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Poudre School District approves SRO contracts after presentation on mentoring, diversion and juvenile‑summons trends
Summary
The board authorized SRO contracts and expenditures after district safety staff and law‑enforcement partners described mentoring, training, traffic enforcement and diversion programs; SROs reported most school contacts were noncriminal mentoring or school referrals and 55 juvenile summons were issued district‑wide this year.
The Poudre School District Board of Education on June 9 authorized school‑resource‑officer contracts with local law‑enforcement partners after hearing a data‑driven presentation outlining program activity, training and diversion options.
Jared Sergeant, the district’s director of student safety and emergency management, told the board the SRO program marked 30 years of local partnership and that officers’ time is used largely for mentoring and prevention. “A third of their engagements are mentoring,” Sergeant said, summarizing the district’s engagement logging process and urging emphasis on relationships rather than arrests.
Sergeant and representatives from the Fort Collins Police Services, Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and Timnath Police described how SROs track engagements lasting 15 minutes or more, teach classroom sessions and lead response training. The district logged roughly 1,700 SRO engagements this year — activities that include mentoring conversations, medical responses, traffic visibility operations and classroom instruction.
On criminal contacts, Sergeant said the district recorded 55 juvenile summons across partner agencies this year; roughly 48% were classified as victims‑rights crimes (assaults that caused bodily injury or similar offenses). He said many incidents are handled through school discipline or referrals back to school staff rather than formal charges.
District officials highlighted alternatives meant to keep students out of the juvenile justice system. Sergeant described referrals to the city’s conflict‑transformation (restorative justice) program and to the Center for Family Outreach, noting the center received dozens of direct referrals for substance‑use and related supports. Sergeant said those diversion pathways outnumbered summons in several categories.
The presentation also covered traffic safety work: a targeted stop‑arm enforcement operation and ongoing visibility patrols intended to slow traffic near schools. Sergeant said officers contributed to district‑wide readiness through run/hide/fight trainings and a weeklong school‑violence scenario exercise that trained administrators and staff.
Board members asked about victim participation in restorative justice circles and the SRO role in disciplinary decisions. Sergeant and Assistant Superintendent Julie Chaplin said victims do have input in restorative processes and that most disciplinary determinations remain the responsibility of school administrators; law‑enforcement referrals are limited to cases with distribution, repeat offenses or credible threats.
After discussion about the program’s focus and contract details, the board voted to authorize the SRO contracts and related expenditures to finalize agreements with partner agencies. The motion passed unanimously.
