Olympia School District soon to negotiate for resource officer on campus due to gun incidents

The Olympia School District (OSD) board presented updates on safety policy 4311 reinstating School Resource Officers (SROs) at a meeting last Thursday, September 28.

Two gun incidents earlier this month urged the Olympia School District (OSD) to adopt Policies 3225, School-Based Threat Assessment, and 4311, School Safety and Security Services Program.

Parent sentiments

Like the board meeting on September 14 about this, parents also attended this session to voice their concerns about the district's safety policies.

“In my son's first day as a member of Olympia School District, within the very first hour, [he] experienced a school lockdown to a gun on campus,” Deborah, a parent, said.

“First, I would like to thank the board for spending several hours to refine and amend policy 4311,” she continued. “Second, I am here to ask you to begin and continue your work to develop an MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] with local law enforcement to reestablish school resource officers.”

Deborah added that if OSD hires a properly trained SRO with a genuine intention to support students, they will make a difference, removing the fear of biased treatment.

“I'm happy to see 4311 on the agenda tonight to report back on progress with our SRO developments,” said Frank, another OSD parent. “I'd love to see that standard as a regular item as we work towards engaging the community and working towards resolving this and implementing something successful.”

“I appreciate that the board approved Policy 4311 as it is a small step forward. But I am worried about how long it may take for the district to come to an MoU agreement with Olympia Police Department,” Rebecca, an OSD parent, said.

OSD’s updates on Policy 4311

The new committee will be called the ‘School Safety Citizen Advisory Committee’, revising it from its proposed name, ‘School District/Police Partnership Advisory Committee’.

JOLT Staff photo via Zoom

“What we're doing around school safety is paramount in people's minds,” said Superintendent Patrick Murphy. “Our paramount duty before any sort of reading, writing, and arithmetic is to make sure that our students are safe.”

Murphy said Policy 4311 still needs procedures and an MoU with their partner government policy, the Olympia Police Department (OPD).

“I did meet with City Manager Jay Burney last week, and he confirmed after talking with [OPD] Chief [Rich] Allen that they are staffed up to a point where they could move forward with an SRO program,” Murphy informed the board and audience.

Murphy formed an expedited and focused Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) with students, family, staff, and the school board.

This CAC will be called the School Safety Citizen Advisory Committee, which will assist Murphy in crafting procedures to accompany policy 4311 and draft an MoU to serve as the springboard for any negotiation between the district and the police department.

“I think there is an understandable sense of urgency. You need to do it properly and expeditiously. We would be meeting during October. I'm suspecting it would probably take four to seven meetings,” said Murphy.

The board passed the CAC draft with revisions on the title, language, and responsibilities.