On Tuesday, November 28th, the Claremont City Council held a meeting discussing a three year old predicament: the future of School Resource Officers in CUSD. The SRO program, established in Claremont in 2004, provides armed police officers who patrol all of the ten Claremont school campuses in case of danger or emergency. This specific meeting was geared towards issuing a new agreement between the city and CUSD that dictates how SROs will be governed going forward.
In September of 2020, the Claremont Police Commission formed a committee to evaluate the SRO program’s efficiency and effectiveness, and brainstorm alternative solutions for school safety. This was a response to Claremont High School students expressing their distaste towards the officers, and advocating for a reallocation of funds to student support resources. This student-movement proved ineffective as the SRO continued being a reappearing staff member on campus. However, studies show that SRO programs are not making schools safer, rather, their presence makes Black and Hispanic students feel threatened. More specifically due to the ongoing racial injustices and increasing number of police riots. On the contrary, some parents feel more at peace knowing that in the case of extreme danger, such as intruders on campus, SROs are present and their children’s safety is being considered.
These three years of discourse over the SRO and their presence on school campuses returned this November in a City Council meeting to decide the program’s future. Toward the beginning of the meeting the council resolved to only supply the funds for the SRO program for upcoming three years (July 1st 2023 through June 30th 2026), but later in the meeting unanimously settled on one year with the term ending on June 30th 2024.
This means the city of Claremont will no longer be responsible for paying half of the school resource officers’ salary along with their benefits (as they are doing now). This gives the school district exactly one year to gather the full funds for the officers themselves. The actual cost of the program for one school year (September through June) is an established $153,000. Currently, the city is willing to cover about $67,000 of the cost. Because of this joint custody, any decisions on the subject made by the City Council must be approved by CUSD before going into full effect and vice versa. Taking this into consideration, CUSD also must approve the decision the City Council had come to regarding the SROs, which, as of now, December 21, they have yet to do.
When it comes to CUSD’s final decision, both Council members and Claremont citizens have their speculations. Councilmember Jennifer Stark voted to diminish city involvement in the program at the recent meeting on the topic. In an email on December 6th she shared her thoughts.
“You know, I am not comfortable speculating on the BOE’s [Board of Education] reaction,” Councilmember Stark said. “I hope they respect the sincere discussion [the] Council had and appreciate the decision we came to […] CUSD believes strongly that an SRO on campus is an integral part of campus safety; it makes sense for the District to fund the position.”
She also wrote that she believes the city’s funding currently used on the SROs could be redirected to other parts of the community. “There are places in Claremont that would benefit from funding designated patrol, the business district around the 10 freeway, Peppertree Center, the Village, businesses at Sycamore Hills Plaza, [and] the parking garage are all areas where there has been an increase in crime.”
In comparison to the rest of the city, the crime rates of schools in Claremont are relatively low, with very little to no recent records of disturbances. No more than a few scruffles which have been handled by the unarmed proctors, have occurred on campus. Having backup on campus can be beneficial at times in case of danger and for the general feeling of safety, but with the costs put into the officer by both the District and City, many believe that the funds would be better off directed towards other things.
The timeline for CUSD’s response is unidentified for the time being, but until then, the fate of the SRO remains partially in their hands — and speculations are all that can be said or made.
