Majority of Santa Rosa trustees back return of campus officers as hundreds press district for action

A five-member majority of the Santa Rosa City Schools board of trustees late Wednesday endorsed bringing forward a pilot program to reintroduce police officers to some campuses as hundreds of community members, including students, parents and district staff, pressed for immediate action to curb campus violence.

The decision came more than five hours into one of the most highly attended public meetings in Sonoma County in years — and after a series of troubling campus lockdowns and violent incidents on Santa Rosa schools involving armed students, including student’s a fatal stabbing in March. The latest came at Herbert Slater Middle School only hours before the trustees started their 6 p.m. meeting in the City Council chambers.

Every seat there was filled while scores of people watched through the windows of the building.

The last vote of the night, at about 11:30 p.m. was 5-2 in favor of a motion by Trustee Jeremy De La Torre to craft a pilot program that would return school resource officers to campuses on an ongoing basis for the first time since 2020, when the school board suspended the program and later opted to not renew.

Also voting in favor of De La Torre’s motion were trustees Ed Sheffied, Roxanne McNally, Ever Flores and Stephanie Manieri.

Alegría De La Cruz and Omar Medina, who was elected board president earlier in the evening, opposed the return of school officers as proposed in De La Torre’s motion.

Onlookers in the audience Wednesday included Santa Rosa Mayor Natalie Rogers, Vice Mayor Mark Stapp, City Manager Maraskeshia Smith, Sgt. Matt Crosbie of the Santa Police Department, Kathryn Howell, president of the Santa Rosa Teachers Association and Amie Carter, the county schools chief.

Below is a summary of how the meeting played out. Check back later for a new story.

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Hundreds of community members packed the Santa Rosa City Council Chambers Wednesday night, while scores of others watched through the windows outside the building, during a highly anticipated Santa Rosa City Schools board meeting with school safety at the forefront.

Many of them wore red, one of the Montgomery High School colors. Some parents donned yellow safety vests.

Many of those in attendance were adamant that school board members address school safety concerns, which have intensified over the past two weeks after a stabbing at the district’s largest high school campus and a lockdown at a middle school after a student brandished a knife in class.

Many advocates for improved school security contend little has been done since a student was fatally stabbed on Montgomery High School’s campus this past spring. They point to the continued fighting on campus and the numerous instances in which students have been caught with weapons on school grounds — the most recent of which happened on Wednesday morning.

In the wake of these events, the call for some kind of action by district officials has grown increasingly louder and has spread to include Santa Rosa City Manager Maraskeshia Smith, who wrote a letter to district Superintendent Anna Trunnell encouraging her to consider the return of school resource officers to district campuses.

On Sunday, Trunnell announced the temporary return of police officers to district high schools through the end of the year. The officers have been instructed to do check-ins on middle school campuses, as well.

Smith’s Dec. 7 letter was sent on the same day that Herbert Slater Middle School was locked down following a fight inside a classroom between three students, one of whom was armed with a knife. All three students were arrested.

In the days since that incident, students, teachers and parents have banded together, protesting and calling for improved safety measures on campuses across the district. Some of them even brought the signs they’ve carried to Wednesday night’s meeting at City Hall.

Members of the Safe Campus Alliance — a parent-led advocacy group urging the district to reinstate campus officers — particularly stood out at the meeting because they wore the bright yellow safety vests.

Here’s a timeline of highlights from the more than four-hour meeting:

6:01 p.m.: School board members entered the main chamber following their closed session. Trustee Jeremy De La Torre greeted Montgomery High School students in the front row, with fist bumps before taking his seat.

6:18 p.m.: Board President Stephanie Manieri announced the board needed additional time to begin the meeting, and a community member yelled, “But you’re already 20 minutes late!”

Other community members spoke out. Chanting could be heard from attendees outside the chamber.

Manieri, in an opening statement addressed the order of agenda items for the meeting, asking attendees to be patient as they waited for the discussion on school safety to begin.

She referred to Superintendent Trunnell’s yearly evaluation, as completed by the board, noting that the board supported her leadership and gave her a positive evaluation.

“We want to clarify the criticism that she is not doing enough … that she is not that she is not listening to our teachers or school personnel, our students and families is not at all accurate,” Manieri said.

6:25 p.m.: Manieri then addressed her term as board president, which concludes at the end of the year.

Board members then voted unanimously, 7-0, for Trustee Omar Medina to become board president. He swapped seats with Manieri and sat beside Trunnell. Trustee Ever Flores took Medina’s previous post as vice president.

6:35 p.m.: Mary Lehman, president of the Classified School Employee Association, took the podium to provide CSEA updates. She gave general updates quickly, before turning to the subject of school safety.

“We surveyed our members to see if they supported the return of school resource officers, SROs, to our schools,” she said. “The majority of respondents supported the return.”

