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Residents urge District 59 to track school‑resource officer involvement and adopt Be SMART storage education
Summary
Two public commenters urged Community Consolidated School District 59 to strengthen school‑safety planning by tracking SRO involvement and adopting the Be SMART safe‑storage campaign; one presenter shared FOIA-collected data suggesting increased suspensions at a school with SROs and asked the board for more rigorous evaluation.
Fe Costa and a second parent urged the Community Consolidated School District 59 Board of Education on Feb. 19 to expand prevention efforts alongside school‑resource officers and to make SRO activity more transparent.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," Fe Costa told the board, recommending the district incorporate the nonpartisan Be SMART safe‑gun storage program and pass a secure firearm storage resolution so families have clear information and resources. Costa cited local examples where Be SMART volunteers and police departments have provided bilingual presentations and parent‑night resources.
Allison Lisonbee Upton Lopez followed with a data briefing she compiled through public records requests. She said FOIA responses from three police departments and District 59 showed no consistent tracking of whether SROs were involved in school incidents. Using data she gathered for Grove Junior High and two comparison schools, she reported that, in the year after an SRO was deployed at Grove, out‑of‑school suspensions rose 73.9% and disciplinary incidents rose 69% while comparable schools showed decreases.
"So that does not suggest a safer school environment to me," Lisonbee Upton Lopez said, urging the board to require more systematic data collection about SRO involvement and outcomes before expanding SRO presence. She offered to share her analysis and spreadsheets with district staff.
Board members thanked both commenters and directed staff to accept the submitted materials. The superintendent and staff said the district’s safety booklet will remain available and that public materials regarding safety goals, procedures and data are included in the board packet and the district’s online reports.
The board did not take a formal vote on SRO policy or a Be SMART resolution at the meeting; commenters asked that the item be considered in future committee or board discussions.
