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Parent and community member urges district to fix SRO hours, cites staff shortages and safety incidents
Summary
Public commenter Brian Woolley told the board SRO coverage fell from three to one and that staff shortages have left classes split and no janitorial coverage; he cited delayed police response to on- and off-campus incidents and urged the district to renegotiate contract hours with the vendor.
A community member identified to the board as Brian Woolley urged trustees to address a falloff in School Resource Officer (SRO) coverage and chronic staff shortages at the districts campuses. Woolley said SRO presence had declined "from 3 to 1," leaving a 1 hour 15 minute gap at dismissal when SROs are not on duty and that the absence of staff created unsafe conditions during dismissals.
"If we're paying $200,000, we need to get $200,000 worth of that service," Woolley said, arguing that SRO schedules should align with dismissal times and other high-need windows. He recounted incidents including students being jumped and a reported stabbing near campus; he said police response times were sometimes 20 minutes and that staff had to call for outside crisis services when incidents occurred.
Woolley also described a critical shortage of certificated and classified staff: "We are at the edge of what our site can compensate through splitting classes," he said, noting the school was down six regular staff and another six out sick the prior week. He asked the board to review vendor contracts and staffing plans so site-level systems can function.
A trustee thanked Woolley for raising concerns and said the district would "look into a few of those situations," but the transcript records no immediate commitment to renegotiate a vendor contract or a specific timeline for corrective action.
