One is better than none. That’s the logic school board members are using to make sure one school resource officer will split time in prowling the halls of two Waukegan high schools.
Last week’s mass shooting at a Georgia high school apparently was the impetus to get city cops back into District 60 classrooms as soon as possible. Certainly, the slo-mo negotiations between school and city leaders took way too long.
Since the Aug. 12 start of the new school year, Waukegan Unit School District 60 has been without two WPD “officer friendlies” at the Brookside (freshmen and sophomores) and Washington (juniors and seniors) campuses with members of the district’s safety cadre in their stead.
The six votes in favor and one pass cast Tuesday night means the district will have one SRO on hand at a cost of $130,000, a piddling amount in the District 60 budget.
Waukegan city officials are expected to approve the revised pact. While several board members expressed the need for two SROs, and even in junior highs, the eventual vote means the certified officer could be in place by next week at the latest.
Still to be determined is how the lone sworn officer will be deployed, splitting his time between the two campuses. One idea is he would spend one day at one campus, and the next at the other.
Despite initial outcry over the lack of SROs in the high schools, parents seem happy with the compromise as only two people Tuesday night addressed the board’s leisurely negotiations over the issue. Although surely no one wants to compromise on student safety, considering students, parents and staff supported having SROs at both high schools.
A $40,000 gap between the city and District 60 held up getting SROs returned to the schools. Mayor Ann Taylor and Superintendent Theresa Plascencia, the chief negotiators for their respective governmental agencies, were at a stalemate over the cost.
Taylor said the city’s final, final “fair and equitable” offer to place two police officers inside the schools was $260,000; Plascencia wanted to pay $220,000. The City Council voted 8-1 on Sept. 2 to back Taylor’s offer.
Seems like the two parties could have split the difference considering most city taxpayers also contribute taxes to District 60’s operating budgets. Either way, city taxpayers will pay the cost to have a law enforcement officer patrolling the halls.
Taxpayers already pay for 31 in-district security guards at Brookside, 25 at Washington and three at the AOEC alternative campus next to Washington, according to a District 60 spokesman. They are paid, on average, $37,000 for the school year.
Putting top-notch law enforcement on city streets and inside schools isn’t cheap. Cash for training, gear, salaries, insurance, pensions and lots and lots of incidentals puts the true price tag of both SROs at a figure closer to $350,000, according to the mayor.
Quibbling over the cost of SROs seemed counter-productive when the issue of student well-being and staff safety is at stake. The optics of both sides wrangling over money when keeping student charges secure while in classrooms cheapened the discussion. Even at $260,000, it would have been a law enforcement bargain fostering connections between cops and students.
SROs were on hand on Sept. 4 at the Georgia school shooting and took the suspect into custody. It was the 385th mass shooting in 2024 in which four or more people have been killed or wounded, not counting the Kentucky highway ambushes over the weekend.
Overall, there have been 604 mass shootings in the U.S. since 2006, amounting to 3,120 fatalities, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. Included in that count are the deaths of four people on a CTA train last week, where the alleged shooter brandished a 9mm handgun.
Yet to be determined is how 14-year-old Colt Gray, the alleged lone-wolf Georgia high school freshman named for a firearm, snuck his AR-platform-style weapon inside his school. But it happened, and a similar school attack most likely may happen again. Anywhere, unfortunately.
City officials question the efficiency and safety aspect of having only one SRO available. Especially considering police in west suburban Bartlett were scrambled Tuesday after being alerted to a potential threat via the National Suicide Hotline. Afterschool activities at two Barlett schools were canceled, and the FBI is investigating the incident.
“My preference would be two officers, but it’s not my decision to make,” Taylor said in a front-page News-Sun story on Sept. 11 by Steve Sadin. “One officer can’t do the job of two. We’ve always had two officers. Having one is not what I would choose.”
Board of Education President Brandon Ewing said in the same account there is enhanced security at all buildings, with more staff, secure vestibules, cameras and more after a safety audit overseen by former Waukegan Police Chief Wayne Walles.
Superintendent Plascencia told Sadin one SRO dividing time between both high school campuses will provide sufficient security and safety. Hope she’s right.
Perhaps city and district officials should begin talking now about what next year’s SRO contract should look like. Time, after all, is money.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
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