The West Liberty School Board voted to move forward with discussions on a school resource officer, but not without dissent.
The board voted 3-2 in favor of the proposal during the Oct. 7 meeting, with members Rebecca Vargas and Edward Moreno casting “nays.”
They also heard from two members of the public against the idea.
Todd Woodburn said he was concerned that adolescent behavior might become criminalized.
“I know my kid acts a fool sometimes, and I don’t want to see him getting arrested for that or have laws like that being enforced in the school. I agree with police presence in town. I think they’re close enough that they can respond pretty quickly.”
He wondered if any of the discussions the board had were focused on credible threats received.
“I want to know if you guys are having this discussion about police in the school because you’re worried about something that could happen.”
Hannah Chesmore-Potts, who has two children at the high school, said she was also concerned about the police presence in the school. She said that, while she understood that there were concerns about possible threats to students, she'd done research on school resource officers.
“I didn’t realize it, but federal data says that about 50 percent of districts have school resource officers. I think that’s a result of schools being under extreme pressure to provide safe environments for our students, but I’m just not sure if a hardening of our schools is necessarily going to create a safer environment. And I’m not sure that this is the right solution for our school in particular. I’m not even sure, and this is maybe because I’m late to this discussion, what problem the district is trying to solve by hiring a school resource officer.”
She agreed that school safety, fostering relationships between the community and law enforcement, and ensuring graduation and attendance rates remained high were important, but she said that her children already felt safe in school. “They feel really safe with their peers and their teachers, and they feel like the school addresses their needs well already.”
Chesmore-Potts said that the research she had done said nationally, school violence had decreased over the last 10 years, and “there’s little evidence to suggest that school resource officers prevent school shootings. The things that prevent school shootings are early interventions, proper threat assessments, gunsense legislation and access to services and support. I think that those solutions would be a better use of taxpayer dollars.” She also said the research did not show a link between police presence and improved graduation rates.
“As to youth’s relationship with law enforcement, I fully support the school in facilitating those relationships, I just don’t think schools have a fiscal responsibility in making sure that our local law enforcement have a good relationship with our youth. So again, I’m just not sure that’s a good use of taxpayer dollars on an already really stressed budget.
“Like Todd said, I am concerned that policing in the school criminalizes already difficult adolescent behavior that would be better addressed through supports and services.
“The research about the impact of school resource officers is generally inconclusive when we look at how it addresses safety or violence – we need more research in that area. But it is conclusive that schools that have school resource officers have in increase in expulsions, in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, referrals for criminal charges and increases in chronic absenteeism.”
Chesmore-Potts expressed further concern that police presence would negatively impact students of color, “which is an issue requiring special consideration for our district,” as well as undocumented students and families.
Board president Jacob Burroughs asked for clarification as to whether there was an increase in issues such as expulsion referral and chronic absenteeism before or after the implementation of SROs in schools. Chesmore-Potts said she had read a paper from the Cato Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, that showed the negative impacts came after the hiring of an SRO.
As the board moved into its own discussion, Burroughs said the proposal would be a partnership with the West Liberty Police Department, at a 75/25 split with the district for the cost, and the district carrying the majority. The funding would come from the school’s at-risk budget. Burroughs emphasized that this was not an agreement to implement the arrangement, but to allow the district to move forward on discussions with the city on a formal agreement.
Board member Rebecca Vargas said she had sent a letter to superintendent Shaun Kruger on the matter, but also wanted to lay out her concerns before the board.
She said that she had hoped the financial arrangement between the district and the city would be more equitable. “A 25/75 split is just a big chunk for our school budget to burden. It’s a large portion and so I felt that it wasn’t a very equitable portion of the budget. It’s a huge amount of money.”
She added that the school’s at-risk budget was usually earmarked for intervention programs, including iJAG, and programs to help with issues like preventing students from dropping out of school.
She also was concerned about the impact an SRO might have on minority students in a school as diverse as West Liberty.
“We’re so close to Iowa City, and I feel like we’re being short-sighted on the diversity that could be our growth in the future. If we use our at-risk funds for just one area, for a resource officer, then we’re not looking at the growth we could possibly have in the future. What if we have more of a migrant population? What if we have a more low-income population come in? When I worked in Iowa City, pretty much Spanish was not the language. What if we have an influx of French or Arabic? What if we have something like that (and) we don’t have the money then to support those students?”
She reiterated that she would like to see a more equitable financial agreement with the city. “More of a partnership, so the school could focus on education.”
Board member Edward Moreno also expressed his concerns. He emphasized that he had respect for the police department and city council, as well as Kruger and the administration team at the school. He said that the presentations the police department had given, while informative, led him to do some research as well.
He was concerned about state legislation allowing local law enforcement to act as officers for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While Moreno said that legislation was on hold, “it seems like these bills, they will continue to come back. I’m very concerned about that possibility.
