School chiefs want more campus cops
By JOSHUA STEWART
Special to Ramona Sentinel
The heads of two school districts told the county on Tuesday that they’re eager to see more law enforcement officers on their campuses.
“We find that the time is now to put those resources into place if at all possible,” Robert Graeff, superintendent of the Ramona Unified School District said to the county board of supervisors.
He was joined by Ralf Swenson, the head of the Grossmont Union High School District.
Their comments came moments before the supervisors unanimously approved a measure that gives the county’s chief administrative officer three months to work with the sheriff’s and probation departments to find a way to put more deputies and probation officers in schools in unincorporated parts of the county. Supervisors Bill Horn and Dianne Jacob said using these officers will make students safer and allow officials to intervene early to address truancy.
The two superintendents said law enforcement and probation officers are invaluable resources for their schools. They directly help combat truancy, act as informal mentors to students, investigate crimes in nearby neighborhoods and keep schools secure.
Swenson said he wants more officers in high schools because they change the campus culture. He said that when he was a principal, there was a palpable difference when there was a school resource officer on the scene.
“My best friend was an SRO,” he said, using shorthand for school resource officer.
As they have for at least the last 20 years, deputies are expected to work in high schools. Graeff said parking a deputy’s cruiser outside a school and having a uniformed law enforcement officer on campus instantly makes schools more secure and improves learning.
Probation officers will be primarily responsible for addressing truancy.
Ron Lane, the county’s deputy chief administrative officer responsible for probation and other public safety issues, said that truancy is often a precursor to serious juvenile and adult crimes, and an indication that a student might have problems at home. Schools used to regularly have probation officers, but the recession squeezed the funding for them.
The two superintendents want to bring them back.
“It’s really hard to teach an empty chair,” Swenson said. His district is the only one in the county to have a full-time probation officer.
Horn said law enforcement officers were an invaluable resource for improving the learning environment during his time on the Escondido Union High School District Board.
“This is a tried-and-true method,” he said. “It took my chronic truants into the classrooms.”
Jacob said she would like to see more deputies because they can help keep schools secure. She cited two shootings in her district, including one where a police officer shot a violent student who hurt two teachers.
“Hopefully we will never see incidents like that again,” she said.
Deputies currently work in 14 high schools under contracts with cities and school districts. Horn and Jacob hope to expand the school resource officer program to 23 high schools in 10 districts in unincorporated San Diego County.
Ramona Unified, Cajon Valley Union, Mountain Empire Unified and Jamul-Dulzura Union and other school districts might all see new sheriff ’s deputies.