6:39 p.m.: Kathryn Howell from the Santa Rosa Teachers Association stood up.

“We’re angry, and we’re mostly angry because it's been nine months since the tragic events at Montgomery High School (and) there’s pretty much no change. Our teachers aren't safer. Our students aren’t safer. We have created openings for campus supervisors and restorative (justice) specialists and other support staff, but those positions don't have actual people in them.

“We're angry because we join all those committees, and we give even more of our time to our students because our students deserve the best,” Howell continued.

“Yes they do!” a teacher in the audience yelled out.

“SRTA does want SROs on our school campuses … It’s not the whole solution. It's part of the system. We need a holistic approach. We need to give our students what they need. And we're afraid that all of the other services we want our students to have are getting lost in the noise,” Howell said.

“We need to raise the wages of our campus supervisors and our support staff so they can actually hire the people we need at our school.”

6:52 p.m.: Trunnell took the mic to share her findings from the Safety Advisory Round Table committee as part of the district’s safety report.

She shared that there was a significant drop in overall disciplinary incidents and suspensions from the fall semester of this academic year, compared to last school year.

In the first 75 days of school, there were 855 disciplinary incidents and 653 suspensions, compared to 1,065 discipline incidents and 898 suspensions in the same period of time during the 2021-22 school year.

“That does not minimize the recent incidents that we’ve been experiencing and the feelings about that,” Trunnell said. “That’s just data I’d like to share.”

Trunnell then addressed the support position vacancies that exist across the district.

Of the 27 available campus supervisor positions, only one was filled in the past two months. Of the family engagement facilitators, three positions have been filled in the same amount of time. Restorative justice specialists showed the most improvement, with six positions filled in the past two months.

6:56 p.m.: Newly elected board President Omar Medina told community members public comments will be limited to 1 minute because of the large amount of submitted forms that requested community input.

7:10 p.m.: The discussion item on school safety began. Trunnell took the mic.

“I want to start by thanking everyone for being here tonight,” she said. “We've been hearing from many in our community and while we will continue to listen, it is also important to demonstrate the actions that we have taken and potentially will take to work for safer schools. ‘School’ and ‘violence’ should not be in the same sentence, or context, ever.

“This discussion tonight is to identify additional strategies and safety measures that may potentially include city and county partners,” she said.

Trunnell addressed the letter she received last week from Santa Rosa City Manager Maraskeisha Smith. She read out the action items that Smith suggested in her letter:

• To implement violence prevention programs;
• Increase access to mental health resources,;
• Form more community partnerships;
• Bolster parent and family engagement;
• Enhance security infrastructure.

“What I can tell you is that each of these areas are key elements that we have been building on already in our schools,” the superintendent said.

She added that this includes reinforcement of disciplinary actions, integration of restorative practices, increased mental health services, installing safe school ambassadors and using the city’s emergency mental health program, InResponse, as well as collaborating with the Sonoma County Office of Education.

“We are doing all of these things, and we can do more,” Trunnell said.

7:15 p.m.: Manieri provided an overview of the timeline of the SRO program in the district.

7:19 p.m.: Steve Mizera, executive director of special services for the board, referred board members to the findings of the 2020 ad hoc committee — which included students and teachers — following the removal of campus officers from schools.

Requests that the SRO program be suspended until modifications were made were approved by a majority of the committee members or in unanimous votes of the committee, Mizera said.

7:26 p.m.: Eight students from Montgomery High School took seats at a oval table in the center of the chamber, facing the board trustees. Montgomery Principal April Santos stood behind the seated students.

Lulia Embaye and Zoey Cook, students and members of the Associated Student Body Culture Committee, shared data they gathered from a survey they conducted. The survey asked whether students would like campus officers to return to their school.

Nearly half of the Montgomery student body, or 576 students responded, Embaye and Cook said.

Of those who responded, 89.2% said they would be fine with a school resource officer on campus, while 92.1% said they specifically wanted the return of Santa Rosa Police officer Luigi Valencia — the police officer assigned to their school at the time of the March 1 fatal stabbing — to the campus.

Embaye and Cook also read aloud students’ write-in responses from the survey.

One said: “If cops show up on campus weekly anyway, why not have them on campus?”

Attendees cheered loudly after Embaye read the question.

Then, the rest of the students at the table shared personal statements.

“I should be worried about prom, about boys, studying for my calculus tests, not about what I should wear to my friend's memorial,” one student said.

She shared that she grew up with Jayden Pienta, the student who was killed in the March 1 fatal stabbing on Montgomery’s campus.

Santos was quick to provide comfort to those students who spoke when their voices wavered.

Another student said she wasn’t sure about campus officers when Valencia was first placed on Montgomery’s campus.

