Sonoma Valley parents still calling for district to bring back school resource officers amid safety concerns

Sonoma Valley parents continued to advocate for the return of school resource officers during a school safety community forum Monday, though some parents said that isn’t the best option to keep students safe.

The school resource officer program, which assigned a police officer to the Sonoma Valley High School campus, was discontinued in 2021 when the city of Sonoma ended its funding amid protests from some students. The Sonoma Valley Unified School District board is slated to discuss reinstating the program at its regular meeting Thursday.

Ahead of the Thursday meeting, parent support network RISK Sonoma invited community members to join a forum about the larger issue of campus safety Monday at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley. Dozens of roughly 100 attendees expressed their opinions and concerns on school safety issues, with many focused on issues at Sonoma Valley High School.

“I think that one of the main problems is that our staff at the high school is having to get themselves involved in school fights,” said Olivia Harb, a senior at the high school. “That’s really not what they’re signing up for, and they’re not qualified to do it.

“I don’t feel unsafe, but I know the situation is unsafe for the teachers.”

The panel also included Elizabeth Kaufman, acting superintendent of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District; Vanessa Glamore Rognlien, executive director of Sonoma Valley Youth and Family Services; and Leslie Nicholson, director of RISK Sonoma.

Sonoma Valley Police Chief Brandon Cutting, who was also present during the forum, said school safety has consistently been a top concern he’s heard from the community.

“Our goal is to see what people think we need so that we can create and develop the right program for Sonoma,” he said.

Public comment during the forum quickly focused on whether or not the school district should attempt to bring back a school resource officer.

Kris Sharp, who has three children enrolled in the district, emphasized that if a school officer is reinstated, they should have a relaxed, rather than heavy, presence.

“I think it would be really important for the SRO to have a conversation with all the kids and establish a playful relationship with them so that they all feel comfortable,” she said.

Gerardo Diaz, a parent in the district, expressed concerns that the school resource officer program previously profiled students.

“A lot of parents said Latino kids were being profiled,” he said. “How are you going to address that? I also have had some little conflicts with police, even though I never did anything (wrong).”

In a previous interview, Cutting asked parents for the ability to demonstrate “what a fair and good peace officer stands for and how they help the students learn and develop into adults.”

“Most of what I hear about the negatives of law enforcement come from the influences students have at home or the media,” he said. “When our youth have this positive role model, they will have firsthand exposure to form their own opinions about what law enforcement stands for and how each student is treated.”

If a school resource officer position is created, Cutting said, it would need to address the concerns of people who currently oppose bringing it back.

“That must be developed by working collaboratively with the staff, students and parents to ensure that this role is truly there for the safety of all students, taking the range of community issues that are present into account,” he said.

Cutting encouraged this approach as the Sonoma Valley community addresses safety issues and said the Monday meeting was a good step in that direction.

“... To allow people to speak their feelings without getting an aggressive response back,” he said, “we need to create such spaces where we can obtain a lot of information.”

Kaufman also praised the forum.

“I believe the community forum created the first of hopefully many opportunities for us to have ongoing conversations and open forums with the district and other community agencies regarding issues that impact our children and families,” she said.

Rognlien said the forum brought out diverse voices that had not previously been heard from amid school safety discussions.

“We can all see we want the same outcomes — for Sonoma youth to feel safe, to provide the safest school environments possible and to come together to support the youth and families of Sonoma,” she said. “It is the beginning. Protecting our youth and providing them with the opportunity to thrive is the job of everyone in Sonoma. We all need to work together.”

Reach the reporter, Dan Johnson, at daniel.johnson@sonomanews.com.