Community Advisory Council

Assisting with SRO program review

Poudre School District's Community Advisory Council (CAC) reviewed the School Resource Officer (SRO) program to help determine if the program would continue in PSD schools.

In spring of 2020, members of PSD communities expressed concerns about the presence of school resource officers in PSD's schools. Concerns included but weren’t limited to the existence of a school-to-prison pipeline and the lifelong impact it has on some students in our schools, particularly students of color. The PSD Board of Education directed the school district to conduct a comprehensive review of the issue to determine whether to continue the SRO program.

The CAC, made up of community and PSD representatives, was an important part of the district's comprehensive review, which included community engagement, data analysis, feedback and recommendations to the board.

Board approves 2021-22 SRO contracts, SOPs

On June 29, 2021, the board voted to approve 2021-22 school year updated school resource officer standard operating procedures and agreements with the district’s contracted law enforcement agencies: Fort Collins Police Services, Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and Timnath Police Department.

For more information about the SRO program, SOPs and 2021-22 evaluation plan, visit the School Resource Officer Program web page.

Previous board updates

May 11, 2021, board meeting

At the May 11 meeting, the PSD Board of Education voted to direct district staff to continue the SRO program in PSD schools. As part of this decision, staff were asked to draft agreements between the district and the three law enforcement agencies – Fort Collins Police Services, Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and Timnath Police Department – that employ the SROs who serve PSD schools.

The board also gave staff directions to update the Standard Operating Procedures, or SOPs, that outline the scope of work of a school resource officer in PSD schools. The board indicated that it wants staff to integrate feedback from the Community Advisory Council’s final report and recommendations to the board, among other community and board input, into the contracts and/or SOPs, where appropriate. SOPs will be finalized prior to the start of the 2021-22 school year.

Spring 2021 CAC recommendations to the board

At its April 27 meeting, the Board of Education was presented with the CAC’s recommendations regarding SROs. Throughout 2020 and 2021, the CAC reviewed data, engaged in discussions and ultimately made recommendations to the board.

The CAC explored alternative models and best practices, reviewed data and community input (including the spring 2021 PSD SRO survey), tested for consensus among the group (the CAC did come to consensus on 50 but not all items) and finalized recommendations.

The Civic Canopy, a Denver-based outside facilitation firm that engages groups around complex issues, worked with the CAC for this months-long process.

Recommendations

Majority opinion: Eleven CAC members believe the role of law enforcement, agreed to in the final CAC report, can be implemented without SROs’ presence in schools. They recommend that PSD shift to a response model where law enforcement officers are not embedded on campuses. One option for exploration is for officers to fulfill the roles outlined in the CAC report but act more as liaisons to schools; they would be assigned to patrol areas adjacent to their designated schools to reduce response time.

Dissenting opinion: Four CAC members felt strongly that SROs should remain embedded in schools, citing response time in the case of threats of violence and the hope that SRO presence deters criminal or violent behavior. They felt that new Standard Operating Procedures, or SOPs, for SROs is a step in the right direction and that continued data gathering to inform new practices is essential. They agree the disproportionality of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) students being referred to law enforcement is a large concern.

SRO FAQs, CAC tasks, meetings and committee members

CAC Tasks

Develop a foundational understanding of the school-to-prison pipeline
Review / analyze discipline data from PSD to establish an understanding of the district’s current situation
Review / analyze law enforcement data from each contracted law enforcement entity to establish an understanding of the district’s current situation
Identify and evaluate the current state of each data set for indicators of the school-to-prison to pipeline
Identify ways for community members to engage so all voices are represented including those impacted the most
Provide input on the language and implementation of surveys that will be available for students, parents, PSD staff and SROs for the purpose of understanding each stakeholders’ experience
Review / analyze surveys from students, parents, PSD staff and SROs to determine common themes and suggested program improvements

Meeting notes

CAC Members

PSD representatives:

John McKay, director of Language, Culture, and Equity
Ruben Chacon, director of Student Services
Craig Woodall, Rocky Mountain High School principal
Alicia Bono, Cache La Poudre Middle School principal
Steve Apodaca, Putnam Elementary principal

Student representatives (3)

Community representatives:

Courtenay Daum
Rev. Sean Neil-Barron
Susan Lorimor
Rahshida Perez
Charles Yung

Other community representatives:

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color: Johanna Ulloa
School Justice PSD: Rena Trujillo and Isael Herrera-Santos

SRO data and information analyzed

2021 PSD Family Engagement Survey

The surveys and results are available on the PSD Research and Evaluation website. You can scroll through results by clicking the arrows “1 of 6” located at the very bottom of the website.

Three surveys co-created with the CAC and were sent to families, staff and students in spring 2021. These included questions about the district in general, as well as those specific to SROs.
Total Family Engagement Survey response rate: 7,255/27,469 = 26.4%
- Student (grades 6-12) SRO survey response rate: 1,999/14,940 = 13.4%
- Staff SRO survey response rate: 1,834/2,838 = 64.6%
- Results were presented at the April 13 Board of Education meeting.

PSD Internal Monitoring Report

Each year, PSD produces an Internal Monitoring Report, which includes key data as evidence of the district’s targets and the progress being made on each. The purpose of the report is to communicate clearly to the public about the outcomes PSD aspires to attain as a school district and to indicate whether key outcomes are increasing, decreasing or remaining consistent. This purpose reflects a desire to track continuous improvement efforts.

Read the March 2021 Internal Monitoring Report >>
- Note: The report does include PSD-specific student discipline data but does not include SRO outcome data.

State-mandated data reported from law enforcement agencies to the state

By Colorado law, local law enforcement agencies and district attorney offices are required to annually report specific information to the Division of Criminal Justice within the Colorado Department of Public Safety, including incidents that resulted in a student’s arrest, summons or ticket during the academic year for offenses that occurred on school grounds, in a school vehicle or at a school event.

PSD/SRO evaluation team

Task: To provide feedback about the SRO program and review the operation of the program (without the disclosure of confidential information) and discuss potential changes to the program.

Members