“As time passed, my perspective on Officer Luigi completely changed,” she said. “We must create an environment where we feel protected and free to focus on education rather than worrying about lockdowns and other (incidents) in which one of my friends or classmates is involved in another act of violence.”

The students ended with a closing statement read by Embaye: “We understand that there are still 10% of students who don't feel secure with an SRO on campus and they shouldn't be ignored. But we also can't just ignore the 90% who felt safer with an SRO on campus.”

Another student addressed the board directly: “We expect you to create solutions and if you don't want to create solutions, we will find people who will.”

7:47 p.m.: Adrian Juarez, president of the district’s English Learner Advisory Committee, offered suggestions on how the district could improve safety.

Speaking to the board in Spanish and with a translator at his side, he asked trustees about installing metal detectors, fencing the school so there is one way in and one way out, and searching students’ backpacks to ensure weapons are not brought on campus.

“It seems that the perception in our community is that no students are the cause of all the problems,” he said, adding that it is imperative these issues are not used to stereotype or racially profile particular students. “We need to ensure that these issues are not racialized. Parents and students are feeling this.”

He said he appreciated the recent updates that Trunnell gave the DELAC committee, and hopes they continue.

7:59 p.m.: The school district’s mental health experts Eric Lofchie and Stacy Desideri updated the board on their work to improve campus culture.

They noted recent training sessions which were conducted this school year, including de-escalation training and collaborations with the city’s Violence Prevention Program.

They also mentioned the increase of school-based therapists on SRCS sites and shared that 3,600 therapy sessions have been conducted with students this year alone.

“Safety concerns go hand-in-hand with the increases in mental health. As people are scared, they have a harder time dealing with the background mental health challenges that they face,” Lofchie said. “The other troubling fact is that violence in our community is driving a lot of mental health needs.”

He also mentioned the city’s InResponse team, and how it has been able to handle some of the school incidents that would fall under a campus officer’s responsibilities.

Lofchie urged the board to continue utilizing the partnership, whether or not SROs are permanently restored to district campuses.

“This is not a community that is in crisis. This is a community that is ready to act,” Desideri added.

8:10 p.m.: Sonoma County Office of Education leadership took seats at the oval table in the center of the room in front of the board members.

Assistant Superintendent Louis Ganzler shared a presentation of alternative safety protocols for the board that could be adapted whether or not SROs are reinstated.

Ganzler’s recommendations included standardized crisis responses, simplified safety plans and the installation of behavioral threat assessment teams.

SCOE officials also shared ideas to improve the behavioral health and well-being of students, and noted the positives of the agency’s ongoing partnership with the district.

8:48 p.m.: Medina addressed the Montgomery students in the front row. He acknowledged that they are asking for immediate response. He had met with some of the students last week to speak about their concerns.

He let attendees know he had asked students if they thought increasing patrols around campus would be an immediate solution. A few students spoke up and said they would be more anxious with frequent patrols.

One of the students emphasized the importance of campus officers building relationships, like Officer Luigi was able to do with their peers last spring.

Trustee Roxanne McNally asked about opportunities for parents to volunteer as safety liaisons.

Trunnell said it is a “bumpy” process that the district is looking to streamline.

8:55 p.m.: Public comment on the issue of campus security began. Community members were given 1 minute to speak on the topic. Eighty community members signed up to speak.

A Herbert Slater Middle School student was one of the first people to address the board.

“We are under attack,” she said. “You need to do something!”

A student from Santa Rosa High School urged the board to “cooperate” to find a solution.

Other Santa Rosa High students noted that their campus officer is not like Officer Luigi Valencia, and their campus officers feel threatening. They that district officials supplement their restorative specialist programs.

Members of the local NAACP chapter urged board members not to restore SROs to district campuses.

“School board, please don't do this to students of color,” one speaker said. “These youth and their families have a unique historical relationship to law enforcement characterized by racial bias and unnecessary criminalization.”

A teacher who confronted the teen who breached Herbert Slater’s campus Wednesday morning expressed how grateful she was that a police officer was already present on the school campus when the incident began.

9:50 p.m.: Many of those waiting outside to address the board at the start of the meeting trickled inside during the course of the discussion. About 20 people, many of whom are part of a coalition of parents and community members opposed to reinstating the SRO program, remained outside waiting to speak.

Karym Sanchez, lead organizer with the North Bay Organizing Project and a parent of a Montgomery student, said the coalition, which also includes members from the NAACP Santa Rosa-Sonoma County Chapter and Raizes Collective, is concerned police officers on campus will have a disproportionate impact on Black and Latino students and will lead to increased suspensions and expulsions.

The coalition wants to see restorative justice programs expanded at the district.

He said the discussion around school safety has lacked input from vulnerable students and those most at-risk of negative interactions with police.

