PHOENIX — School resource officers (SRO) are now walking the campuses of Phoenix Union High Schools (PXU) again. This comes after the district got rid of them years ago, then had a renewed year-long discussion to bring them back and endured road bumps in getting them.
In 2020, then-superintendent Chad Gestson said the district was not renewing its intergovernmental agreement with the Phoenix Police Department for the 2020-21 school year. Gestson said it was time for the district to revisit and rethink school safety, dealing with two pandemics: racism and COVID-19.
The district then created safety teams and utilized off-duty officers when needed.
However, after the Uvalde massacre, the district discussed possibly bringing them back. Starting in the 2022-23 school year, the board formed a committee to look into their return.
The committee went through months of meetings, gathering feedback, and ultimately recommended to the board to bring them back. In board discussions of bringing them back, some meetings became a little heated.
Ultimately, the school board voted to bring them back after adding stipulations, such as a student bill of rights, which the students and staff are still working through, the district said.
The board ended up approving bringing on six officers in a regional approach, but the Phoenix Police Department initially couldn’t provide them over the summer due to staffing shortages. But, as the department started hiring more officers, it gave the Phoenix Union High School District two officers.
Those officers just started last week. PXU said in September, Phoenix Police told them they would provide two SROs.
“It shouldn't have took this long, but I'm glad it's finally happening,” said Crystal Sosa, a mom of a Cesar Chavez High School student.
The district told ABC15 one SRO will spend time between Trevor Browne and Bostrom High Schools. The second SRO will go between Cesar Chavez and Franklin Police and Fire High Schools. PXU said they chose Trevor Browne and Cesar Chavez High Schools because they are two of the highest enrollment campuses. They then decided to split into two smaller schools so that the student-to-staff numbers are manageable, the district said.
While they were only able to get two, the district will continue to use an off-duty model to have law enforcement support for schools. They are not stationed at any PXU schools, the district said.
Shannan Pahe, a mom of a Cesar Chavez High School student, said she’s split on the decision of having SROs returning, but ultimately is okay with it, wanting to make sure her son is safe. She feels there needs to be more support in place to prevent any issues from happening in the first place.
“If the SROs can help ensure and make it an increased percentage that our children can come home safely, then that's really the only avenue we can pursue at this time,” she said.
PXU said it will continue to work with the Phoenix Police Department on getting more SROs as they become available.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Education Tom Horne recently announced a solution to help with the officer shortages, working with Off Duty Management to place officers from other cities in different schools across the state. PXU said its preference is to work with the Phoenix Police Department as its board approved an Intergovernmental Agreement with the city to have those school resource officers.
“This was approved alongside the grant. We will explore and learn more about the model proposed by ADE and decide if it is a right fit for our district,” the district said.
