Retired officers are back on the beat in E. WA. This time keeping grade schools safe

Scott Child greets parents and students with a warm smile as they arrive for the first day of school at Amistad Elementary.

“I’m excited to see the kids,” says Child, the words “School Safety Officer” printed on the back of his black polo.

“I think we’ve all got the first-day jitters,” he said.

It wasn’t just the first day back for the kids — it was also Child’s first day on the job in a new position and program the Kennewick School District is funding with local levy dollars.

The new program aims to put 18 armed officers in all of the district’s elementary schools. But the district is starting the 2023-24 school year out with just five officers covering 10 schools.

“His job is to be visible to the public and keep us safe,” said Amistad Principal Julio Blanco.

These officers are different from school resource officers, commonly known as SROs, who are employed as commissioned officers by police departments to serve at high schools.

This is the first program of its kind in the Tri-Cities. It’s also the first time a safety officer has been assigned to work at Amistad, a school of about 700 elementary students, three-quarters of whom are Hispanic.

The district took into account attendance size, building age and how many police calls are made in the neighborhoods when choosing which schools would get the program first.

Blanco said the district’s new program is an exciting undertaking.

“Sometimes there are safety concerns where having that additional safety support would make a difference,” he said. “His job is to be visible and make sure everybody’s safe, but also to create good relationships with our students and really change that lens of, hey, this is a person I can talk to or this is a person we can relate to.”

School security and safety

Kennewick’s new officer program also is part of a broader trend of safety and security investments being made in Tri-City schools.

Richland School District is in the process of planning the construction of new safety vestibule entrances at the district’s 11 older schools, including Richland and Hanford high schools. That work will likely start later this school year, said Richland’s executive director of operations Richard Krasner.

And in Pasco, district leaders have taken similar steps in recent years to address gaps in safety by investing in SROs, safety vestibules, staff training, social-emotional support and mental health resources.

School safety remains a top concern for public educators and administrators across the nation, especially as the annual numbers of school shootings and reported violent acts rise.

Roughly 41% of educators feel their sense of safety at work has decreased compared with 2019, according to a recent survey conducted by Education Week. But in general most educators, about 71%, reported feeling safe in their school.

What will these safety officer do?

The primary job of Kennewick’s new school safety officers will be to engage with students and keep the school safe. Combined, the five new officers have about 118 years of prior law enforcement experience.

They will be outfitted with a police department-issued handgun and radio, but will not have the power to make arrests, conduct investigations or issue citations.

School safety officers will be the first point of contact in the event an intruder comes on campus looking to harm students or staff. If that scenario were to play out, Child said they would radio police before making contact with the person.

“We’re really not a security force. We’re more of a protection force,” Child said. “Anything that we can do to keep our kids safe, that’s what we’re about.”

For this program, the district is only hiring former law enforcement officers who have held a peace officer certificate. Those who are hired are required to undergo a background check, firearm training and active shooter training with the Kennewick Police Department.

Child says this makes the program a great fit for recently retired Tri-City cops who want to continue serving their community.

“This is a really, really good opportunity for them because they’re only working five days a week and get holidays off,” said Child, who retired in 2019 after 26 years with the Kennewick Police Department.

It’s also important to focus hiring on seasoned officers because they’ve been trained in de-escalation tactics. Officers will exhaust every opportunity they can to de-escalate a situation before resorting to violence or force.

“It’s important because we’re dealing with people every day,” he said. “We want (officers) with very, very level heads who can see the big picture in things, who can stay calm in a crisis and de-escalate by any means necessary.”

Kennewick’s school safety officer program is being funded annually $1 million with funds in the school district’s three-year, $72 million levy measure that voters approved during the Feb. 14 special election.

The district is still accepting applications from candidates interested in the position. Pay starts at $22 an hour and includes benefits such as health care.

The five safety officers will work at two locations until enough are hired to cover all the schools. Here’s where they’ll be located this year:

• Amistad Elementary

• Amon Creek Elementary

• Cascade Elementary

• Eastgate Elementary

• Edison Elementary

• Fuerza Elementary

• Hawthorne Elementary

• Sage Crest Elementary

• Vista Elementary

• Westgate Elementary

From penitentiary to elementary

Child had only been in uniform for two hours before he spoke with the Tri-City Herald about his day-one impressions of the new program.

“The feedback has been very positive so far,” he said.

Child is a retired police officer with more than three decades of law enforcement experience.

His career started in 1991 working at the Washington State Penitentiary, where he worked as a corrections officer.

After five years, he accepted a job at Kennewick Police Department. He started out as a patrol officer before working his way up through the ranks of sergeant, captain and then a commander.

He retired in 2021 and shortly after went on to work as a bus driver for the school district.

“I’ve always wanted to drive big rigs since I was a little kid and I love working with kids,” he said. “Bus drivers are an unsung hero.”

Child played a major role as a temporary coordinator to help the district build this program from the ground up in six short months.

When he wasn’t driving buses, Child says he was helping form hiring criteria, developing the uniforms and job description and coordinating training with the police department.

Last year’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, influenced discussions around adding funds for more officers in Kennewick schools as the district began plans to renew its educational programs and operations levy.