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Parents and community press Fort Bragg Unified to alter SRO role after middle-school incident
Summary
Dozens of public commenters urged the board to suspend or restructure the school resource officer contract after a Sept. 30 campus incident; Fort Bragg Police Chief Cervenka presented SRO statistics and a training schedule while district leaders pledged community engagement and policy review.
Dozens of parents, students and community members told the Fort Bragg Unified School District board on Oct. 15 that the district must change how school resource officers (SROs) operate on campus in the wake of a recent middle-school incident.
"Students witnessed an immense amount of pain and trauma inflicted on a student," said Yahaira Valenzuela, a former FBUSD teacher, who urged the district to terminate the SRO contract, calling campus policing "harmful" to communities of color. Parent Krista Norman urged the board to "overhaul the use of forced protocols immediately," to require anti-bias training and to provide a public apology and counseling for the affected child and family.
Superintendent (district official) and Chief Cervenka of Fort Bragg Police provided the board with a report of recent SRO activity and training plans. Chief Cervenka said that in the first 40 days of school the SRO documented 51 staff requests for presence, 9 assault investigations, 17 parent or student requests for assistance, 6 incidents of drugs or vapes recovered, 38 instances staff described as potential violence prevented, and 5 weapons recovered on campus. He said the SRO has completed a 40-hour crisis-intervention course and is scheduled for SRO-specific de-escalation training in December and basic SRO school in March.
Board members and attendees debated next steps. The superintendent emphasized the item tonight was a report (no action) and said staff will continue equity work, convene an anti-bias committee and publish opportunities for community participation. Several speakers asked that the board consider site-specific changes (for example, pausing SRO presence at the middle school) and to provide clearer discipline and complaint pathways. The board directed staff to bring MOU/policy language back for further review and to organize community engagement, including a student-informed forum on school safety.
The board did not take immediate action to end or suspend SRO services at the meeting; trustees said they would return the item to a future agenda with edits and community input. The superintendent said disciplinary authority over the SRO, who is a city employee, would start with the police department in consultation with district leadership if any formal action were needed.
