SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KGO) — The push to bring back school resource officers to high schools in Santa Rosa just got a step closer to becoming reality.
The Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education approved a plan allowing SROs on campus. This comes five years after the board voted to take them off campus and in light of recent violence that we’ve seen at high schools across the district. The Santa Rosa City Council will now have the power to approve a plan going forward.
“Don’t ignore safety concerns. They are not going away they are mounting!”
“They’re not there to intimidate, they’re there to deescalate. This has to do with safety, safety first. Our kids have the right to be safe at school!”
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A strong push Tuesday night from some community members for the Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education to approve a program that would put student resource officers back in Santa Rosa city high schools.
But that push came with some strong opposition.
“I am not okay with paying taxes for police in our school systems,” said one parent.
“I personally do not support SROs in schools because I don’t think that they are going to bring safety in a social, emotional way, to kids that look like me,” said one woman referring to her skin color.
Five years ago, the district opted to end the SRO program but now it’s back on the table.
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“Unfortunately, we’ve made too many headlines for the wrong reason in this community. We’ve had gun seizures, we’ve had stabbings, we’ve had students perish on campus. Everybody agrees we need to turn the tide on that,” said Santa Rosa Mayor Mark Stapp.
“Coming back into school after the pandemic year it became really obvious really quickly that our SROs were an integral part of our campuses and were missed,” said Kathryn Howell, president of the Santa Rosa Teachers Association.
After nearly two hours of discussion, the plan to bring officers back to schools was approved by the school board.
The superintendent says the past student resource officer program that was done away with in 2020 was not funded by the district – rather the city.
“Does the city have the money for a program like this?” asked ABC7 News reporter J.R. Stone to Mayor Stapp.
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“That’s the question, it’s such an important issue that this community is going to have to find a way to make this happen,” responded Stapp.
There are racial concerns about officers going back into the classroom as well.
“I think there’s a concern that there’s just white officers in classrooms,” said Stone to the mayor.
“Oh absolutely not. I won’t speak for Chief Cregan and the Santa Rosa Police Department, but there would obviously be a great desire to make sure the SRO team represents the community,” said Stapp.
The Mayor says the Santa Rosa City Council will now take up this matter and likely vote on it in May. Funding could come from grants or city funds. If the city approves the plan, officers could be on campuses sometime next year.
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