Santa Rosa City Schools Board approves police officers back on campus
Safety signs posted around Maria Carrillo High School campus (Natalia Woods / The Puma Prensa)
Written By: Natalia Woods, A&E Editor, and Maya Ferrari, Opinion Editor
In a special Board meeting held on Tuesday night March 25, 2025, the Santa Rosa City Schools Board passed a motion for a School Resource Officer program at schools in the district. This decision came after nearly five years without these officers, voted by the board back in 2020.
Tuesday night’s board meeting was a mix of emotions, fueled by different perspectives on the issue concerning the safety of students in schools and police at school. Trustee De La Torre was the first to push for a motion to approve the SRO program. “We want (SROs) to be a part of the collaborative team that works in unison to support and protect our students,” De La Torre said. He further brought up the issue of the violence that has occurred on various campuses, explaining that “Unfortunately, incidents have continued to happen…and there have been no SROs on campus to help de-escalate and provide safety.”
Members of the community also had split feelings on the night’s decision. Melissa Stewart, a concerned community member, asked the Board to “do the right thing this time. Don’t ignore safety concerns. They are not going away, they’re increasing.” Anabell Nunez, another concerned member, prefaced her address to the Board by saying she “represents every child of color,” and asked the Board, “How are you going to protect our children from those police officers who have previously and still violate our children's civil rights?”
Trustee Omar Medina was the main opponent to this motion, feeling like there needed to be more community and staff input before a real decision was made. Ultimately, De La Torre made a motion to reinstate an agreement for the SRO program. In a 4-2 vote, the motion passed.
The 25-year-old SRO program at schools in the district was put on pause by the Board in 2020 in a unanimous vote, sparked by the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement that occurred in that same year. This movement raised the issue that minorities and students of color have historically experienced harsher discipline than their peers in public school. This racial disparity caused schools on a nationwide level to reevaluate the use of police officers in schools, and Santa Rosa City Schools also decided against the use of officers. This resulted in the funds previously used for this program being shifted toward mental health professionals on campus.
Three years after the officers’ removal, a fatal stabbing occurred at Montgomery High School. This traumatic event led many students to advocate for the SRO program to be reinstated, arguing for their need for safety. After many students from MHS and community members fought for this change, the Superintendent at the time, Anna Trunnel, decided to implement a “pilot program” that brought police officers onto some school campuses.
Although this seems like a big jump forward, this program lacked a real timeline and thus was not followed through efficiently. The following year, three violent incidents occurred on SRCS campuses; just two weeks into the 2024 school year, a student stabbed a classmate in a gang-related knife attack at Elsie Allen High School. On October 24, a student at EAHS was arrested for having a loaded gun on campus, and just a week later, the same thing happened at MHS. This sparked even more support for the enactment of the SRO program on school campuses, which led to the decision on Tuesday night.
As of right now, there’s not an exact timeline for when the SROs are going to be officially reinstated, but Tuesday night’s decision confirms that a plan is in motion.