Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education renews school resource officer contract

In a night filled with emotion and testimony from students, parents, staff and community members, the Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education took up a vote in its Sept. 19 meeting on whether to renew a school resource officer contract.

Discussion of the topic continued from the last board meeting on Sept. 5 where board members talked about the district’s partnership with the Las Cruces Police Department and student incident data presented by the LCPD at that meeting.

Board Secretary Robert Wofford suggested exploring alternative solutions to student interventions, which sparked much community concern over the potential loss of school resource officers, known as SROs, throughout the district. A filled boardroom anxiously waited for the board to take up the agenda item. After much discussion by each member and expressed gratitude for the community’s input, a decision was made. Here’s what was said going into that vote:

A proactive solution

In a 4-1 vote, the board decided to renew the contract with LCPD for another year but had some suggestions for the ongoing partnership. One was to look at how SROs can better help students beyond safety and interpersonal relationships. Another was examining how student incident report data is documented and what that means for the district. The overall takeaway, however, was that an approved contract wasn’t an end-all solution. It should be proactive.

“I’m going to continue looking at that research and the data through an equity lens because why wouldn’t we, that’s what we’re here to do," Board President Teresa Tenorio said. "I feel it’s important that kids and families feel that they’re coming to school and are safe enough to study and I want our employees to also feel safe in that environment. I also know that an SRO is not enough. More needs to be done."

Related story: Las Cruces School Board to decide on $390K school resource officer contract Tuesday

Board member Pamela Cort expressed concerns that SROs weren’t as actively engaged with their schools and supporting as many students as possible. She said the expectation is that all SROs are performing their duties but it’s unclear how that translates across all schools. It's something to consider if they are not, she said.

“I commend them for the work that they do and the relationships they make with the kids, but I have also been present in schools where the SROs have not maintained those relationships where they remain in their office, where there’s sometimes some demeaning language given to kids … when we have things like that then it becomes not a mutual agreement that’s good for everyone,” Cort said.

Cort argued that SROs need to be vetted, properly trained and have the willingness to work with kids. LCPD Lt. Joy Wiitala, the supervisor of the SRO program, told the board at the Sept. 5 meeting that officers go through a competitive selection process before being assigned to a school.

Board Secretary Robert Wofford shared a different take regarding SRO effectiveness. At the Sept. 5 meeting, he suggested exploring other options for students and staff like expanding school counselors and social workers. He said he wasn’t sure SROs needed to be in schools permanently, citing reports and research he read from the Department of Justice and Education along with other publications.

Expressing concerns about a “school-to-prison pipeline,” Wofford reaffirmed his support for school safety but shared his uncertainty about moving forward with the program. At the start of the discussions, he said he was torn on the renewal but ended up being the sole member to vote against it.

“If we continue to have SROs, I would hope we would have some sort of data-driven root cause analysis about what the experience is that our students have with SROs because perception is one thing but what the data shows us is another,” Wofford said. “It’s a very difficult topic on my mind but I want to know that I am serving the students at this school district and not allowing those who are unseen or not in this room to do that school-to-prison pipeline.”

As for Board members Carol Cooper and Patrick Nolan, they voted to support the contract but brought up the data of student incident reports presented last meeting. Cooper said the LCPD report, stating 1,798 incidents in total made last year, was only a fraction of the student population within LCPS and didn’t tell the full story of the SRO/student relationship. She said that oftentimes times students learn to have a better understanding of law enforcement when SROs are present.

“A student who does have any connection with law enforcement, especially the law enforcement who care enough to make this a part of their careers, I think that this is a huge blessing to our students,” Cooper said.

Nolan explained that it would be optimal to have zero reports considering that a report could be a disruption to class time, but he understood how that might be a challenge with a district as large as LCPS. On the same note as board member Wofford, he said it was worth looking into which student groups are being impacted most by SRO encounters and reports. This would help to determine how the district should be helping and supporting those students.

Before the contract was voted on, Tenorio told community members in attendance and those who spoke during open comment that their voice and input was valuable during this discussion. She said it showed how involvement and discourse are needed in board decisions and encouraged them to continue those efforts on future issues.

Community supports SROs during public comment

More than 20 individuals signed up to speak for public comment during the Sept.19 board meeting, most speaking on the topic of SROs. Here’s what a student, a principal and a community member had to say before the board voted.

“As a principal of a middle (school) with over 1,000 kids, I want you to know that I feel better when I have a police officer who’s on campus if something extreme happens … to make sure that everyone on that campus stays safe. I know there’s a perception that they sit around and do nothing and that’s not true. They help us with lock-ins, drills, evacuation drills, they serve on a safety committee … SROs are an integral part [of our schools],” said Shawn Mena, the principal at Camino Real Middle School.

Community member Kelly Bloomfield spoke to Wofford’s concern on the “school-to-prison pipeline.” She thanked him for his perspective on the issue but cited information from the LCPD’s website about what happens when kids are issued juvenile citations.

“This program works to provide alternatives to detention. It’s breaking the school-to-prison pipeline you referred to at the last meeting. There’s a whole lot of bullet points and things that kids go through in training once they’re referred to this program … I just want you to know that these kids have more to say than any of us possibly can,” she said.

Jeremiah Young, a student at Arrowhead Early College High School, said the presence of an officer can give students some assurance that they’re safe in their learning environment.

“Having a police car in front of our schools makes students feel safer, I feel it’s fair to say many school shootings were stopped before they even started because the perpetrator saw a police car in front of the school and knew that someone was inside protecting the students,” Young said.

The renewed contract took immediate effect following the board’s vote on Sept. 19 and will run until June 30, 2024.

Ernesto Cisneros is a reporting fellow with the UNM/NM Local News Fund program. He covers education for the Sun-News and can be reached at ECisneros@lcsun-news.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter at @_ernestcisneros.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Las Cruces School Board renews school resource officer contract