School resource officers (SROs) from the city police department we not present on the first day of classes Monday at two Waukegan High School campuses because a contract between the city and Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 remains unsigned.
Negotiations between city and school district officials were ongoing this week as they worked to agree to return the SROs to the Brookside and Washington campuses.
Under a one-year agreement reached a little more than a year ago, the district agreed to pay the city approximately $120,800 for the service of one officer at the Washington campus and another at Brookside. The district offered to pay $150,000 this year.
District 60 Superintendent Theresa Plascencia said in a letter to the school community Wednesday that school officials so far have been unable to reach an agreement with the city that is, “financially viable to the district.”
“We understand that personnel costs are rising, and we are open to offsetting some of these increases for the city,” Plascencia said in the letter. “This is why we are prepared to increase our payment to $150,000. We believe committing to a 24-percent increase is a fair offer.”
Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor said Wednesday she got the $150,000 proposal from Plascencia on July 24 by text. The two of them talked the next day, but an agreement has yet to be reached.
Taylor said the city needed $350,000 — the cost of taking two officers off the street for eight months — from the district. She also said the contract must comply with Illinois law, including the use of body cameras by the officers.
“That’s the cost of salary and benefits,” Taylor said. “It’s firm. They don’t have to pay for liability insurance, workers’ comp, training or uniforms. People want more officers on the streets. This takes two officers off the streets for eight months of the year.”
Reassuring the school community in her letter, Plascencia said the absence of the SROs does not make the schools unsafe for students. There are school safety personnel in the schools, she said.
“As the school year begins, please rest assured that the absence of SROs does not compromise our schools’ safety,” Plascencia said in the letter. “We will continue to have safety officers in place and maintain robust plans and protocols to ensure the safety of students, staff, and visitors.”
While the officers are not yet back on the Brookside and Washington campuses of the high school, Police Chief Edgar Navarro said all the schools are getting additional attention from his officers since classes resumed Monday.
“They’re there around the time the schools open and around the schools during the day,” he said. “We’re giving them extra attention from outside until the (contract) is signed.”
Though city officials did not talk about the contract status during the Aug. 5 City Council meeting, and District 60 personnel did not discuss the situation at their Board of Education meeting Tuesday, Ray Vukovich disclosed the circumstances during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Vukovich, a one-time member of the City Council and a longtime activist with the schools, said it was his “understanding” the officers were not in the schools on the first day. A one-year agreement was negotiated a year ago, but it expired.
“You all knew there was going to be an issue with this when you all approved it last year,” he said. “You let it get right up to the end, and now you don’t have the officers in the schools or you didn’t take the vote to say, ‘No, we don’t want it.’”
After the city asked for a five-year deal a year ago, the board asked for a one-year pact so the members could do a more detailed study of school safety.
