The Columbia School Board unanimously approved a contract for school resources officers, after voting on many amendments and hearing a variety of opinions during public comment Monday evening.
Ken Gregory, deputy director of safety and security for Columbia Public Schools, said during a safety presentation that a school resource officer’s main responsibilities include building relationships, being a mentor for students and providing fast response times during emergencies.
Four school resource officers will work during the regular school year with one on duty during the summer. Officers will be stationed at Battle, Hickman and Rock Bridge high schools.
Gregory emphasized the importance of having a school resource officer during emergencies. He said that police patrol staffing is at its lowest during school hours and — because the average mass shooting ends in minutes — quick response times are “a big, big thing.”
During the public comment section of the meeting, Chriss Jones, a community member, spoke in opposition to having school resource officers.
Jones said no study has found that school resource officers are “actually a positive thing in schools.”
“What they found is that there is disparities towards students of color and towards students with disabilities,” Jones said. “According to national data, they found that in schools that have elected to have school resource officers, as soon as the school resource officers have gone into the schools, out of school suspensions have dramatically gone up.”
She claimed that in 2001, a school resource officer assaulted a 14-year-old student, giving the student a concussion and a broken tooth. After the alleged incident, she said, it was hard for the teen and their family to “trust the school staff.”
Noelle Gilzow, president of the Columbia Missouri National Education Association, spoke in favor of school resource officers in the district.
She also emphasized the importance of school resource officers being able to quickly respond to emergency situations on campus.
Gilzow said current school resource officers have been intentional about building relationships in district buildings “with students and adults alike.” She said she has personally witnessed positive interactions between school resource officers and students, “even those who don’t readily warm up to adults.”
She brought up that she’s aware having officers in schools is a “sticky subject.” Gilzow said she knows students and families have trauma related to interactions with law enforcement, which is why “securing this contract so that we have a say in who is in our buildings, interacting with our students is so important.”
Several district employees provided testimonials in support of school resource officers. They emphasized the importance of positive interactions between school resource officers and students and spoke further on responsibilities for the position, which could include coming along on home visits and meeting with juvenile officers.
Several amendments were made to the contract surrounding language in the document.
Board Vice President Jeanne Snodgrass proposed an amendment that states school resource officers must receive de-escalation training from an entity outside of the Columbia Police Department. Snodgrass said she wants school resource officers to receive an outside opinion.
Carla London, chief equity officer, said the district has a certified trainer in de-escalation and trauma, and that the first work day without students is when they are planning to hold the training.
Drivers education
The board heard a safety presentation from Superintendent Brian Yearwood and other administrators, which focused on drivers education, a informational campaign for safe firearm storage and school resource officers.
Helen Porter, chief schools officer, said that even though drivers education is not a mandated course in Missouri, the district wants it to be available for students.
Porter said the district is in talks with Joe Machens Ford, and that it will offer the use of two vehicles for supervised driving instruction.
“We will be able to, once again, get drivers ed in an actual car, to our high school students” Porter said.
Currently, a course is offered online, and students must have a valid Missouri learner’s permit to participate.
The course helps prepare students “for the challenges and responsibilities” they face as new drivers.
Students are required to submit a driver’s log book of hours driven, learn about road safety and understand how to safely operate a vehicle.
Construction projects
The board approved a long list of construction agreements and change orders. Included in the approved list are floor replacements and heating, cooling and air-conditioning replacements across the district. It also covered updates on additions and renovations at Jefferson Middle School, Columbia Area Career Center and Russell Boulevard Elementary School.
