For Waukegan teens and their parents, summer flew by so fast they probably forgot to get a few things done before school started earlier this month. As did Waukegan school officials.
Classes at city high schools began Aug. 12 without school resource officers strolling the halls at the Brookside and Washington campuses. Waukegan Unit School District 60 officials apparently forgot they didn’t have a contract with the police department to have “officer friendlies” on hand when school started a couple of weeks ago.
No one appears happy with this lack of SROs in schools or the timing. Waukegan High must be one of the few in Lake County without police officers currently available during classroom hours. Some school districts even have SROs at junior highs.
SROs from the Waukegan Police Department have been a presence in city high schools for years where all seem to agree there are all-around benefits, from developing relationships with students to picking up intelligence about what is happening in the community. Perhaps they even lead some to pursue law enforcement careers.
They also provide that “just-in-case” measure of safety nobody wants to think about. Yet, school officials waited until nearly the start of classes to decide to open negotiations for a new contract providing for SROs.
Although school officials contend negotiations for a new contract began in the spring. Sounds like a classic “failure to communicate” situation between city and school officials.
The school board had a chance to ink a five-year contract with the city last year, but decided to opt for a one-year pact. While police are absent from inside the buildings, the two schools do have trained district safety officers on hand, if needed, District 60 officials say.
In the 2023-24 school year, police personnel were present for the first day of school after the city and the district agreed to a cost of about $128,000 for the two officers. In July, two weeks before this school year’s opening, Superintendent Theresa Plascencia, in a letter to the city, offered a “fair offer” of a 24% increase, to $150,000, for the two SROs for eight-month school stints, according to a page one News-Sun story by Steve Sadin.
Mayor Ann Taylor says that amount doesn’t cover salaries and benefit packages. It’s closer to $350,000, in addition to taking two cops off the city’s streets, she indicated.
“Contracts that involve police officers working in public schools are very complicated because of the nature of their work, liability issues, training requirements, union representation and the need to follow all applicable Illinois law, including the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act,” Taylor said, according to Sadin’s account. The city picks up the cost for liability insurance, workers’ compensation, training and uniforms.
The city has offered a reduced price of $295,000 for the two SROs for this school year. If school officials agree to that amount or the city agrees to a counter-offer, the Washington officer could return by Sept. 4; a new Brookside officer by Sept. 16 because of needed additional training. If not, the impasse continues without SROs.
Throwing about monetary figures is fine among government officials, but how much is it worth to provide timely public safety inside Waukegan’s two high schools? What exactly is the true price of keeping kids safe?
For parents, there is no bottom line. They certainly want their teens learning in a safe environment, something that everyone is certain SROs provide. After the city asked for a five-year deal last year, the school board asked for that one-year contract so the members could do a more detailed study of school safety.
No mention has been made if school officials, in fact, investigated if paying for SROs is the best use of taxpayers’ money, something they said they would do after agreeing to the one-year police contract last summer. Or if parents and students have been asked how they view keeping schools safe, or how SROs fit into that equation.
From the increased urgency with which school officials contacted the mayor’s office to seek a new contract mere weeks before the start of classes, looks like District 60 wants their SROs back in school. Seemingly, at a bargain price.
Haggling over the price of student safety cheapens the broader issue of how to keep schools a place of learning and safe surroundings. Good law enforcement costs money, and school officials should accept that and get a deal done.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
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