Auburn School District outlines expanded safety staffing, mental-health resources and anti-vape measures

Auburn School District leaders on Monday detailed a package of security and student-support steps they say are already in place or rolling out across district schools, including a director of safety, three full-time school resource officers, expanded campus-safety staff and a pilot program to detect vaping in school bathrooms.

The measures, described by the district superintendent during a city-hosted community safety session at Mount Baker Middle School, aim to address concerns residents raised in an earlier round of eight neighborhood meetings. "We actually started by prioritizing funding for a director of safety," the superintendent said, describing a position created to co‑ordinate training, supplies and threat-assessment follow-up.

The district said the current security and student-support lineup includes three full‑time Auburn police school resource officers (who spend the school year assigned to campuses), 12 campus safety officers who are district employees and are not armed, and increased mental‑health and drug‑and‑alcohol prevention staff so "every middle school and every high school has a full time resource for mental health," the superintendent said. The district also said it added a staff officer this year to focus on elementary schools as needs arise.

Administrators described layered security measures that combine staff and design features: locked exterior doors with monitored visitor check-in, entry vestibules in newer schools (a bond-funded feature), a security and emergency-preparedness committee, and a district threat-assessment protocol adapted from U.S. Secret Service guidance and run by trained administrators and school psychologists. The superintendent said Director Dean Ellens conducts threat assessments across schools.

On vaping, the district joined a class-action lawsuit against manufacturers it said marketed to youth, and the settlement money funded a pilot program to deploy vape detectors in bathrooms and other concealed areas. The district said the detectors "sense the vape exhaust and trigger" campus administration and security; officials said the detectors have slowed incidents and raised awareness, though they called the problem persistent.

District staff also highlighted non‑security supports they said reduce risk: digital-citizenship curriculum to address cyberbullying and misinformation, a suite of mental-health and prevention partners, and a new parent-communication tool (ParentSquare) that can translate messages into families’ home languages. The superintendent asked parents and community members to use an anonymous district tip line—distributed to students as a magnet—to report concerns, saying the district uses tips "to nip things in the bud."

Board member Shelly McLaughlin and others were introduced during the presentation; district leaders thanked voters for supporting a bond measure that funded some building-security features but noted the bond failed to reach a supermajority that would have funded additional work.

District officials framed the package as a balance of physical security, staff capacity and student supports rather than a single technical fix. They repeatedly emphasized limits set by state law on what local schools can do and urged community engagement with state legislators on issues that affect school safety.

The district presentation was primarily informational; officials described current staffing levels, pilot programs and past decisions rather than proposing a new board action at the meeting.