The Chelsea School District is considering a SRO to help with expanding security measures and supports

In thinking about safety goals, the Chelsea School District (CSD) invited Washtenaw County Sheriff Jerry Clayton to the April 10 school board meeting to talk about School Resource Officers.

The Sun Times News followed up with CSD Superintendent Mike Kapolka to ask about this.

In giving some background, Kapolka said, “Starting back in January, the district went through a formal process to review and ultimately set our district goals for the 23-24 school year. One of our district goals centers on school safety and specifically, expanding security measures and supports within our district.”

Since March 2022, when the district conducted an external security assessment, Kapolka said they have been in the process of reviewing options to increase security and safety measures in the district.

“The topic of a School Resource Officer (SRO) is one specific example that the district is researching to expand our working knowledge of what options are available in terms of additional tools that potentially enhance security measures within our schools,” Kapolka said. “Given Sheriff Jerry Clayton’s expertise and experience in this area, his presentation was beneficial to our Board in assisting us in building our own internal capacity as we continue to evaluate options for the 23-24 school year.”

At its core the SRO program is about safety and security.

During his presentation, Clayton emphasized that before the district makes a decision it should have good discussions and deliberation.

In giving some perspective for Washtenaw County, Clayton said law enforcement has partnered with some districts in some fashion since the 1980s. He said a SRO must be state licensed and sworn law enforcement officer from a local law enforcement agency. When a partnership is established, he said it’s based on a financial arrangement and a Memo of Understanding.

An example of this program is right down the road in Dexter Community Schools, which defines its program as part of a cooperative effort between education, law enforcement, and the community that promotes positive and effective communication between youth, teachers and law enforcement.

In Dexter, the school district says some of the program’s goals are:

Create a safer school environment by: encouraging more positive attitudes towards rules, laws and society; supporting conflict resolution and the responsibilities of citizenship; teaching young people the concepts of the criminal justice system, objectives of law enforcement--as it regards public and individual safety and assisting in the prevention of delinquency and criminal activity among young people.

Other goals are to dispel misconceptions about law enforcement and society; act as a sounding board for student and parent concerns; act as liaison with courts, social services and other community programs and be a resource for information and community presenters.

After Clayton’s presentation, Chelsea school members had some discussion and questions. Board questions included, but were not limited to, how effective is the program; how well are officers trained to work with students with special needs and one big question being, why should the school district move in this direction.

Chelsea school board president Eric Wilkinson said more discussion and information is needed as they moved forward with this topic that’s expected to be part of upcoming budget discussions.