Police in schools backed in Wake County survey results

An online survey found support among Wake County parents, students, school employees and the community for keeping school resource officers, even as some groups want police to be removed.

The majority of the 54,531 respondents to Wake’s survey said school resource officers make schools more safe, treat students appropriately and are important for school security plans. The survey comes as Wake County school leaders are weighing whether to continue having police officers on campus past this school year.

“Most of the respondents in each of the stakeholder groups — again those were parents, students, school staff and members of the community — have favorable perceptions of both the SRO program and the bike patrol officers,” said Sonya Stephens, Wake’s senior director of school accountability.

The school board voted in June to continue the school resource officer program for the 2020-21 school year while it conducted a review and got more community feedback. From Sept. 24 to Oct. 23, the district surveyed students, school employees, parents and the community.

The survey results were released at Wednesday’s meeting of the school board’s safety and security committee.

Survey results questioned

The survey results come at a time when groups such as the Wake County Black Student Coalition have held multiple protests calling for the removal of police from schools. The groups say having officers on campus creates a hostile school environment for Black and brown students.

“There’s a segment of the community that feels like the SRO survey, that some of the questions were defective or misleading, so I do want to acknowledge that sentiment,” school board chairman Keith Sutton said at Wednesday’s safety meeting.

But Sutton said that the survey won’t be the only way that Wake will get input from the community before a decision is made about the SRO program. District staff will hold focus group meetings with different groups, including parents, students, teachers, community members and law enforcement officers.

The district will randomly select some people to be invited to attend the meetings. Board members asked that the focus groups also include people who have had negative experiences with school resource officers.

“Have you all thought about how to ensure the group does absolutely include people who’ve been negatively, as well as positively, impacted by SRO officers so that we have focus groups that are absolutely sharing their lived experiences and the variance of their lived experience with SRO officers?” asked board member Monika Johnson-Hostler.

SRO survey results

▪ Most respondents reported that the presence of the SRO makes the school more safe, ranging from 67.7% for students to 87.2% for parents.

▪ More than 75% of parents and staff and around 61% of students believe the SROs treat students appropriately. The favorability rate was lower among Black students and parents than other groups.

▪ More than 75% of parents and staff feel that SROs create a welcoming environment, compared to only 52% of students. Middle school students gave higher marks than high school students.

▪ The majority of Hispanic and white students felt SROs create a welcome environment, compared to only 48% for Asian students and 47% for Black students.

▪ Overall, 75% of students felt comfortable reporting an incident to a school resource officer. It was higher for middle school students than high school students.

▪ The majority of parents thought that SROs should be the primary responders when students fight, while the majority of staff said they should be the primary responders.

▪ The majority of staff, parents and community members thought school staff should have input into the selection and placement of SROs in schools.

Overall, Stephens said parents and school employees had a more positive perception of school resource officers than students.

Police at schools under review

The school system pays law enforcement agencies to provide officers at every high school and most middle schools. Apex and Holly Springs also provide officers, at no charge to the district, to rotate among the elementary schools in their towns.

Some local activists want Wake to join other school districts that canceled their school resource officer contracts following this summer’s national backlash over the deaths of Black men and women at the hands of white police officers.

The protests also led to North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper creating a racial equity task force. The group issued a report this week with recommendations that include requiring a school administrator or social worker to sign criminal juvenile petitions initiated by a school resource officer, the News & Observer reported.

Instead of spending $1.7 million a year on police in schools, activists want Wake to pay for the California-based PeaceBuilders program. For a fee, PeaceBuilders trains school staff on how to promote a positive school environment.

Marrius Pettiford, Wake’s senior director of counseling and student services, said there’s no indication of other districts using PeaceBuilders to replace school resource officers.

School officials also said that PeaceBuilders’ overall purpose is the same as restorative programs already used in the district. For instance, many Wake schools have students meet regularly in circles to talk with their classmates and teachers about their feelings, hopes, dreams and concerns.

School officials credit their various restorative programs, which also include conflict mediation, with helping to reduce student suspensions and improve school culture.

Sutton, the board chairman and head of the security committee, cautioned his colleagues to remember they aren’t ready to make recommendations on what safety programs to use.

“We don’t have enough information to say that one program is going to replace another,” Sutton said. “I think we’ve always been a district that prides itself on providing options and opportunities.”

T. Keung Hui has covered K-12 education for the News & Observer since 1999, helping parents, students, school employees and the community understand the vital role education plays in North Carolina. His primary focus is Wake County, but he also covers statewide education issues.