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

Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education will decide on Tuesday, Sept. 19, whether to renew its partnership with the Las Cruces Police Department to provide school resource officers.

About 10 school resource officers across Las Cruces middle and high school campuses could be impacted if the annual contract between the two parties is not renewed.

Las Cruces school resource officers issued 1,798 citations last year

At a Sept. 5 discussion on the renewal of the contract, board members expressed concern over the high volume of police interventions — totaling 1,798 incident reports ― by the Las Cruces Police Department in its annual report.

Board members questioned if school resource officers, also called SROs, were an effective resource for administrators, teachers and students.

“The amount of citations seems astronomically high for 10 schools,” said Patrick Nolan, a board member, said at the meeting. “That’s like a citation a day at each [school].”

LCPD Lt. Joy Wiitala, who gave the presentation to the board, clarified by saying those incidents were inclusive of situations in and out of school involving students and families. Incidents ranged from serious assaults and weapon possessions to traffic crashes, theft, and drugs.

Board Secretary Robert Wofford said during the meeting he too was concerned with the data and questioned how SROs balanced enforcement with education and outreach efforts. He said having SROs in the district for public safety is important but may be worth re-evaluating.

“I want police in our building. I want police to be there when we need them and call them. I don't know though about having them in the building on a permanent basis,” Wofford said.

The proposed contract renewal would establish a partnership with LCPD to keep the 10 current officers at a base fee of $390,000, an increase from $333,000 last year. An additional $5,000 would be provided for training, according to the agreement.

As employees of LCPD, the police department would have supervision and discretion of the officers which complicates any oversight by LCPS. For this reason, Wofford explained to the board that it may be more effective to focus on expanding counselors and social workers who help students address root issues rather than continuously filing incident reports for individual students. He said all that is doing is potentially contributing to the juvenile justice system.

“We've got a difficult issue here. I don't think simply approving the memorandum of understanding for one more year and saying we are making our schools safer is true, though,” Wofford said.

The Sept. 5 meeting sparked much community outcry over the potential loss of SROs in schools, even prompting students to voice their concerns publicly. Board President Teresa Tenorio told the Sun-News in a phone interview that she felt the meeting did not suggest the board was set on removing them from campuses.

“I caught wind through social media, people sharing their concern and I guess I didn't pick up on it the way they [community members] perceived it,” Tenorio said.

Tenorio felt public concerns on the issue could stem from Wafford’s comments and misunderstandings of the open discussion. Wafford spoke for nearly 15 minutes about his own reservations regarding SROs while other board members listened.

“They're not wrong for wanting to advocate for whatever they believe in. So they watch the Sept. 5 meeting, or they hear about it from someone else and someone else is telling them. They have every right to go in and advocate for that goal. My recommendation has been reach out to your board members, I've only have gotten one email so far,” Tenorio said. deterrents

Student leaders say SROs are trusted adults, deterrents to violence

When student leaders at Organ Mountain High School got word of the possibility of losing the school's resource officer, they decided to say something.

Jeorgina Cardenas and Madelyn Danner, both seniors and part of OMHS Student Council, discussed the meeting with their peers in class after rewatching it a handful of times. They felt some of the points made were controversial, but regardless of what was said, they urge the board to renew the contracts because SROs are strongly a part of the community they serve.

“We believe that SROs are needed more than social workers or counselors, not necessarily for the fact of having them just to have them but rather because they're there to help us for anything, not just safety,” Cardenas said.

Danner said students have built special relationships with resource officers that may not be possible with a social worker or counselor.

“We're always taught to find an adult that you can trust just in case you need to talk to someone and for some people, that is our SRO. I think taking them out of schools is just taking a trusted adult out of the school, so I really think it's important to keep that trusted adult in the school for students and staff,” Danner said.

Cardenas argued that part of the issue is ensuring safety and security. Having a police car in front of the building is a deterrent to outside threats. She said she couldn’t imagine what could happen without that presence.

“I think if they're worried about the budget, it comes down to our lives and teachers' lives and they are priceless,” Danner said.

The board is expected to further discuss and vote on the contract at a Sept. 19 meeting. Tenorio told the Sun-News that she didn’t know how board members were going to vote and wasn’t going to speculate on the outcome.

Ernesto Cisneros is a UNM NM Local News Fund Fellow covering education. He can be reached at ECisneros@lcsun-news.com Follow him on Twitter at@_ernestcisneros.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Las Cruces public schools will decide on SRO contract Tuesday