Antioch rejects grant to fund school resource officers
After hearing nearly 220 public comments, council votes 3-2 against accepting money
The Antioch City Council on Tuesday opted not to accept a federal grant that would have partially paid for putting resource officers on school campuses.
The 3-2 decision, with Mike Barbanica and Lori Ogorchock dissenting, came after hours of discussion and public comments and reversed a July 28 vote to accept a grant of $750,000 from the U. S. Department of Justice COPS Hiring Program to partially pay for six school resource officers. The city and Antioch Unified School District would have split the unpaid balance.
A nt ioch polic e ha d planned to reassign senior officers to the district’s two high schools and four middle schools and replace them using the grant, but because the coronavirus pandemic led to school closures, the grant was put on hold.
The school district has not had school resource officers for more than a decade, but Police Chief Tammany Brooks vowed to bring them back as soon as he could. And after teenager Jonathon D’wayne Parker was killed after a basketball game at Deer Valley High last winter, Brooks redoubled efforts to find grant funds to partially pay for school resource officers.
Parker’s aunt, Aurora Solorio, was one of more than 220 who commented at the meeting.
She spoke in favor of putting officers on campus, saying, “Safety for all children should be a priority. Another family should not have to go through what we are going through.”
Parent Courtney Campbell-Reich also urged the council to approve the officers, noting that community members gathered after Parker’s killing and were all “begging for ( police) help.”
“Having these school resource officers will be a huge part in improving school safety,” she said.
Others agreed, some noting that school resource officers not only make students and staff feel safe but also help build relationships that can steer troubled students in better directions.
“I have personally seen the value of resource officers on our campuses,” said former teacher and parent Jenny Dunlap. “… Those of you on the City Council may have not been in Antioch long enough to see what a proper SRO program can accomplish.”
The grant amounted to $125,000 for each police officer over three years. Under the city’s agreement with the school district, each would pay 50% of the cost for the officers not covered by the grant and the city would pay 100% in the fourth year. In total, the cost to the city would have been more than $2 million.
But money was not the issue Tuesday night, with a majority of residents rejecting the notion that school resource officers will improve safety and be welcomed by students.
“I was honestly surprised that as the rest of the country was starting to understand the negative impacts that SROs have on children, the City Council of Antioch chose to ignore the youth who spoke up in opposition to the policy and moved forward to place police officers in schools,” Olga Smith said. “Our children are our future; we must nurture and support them.”
Kimberly Grande also
urged the council to rescind the earlier action.
“The community does not need more policing,” she said. “It needs more resources such as counselors and librarians.”
Following more than 21/2 hours of public comment, however, Councilman Mike Barbanica, a former police officer, made an impassioned plea to retain the grant, noting he himself had been positively influenced by a school resource officer when growing up.
He said all six administrators he spoke with approved having officers.
“They have more than 137 years of combined experience,” Barbanica said of the administrators. “These are the people really qualified to make a decision about what’s needed in the schools.”
He said the role of school resource officers is “not to enforce discipline and punishment” but to foster a positive school climate, open communication and trust.
Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock, who previously voted for the officers, also urged support.
‘ I believe in the police chief
when he says the goals and objectives are designed to enhance rapport with students in order to promote overall student achievement and success,” she said.
Mayor Pro Tem Monica Wil
son, however, said she has not changed her mind, noting she thinks students would be better served with more mental health help and additional counselors.
Councilwoman Tamisha Tor
res-Walker said she has lost a lot of friends — even her brother — to gun violence, so she understands the community’s concerns.
“Violence is in the community, and it spills over into the schools; the first work we need to do is in the community,” she said. “... If we did our job in the community, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
“This is something that should have been handled at the level of the school board through their own budget,” she added.
Mayor Lamar Thorpe, a former teacher, said there’s is a different way to achieve school safety, adding that the cuts to other school resources such as the homeless coordinator, bilingual aides and more have been devastating and that COVID-19’s impact will require even more resources.
“We can absolutely find ways to have police officers at school events,” he said. “There are ways to work with the school system to increase school site safety assistance.”
The mayor added that there are limited recreational and after-school opportunities for students and suggested money could be better spent through youth services.
“I think there’s a way we can look at this as an opportunity,” he said before motioning for a vote. “We can all come together with all the parties to the table to discuss school safety.”