PORTLAND (WGME)- Portland’s school board is expected to vote Tuesday on whether or not to keep school resource officers.

As the Black Lives Matter protests continue, and with many of their student body attending said protests, Portland and Deering high schools are considering ending their “memorandum of understanding” with the PPD.

In addition to the on-going protests, the vote also stems from research done by the school board ahead of time, which indicates that school resource officers do not “improve real or perceived school safety”, in tandem with student reports of feeling intimidated by officers.

If the the program were to be discontinued, all funding that would typically go towards in-school officers would instead be allocated to equity programs.

An alternative to the proposal is extending the school resource contract by a single year to allow the board more time to decide on removing the program.