #PoliceFreeSchools, #WeCameToLearn and nopoliceinschools.co.uk). Yet, copaganda continues to situate police, and police in schools, as necessary and desirable. In this essay, we present themes from the literature about school police. We then leverage those themes to advance a framework for the study of police in schools so that this research base does not function as copaganda. We emphasize an abolitionist approach to the study of police in schools that accounts for the history of policing as a racialized project, mobilizes critical and abolitionist perspectives, and takes seriously perspectives about defunding and removal in lieu of reform. We conclude by amplifying recommendations by abolitionist scholars and organizers.

Author Biographies

Hannah Baggett, Auburn University

Hannah Carson Baggett is Associate Professor of Educational Research at Auburn University. She draws on critical theoretical and abolitionist perspectives and her experiences as a public-school teacher to interrogate multiple educational contexts and junctures, including K-12 World Language education, teacher education, and K-12 school discipline policies and practices. Her forthcoming book Beyond Bad Apples: Teacher Education for Police-Free Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2026) prompts readers to unlearn assumptions about policing and punishment and turn instead towards abolitionist visions of accountability and safety.

Carey Andrzejewski, Auburn University

Carey Andrzejewski is Professor of Educational Foundations and Research at Auburn University. Drawing on qualitative, participatory, and critical methods, her research explores the development of critical consciousness and ethical sensibilities in educators and researchers in a variety of educational contexts to include K-12 school discipline, teacher preparation, and doctoral education. Recent publications can be found in Educational Psychologist, Whiteness and Education, and Taboo.

LaKendrick Richardson, Auburn University

LaKendrick Richardson is a doctoral student in Educational Psychology at Auburn University. With experience as a public-school practitioner, he brings a grounded, practice-based lens to his research. His scholarship critically engages abolitionist frameworks, historical analysis, and critical theories to examine how Black teachers support, affirm, and advocate for and with Black students in structurally inequitable systems. His recent article, “Hidden in Plain Sight: Enacting Pedagogies of Resistance,” (Multicultural Perspectives, 2024) reflects his commitment to educational justice and to envisioning more just and liberatory futures grounded in the resilience and ingenuity of Black educators.

Brucie Porter, Auburn University

Brucie Porter, PhD recently finished her doctoral work at Auburn University, where she studied the history of race, education, and policy in the American South. Her recent publications have appeared in the edited volume Never Gonna Change? (University of North Alabama Press, 2024) and Time magazine.

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Published

2026-02-17

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2026)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Hannah Baggett, Carey Andrzejewski, LaKendrick Richardson, Brucie Porter

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