Salinas Union H.S. District Board votes against school resource officers

UPDATED 8/8/2017 11:00 p.m. It’s been a controversial issue for the Salinas Union High School District and Tuesday, the school board voted against a plan to bring Salinas Police Officers to its campuses.

The vote was unanimous. Many of the board’s trustees saying they didn’t have enough time to consider the proposal or negotiate terms of an agreement with the department.

The Salinas Police Department has a grant to put 4 officers in schools. They’ll lose that grant worth 3.4 million dollars if they don’t use it by the end of August.

Salinas Police Chief Adele Frese was at the meeting Tuesday and spoke before the board voted.

“I’m trying to lead a department that is open honest, civilly grounded,” Frese said, “I’m asking them to reach out their hands to students and be mentors.”

The meeting was packed Tuesday and though there were some supporters, most of the room was filled with people against having officers in schools.

“This was an important moment for the board to stand with the community and really take a step back on this issue and reflect that more time needs to be taken,” said Cesar Lara with Building Healthy Communities.

“I think they made the right decision given all the information and the lack of information that was given to them by the city or by the police department,” said Margaret Serna Bonetti a former school board member.

Just two weeks ago the Salinas Police Department also approached Alisal Union School District with the proposal to have school resource officers in elementary schools.

The Alisal Union School District board is expected to vote on that Wednesday.

PREVIOUS STORY: The Salinas Union High School District board voted against putting school resource officers on its campuses.

The school board rejected the idea during Tuesday night’s meeting to discuss the issue and vote on it.

The idea has been controversial with the non-profit MILPA pushing back against the move.

The plan was to bring officers to four schools in the Salinas Union High School District.

KION’s Zach Fuentes was at the meeting and will have more on the story at 10 & 11.

Click here for our previous story on the issue and here for the story on officers in the Alisal Union School District.