School Resource Officers: We need them. They need you.
The facts are plain and simple: School Resource Officers keep our students safe. They protect our schools and serve as an invaluable opportunity to create positive, lasting connections between law enforcement and our children -- something we need far more of these days. Wouldn’t you agree?
As our students return to in-person learning, we need SROs in our schools. School Resource Officers will help ensure that our kids stay safe in their classrooms, but special interests and politicians are working to make them go away for good.
The Salem-Keizer School District--the largest district in our area and second largest in the state--has removed School Resource Officers entirely.
Actions like these leave our students more vulnerable to horrific violent events, including school shootings. Nothing is more important than keeping our kids safe so they can learn safely and securely, and that’s why we must keep SROs in our schools.
Please, email the Salem-Keizer School Board your support for KEEPING School Resource Officers in our schools. You can find the email addresses for the School Board and Superintendent below.
Not only have we seen statewide legislation introduced to ban law enforcement from our schools all together, but an extreme candidate for the Salem-Keizer School Board has called SROs "the embodiment of systemic racism.” That’s just not true, and rhetoric like this is putting our kids’ lives in danger.
We know that support for school safety shouldn’t be partisan. Our kids need School Resource Officers in place to protect them and to foster a strong community of respect, cooperation and amity inside and outside of the classroom.
Earlier this year, the Salem-Keizer School Board even heard from a diverse, student-led task force who researched the best approach for our schools. The task-force, comprised of students from most high schools within the district and representing a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives, recommended that the Salem-Keizer School District should continue to utilize School Resource Officers. Instead of banning them, the task force decided that we should work to enact meaningful reforms so that the SROs can perform their duties most safely and effectively.
If you agree that student safety should be the district’s number one priority, please contact the Salem-Keizer School Board and Superintendent and ask them to reverse the district's decision. Your voice could go a long way towards keeping our students safe.
Here are the email addresses for the School Board:
Chandragiri_Satya@salkeiz.k12.or.us
Bethell_Danielle@salkeiz.k12.or.us
Blasi_Sheronne@salkeiz.k12.or.us
Goss_Kathy@salkeiz.k12.or.us
Heyen_Marty@salkeiz.k12.or.us
Kyllo_Paul@salkeiz.k12.or.us
Lippold_Jesse@salkeiz.k12.or.us
Perry_Christy@salkeiz.k12.or.us
Thank you for taking a moment out of your day to stand up for school safety. Even a short message will make a huge difference for our kids and our school communities!
