District presentation: SRO survey shows majority support but trustees press for disaggregated data and clarity on SSO differences
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Summary
District staff presented evaluation of its School Resource Officer and School Safety Officer programs, citing parent survey results that showed 91% of responding parents felt an SRO made their child safer. Board members questioned AI sentiment coding, sampling, and the difference between embedded SROs and rotating SSOs; staff said the district will prepare grant materials for the Feb. 1 application window.
District staff presented an evaluation of the School Resource Officer (SRO) and School Safety Officer (SSO) programs and shared results from surveys of students, staff and parents.
Dr. Carrie Giamon, director of assessment and evaluation, said parent survey responses indicated 91% agreed that having an SRO on campus made them feel their child was safer. She described use of automated sentiment analysis for open-ended answers and said that mixed or brief answers can be coded as 'neutral.' She also reported that staff and student responses skewed positive and that activity logs and law-related education classes are documented in schools' safety-assessment meeting notes.
Board members pressed on methodology and representativeness: Vice President Peterson and others asked whether the survey was sent only to parents at campuses with SROs and whether the data had been disaggregated to separate responses from campuses with SSOs. Dr. Giamon said surveys were administered to parents at schools with SROs and also to Manzanita and Ocotillo (schools with SSOs) and that the AI coding treats 'I don't know' as a neutral response; she noted data-cleaning steps exclude nonsensical inputs.
Trustees also discussed operational differences: SSOs were described as law-enforcement officers who rotate through campuses (less relationship-building), while SROs are embedded, campus-based officers who often develop deeper ties. Dr. Bailey and other staff said the district plans to apply in February for as many SRO positions as the grant allows and is reviewing campus-level data to identify eligible schools.
No action was required at the meeting; trustees asked staff to provide additional detail about survey methods and to include disaggregated SRO/SSO findings when available.