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Gilroy police and trustees discuss school resource officer program, evaluation and prevention priorities
Summary
Police and school board trustees reviewed the SRO program: two officers, a therapy dog and a year-to-year MOU. Trustees pressed for annual, systematic evaluation and discussed whether prevention programs should shift funding from SRO staffing.
Gilroy Police and Gilroy Unified trustees discussed the school resource officer (SRO) program at the joint meeting, with trustees pressing for clearer evaluation metrics and stronger prevention investments alongside the police presence.
Captain Juan Rocha said the department currently assigns two SROs under a year-to-year memorandum of understanding with the district. He named Officer Estela Rocha as the SRO primarily assigned to Gilroy High School and Officer Dustin Nodell as the SRO assigned to Christopher High School; Officer Nodell began SRO duty in 2022. The department recently added a therapy dog, Maui, assigned to Officer Nodell, which Rocha said has been "an instant hit with the students."
Rocha said the department and district track contacts, survey results and other SRO data, and that employee appraisals and a supervising sergeant provide part of the officers' evaluation. "We do have internal evaluation appraisals for employees, which is what we use to evaluate the employees. It's done on an annual basis," Rocha said.
Trustees and council members asked for more systematic, annual reporting and community feedback. Trustee Jennifer (last name not specified in the public record segment) said the district has asked for and received surveys of staff, parents and students and advocated annual review cycles rather than multi-year lock-ins. Another trustee urged that the SROs be integrated into school-based prevention teams (for example, school climate teams and coordination-of-services teams); Captain Rocha said SROs respond when called and their contacts are often social or prevention-oriented but are not formally embedded in every school team.
Trustees raised the question of whether the district's approximately $310,000 contribution for the program is the best use of funds and whether some of the money would better serve upstream prevention programs. One trustee suggested considering whether the district could reduce SRO staffing from two officers to one and reallocate resources to prevention partners such as the South County Youth Task Force.
The department described how SROs are used outside the school day: officers assist patrol during breaks and support summer school coverage.
Ending: The district and city signaled a desire for more frequent evaluation information and staff-level follow-up on joint-use, SRO integration and prevention coordination; no change to the MOU was presented for approval at the meeting.