“I know that you shared that’s not what you wanted to do … however, just like what we’re seeing with the voucher program, we don’t have a choice. We had to work inside of that system that was there, and I think that’s detrimental to our school district also. So I’m concerned about what the possibilities are if we have an officer in there and if the legislature uses that bill or it actually goes into effect and actions that come of that would be detrimental to our very unique demographics of our community, our school district and our citizens.”
He said that, in addition to the concerns Chesmore-Potts brought to the board, he had also heard concerns from other members of the public.
Moreno said his preference would be to table the matter for now, but he was learning towards a “no” vote. “I think it’s something that could be considered later, but definitely not now, based on what we’re going to see happening in the future. And I’m really concerned about the budget, too.”
Board member Kira Achen said that she had initially been undecided on the matter of an SRO, but after hearing the presentations from West Liberty police chief Joshua Houser, she was now in favor.
“I know there’s a lot of community members and teachers … that are not in favor of this. I think one of those reasons is because they haven’t listened to what we plan on using our school resource officer for.”
One of the factors that changed Achen’s mind was that the program would initially last for a year and then be reevaluated. Current West Liberty police officer Derek Holmes has already undergone training to be an SRO, and Achen said Holmes was already a known entity that related to the students.
Achen said she had also spoken to teachers and community members in districts that have SROs and “I heard nothing but positives.
“I feel like we have all probably done a lot of research … and I will say that in my research, there was a lot of support.”
Board member Audra Daufeldt said it was important that staff and community members be educated on the district’s intent in hiring an SRO. She said she had also spoken with teachers in districts with SROs and had heard positive feedback.
“I do think that it’s valid concerns with the budget,” Daufeldt said. “And I do think it’s valid concerns with our diverse community, but I really do feel like it can be an additional support for at-risk kids for another safety net, and community collaboration. So, I do think there can be a lot of benefits for it as well.”
“I’m definitely in agreement on a lot of these things, personally,” said Burroughs. “I am definitely concerned about the cost, of course. Nobody wants to be frivolous with any of the money that we’re given through the taxpayer dollars. I do understand that there are a lot of concerns. A lot of community members have reached out and even some staff have reached out.
“I think that I would agree kind of with what Kira and Audra said in that I think that there’s a level of communication that hasn’t been provided yet, just because I don’t think we’re at that stage yet maybe, of communicating out from the district what this entails … I understand why we haven’t fully communicated that out, or why it may feel like there’s some lacking information so far. I think that as people understand the intentions, I think they’ll agree that they are good intentions, that’s first and foremost. Nobody’s trying to bring the police in to arrest the kids. Nobody wants that, it’s not a good look, it’s not good PR that I have to deal with. It’s not good for the students, it’s not good for the district, and it’s not good for the officer to have to be arresting children. It’s just not good.”
Burroughs said the hope was that an SRO could act as a deterrent for problematic incidents.
He also said that he shared some of Moreno’s concerns about officers being used as ICE agents but said that West Liberty police chief Joshua Houser had assured him that was not the intention of the program. That said, Burroughs said he understood that in the future, West Liberty officers may not have a choice given potential legislation.
Burroughs reiterated to the board that the proposal before them was only the start of a long conversation. “I personally would be in favor of having the conversation. It doesn’t make us required to do anything other than have the conversation with the city. Get a document put together that says, this is what this would look like. This is our expectation as a district, this is our expectation as a city, and then what does the cost look like as well.”
Chief Houser asked to explain the 75/25 split in cost. “That’s the typical split between communities and cities. That’s based off the time that this officer spends during the school year versus the time they spend with the police department during the summer.” Houser said that he had worked with city clerk Shari Hoffert to come up with a breakdown of the cost, which he said would be no more than $75,000 to the school. He said he was still looking into ways of bringing that figure down. He also said the city would manage the officer’s benefits.
Burroughs asked Kruger and district business manager Abby Ortiz if there would be some state funding to help pay for an SRO. Kruger confirmed that approximately $15,000 to $16,000 would be available in state funding, and there was also a three-year grant available to help get the program off the ground. Houser said the police department could not apply for the grant without the board’s approval in moving forward.
“I know it’s an awful lot of money, and just as you guys are concerned about your budget, I’m also concerned about the city’s budget,” said Houser. “We just want to make sure that it’s feasible for everybody.”
Burroughs said opening a discussion with the city would go towards addressing and possibly mitigating a lot of the concerns board and community members had. Once a formal contract was agreed upon by the district and the city, it would again go before the board for a final vote.
Moreno made a motion to table the issue, which died for lack of a second.
Achen made a motion to open the discussion with the city, seconded by Daufeldt. Burroughs voted with the majority.
ELC equipment to fire department
The board voted to approve the disposal of obsolete equipment from the ELC building to the West Liberty and Rural Townships Fire and EMS Association. Kruger said the items included some lockers, a refrigerator/freezer and a sink. “Our district was approached to see if those items could be put to use by the fire department and we said, ‘Yes, that would be fine.’” Kruger said there just needed to be a formal disposal agreement from the board.