The coalition loosely organized in 2020, but more recently has begun to gather to discuss school safety issues and to provide an alternative voice in response to pressure from parents and community members to reinstate SROs, he said.

“I know there’s a difference around the SRO issue but what we want is the same — school safety,” Sanchez said, adding that he hopedby sharing their personal experiences and data they could bridge the gap and reach a consensus with other community members.

10:25 p.m.: Trustee Jeremy De La Torre makes a motion for the “exploration and immediate implementation of an SRO pilot program” that will work cooperatively with the city of Santa Rosa.

He asked that the program bring all voices to the table, as well as address the concerns and needs of everyone in order to build a sustainable program.

There was no immediate second to De La Torre’s motion.

Trustee Ed Sheffield asked that more data be presented before the board considers such a motion. He added that every student should be considered when making this decision.

“We have a responsibility as board members to address the needs and concerns of all of our students,” Sheffield said. “(Even) 1%, we still have a responsibility to address those needs.”“I’m willing to agree to a pilot — we need to define this pilot. We need to take some sort of action before we start up this new school year. I think we should listen to those students,” he continued.

Trustee Roxanne McNally said she is uncertain about how to consider the return of the SRO program.

“I'm very aware of my positionality as a white woman on this board,” she said. “It's with a lot of caution and heaviness for my students that I approach this conversation.”

She said she recognizes that many students believe their concerns are being ignored and that feeling unsafe has a definite impact on their education.

“The SRO programs that I’ve read about do not include the modifications we’ve seen presented,” McNally said. “We don't have data on the impact of SROs in our community but if we were to revisit a program, we could collect it. So I’m open to this idea. I’m open to exploring it — with the modifications.”

Trustee Alegría De La Cruz, however, was very clear in her rejection of any plan that called for the reinstatement of the SRO program.

“This is not a solution that works; having cops in schools,” she said.

She pointed to behavioral health programs that were previously discontinued, and suggested bringing them back to boost students’ emotional health.

“I want to emphasize the cost to the district in sending our various responses to another agency that we have no control over,” De La Cruz said, in reference to restarting the SRO program in partnership with the Santa Rosa Police Department.

She, instead, proposed a pilot program akin to small alternative schools for the small population of students that are acting out.

She asked attendees to educate themselves on local history, starting a back-and-forth between a few attendees who then walked out in response.

De La Cruz returned to her proposal of alternative small programs after the disruption, but when asked by remaining attendees why these programs have not been established during the past nine months, De La Cruz got up and stepped away from her seat.

Trustee Ever Flores took over the conversation upon De La Cruz’s absence.

“I want to say that I heard all of you tonight,” Flores said. “I took copious notes of what you've gone through; the trauma that we have gone through as a community.”

He recommended that the board move forward with De La Cruz, De La Torre and Medina — who were all on the ad hoc committee in conjunction with city officials — to come up with suggestions that partner with the city and provide more immediate solutions.

Manieri offered many recommendations for school safety, some of which were informed by the presentations earlier in the meeting.

End of meeting update: De La Cruz’s proposal to move to investigate and develop an alternative sites program was viewed as a motion by the board, and was quickly seconded by another board member.

This motion occurred after De La Torre’s motion for a pilot SRO program.

Sheffield made a point that alternative schools have a history of segregating students of color, and that the board would have to be careful with these kinds of solutions.

A commotion then ensued between board members, because Medina called De La Torre’s motion “dead,” due to the second on De La Cruz’s motion, making it the main motion.

He offered the option for De La Torre’s motion to be included in De La Cruz’s as a friendly amendment, which she declined to include.

Trunnell spoke up asking Medina to clarify why De La Torre’s pilot program was no longer up for consideration. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the board had went against the Brown Act, which governs how a public board must proceed when calling for an action.

“I’m willing to make another motion,” De La Torre said. “Let me know how to do this properly,” he told Medina.

Medina said that the board must vote on De La Cruz’s motion before moving on to another. The board voted unanimously in favor of investigating and developing an alternative sites program.

The board then returned to De La Torre, who made his motion for the pilot school resource officer program a third time. Sheffield quickly seconded.

Medina asked that the pilot program include the recommendations Manieri made prior to De La Torre’s first motion. De La Torre agreed.

The board came to a vote, with five board members voting in favor. Medina and De La Cruz voted against the pilot program.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

Staff Writer Paulina Pineda contributed to this report.

Report For America corps member Adriana Gutierrez covers education and child welfare issues for The Press Democrat. Reach her at Adriana.Gutierrez@pressdemocrat.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this online story Thursday morning included an inaccurate headline that mischaracterized action taken by the Santa Rosa’s City Schools board. Two decisions were made by the board late Wednesday. The board voted unanimously to advance a proposal to study alternative education programs. The board also voted 5-2 in favor of a pilot program to return school resource officers to some campuses.