Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Tumwater School District Board of Directors are set to adopt an agreement with the City of Tumwater for the 2026–28 School Resource Officer (SRO) Program.
Under the agreement, the Tumwater Police Department would assign two regularly employed police officers as SROs. One officer would primarily serve Tumwater High School and Bush Middle School, while the other officer would serve Black Hills High School and Tumwater Middle School.
Both SROs would provide services on an as-needed or availability basis to Black Lake Elementary, Tumwater Hill Elementary, Michael T. Simmons Elementary, Peter G. Schmidt Elementary, East Olympia Elementary and Littlerock Elementary.
The agreement would ensure the district complies with the key requirements of state law on school safety staff and SROs, as outlined in Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1214 (2021) and House Bill 1216 (2019).
“This action will affirm our commitment to student safety, legal compliance and community partnership,” said Assistant Superintendent Meagan Dawson said at a board meeting on Thursday, Sept. 25.
Dawson recommended adopting the SRO agreement at the next school board meeting on Oct. 23. If adopted, it would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026, and be valid until Dec. 31, 2028.
According to the contract, the SROs would provide a uniformed presence on campus to promote safety and create a positive school climate, as well as build positive relationships with students.
The officers are expected to participate and train school staffers and community partners in threat assessment, critical incident response, as well as the development of an off-site crisis response center to ensure the safety of students, staff, family members and residents.
SROs would remain employees of the city. The police department would retain the authority to supervise, hire, train, discipline and dismiss SROs.
The agreement states that all salaries, wages and any other compensation for the SRO assigned at Tumwater High School would be borne by the city, while the base salary, premium pay and benefits would be handled by the district.
The school district would pay the city a total sum of $610,430. Additional salary, wages or any other compensation would be absorbed by the city.
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Kruz81
It would be great if we could not get lazy out of shape officers for this assignment. If paying this much we should get quality officers who can wear a uniform to be a deterrent as well as handle themselves as a LEO should. Luckily one of the excuses we have retired now we are ruck with the worst.
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