Dear Editors:
I am writing to oppose adding an armed School Resource Officer (SRO) to our school community.
Our daughter graduated from PHS just last June. Throughout her high school years, I volunteered on the PHS Parent Board and on the PHS Challenge Success Committee. Year after year, our students faced social/emotional issues that included stress, loneliness/alienation, and depression. Our school’s Healthy Student surveys repeatedly showed that these issues rose to the top. By contrast, students did not report struggling significantly with tobacco (although vaping is on the rise) or that the school environment felt unsafe. It would not seem that an SRO is the right fit to address the primary challenges of our students.
I also am concerned about the messaging that would result from appointing an SRO. I suspect that most people in support of an SRO believe that the addition of an armed police officer would add to campus security. Should students feel that their campus is unsafe and that we need a police officer on grounds? If so, after the tobacco grant funds run out, how will Piedmont either explain that an armed SRO is no longer needed or pay for this additional employee in light of budget constraints?
Numerous studies have found negative impacts on families of color if an SRO is introduced into schools. I would like to see more diversity in Piedmont schools, not less.
Finally, I believe that the School District does a laudable job of handling, with discretion, the myriad mistakes and follies of students whenever possible. I am not convinced that an SRO, a police officer, would always agree with the District’s discretionary calls, leading to foreseeable conflicts with students and their families if students’ non-felony-level mistakes were more frequently criminalized.
I believe that the potential risks outweigh the potential gains in adding an SRO to Piedmont schools.
Barbara Giuffre
Well said Barbara!
Deploying a Campus Cop
Driving a screw is a fine motor task best accomplished with a screwdriver. If you use a hammer to do that work, no matter how small the hammer nor how well you dress it up, the hammer will likely do more damage than good.
Clearly, this analogy informs the School Resource Officer debate.
What is the problem we are trying to solve? To reduce or eliminate the use of tobacco products and marijuana on campus? How best to accomplish this task? What tool should we employ to educate and modify the behavior of OUR students? Cops are not social workers. Cops are not counselors. Cops are not hallway monitors. Cops are law enforce officers.
If we choose the hammer, something will get smashed.