Cops in Schools

School Board members seemed miffed last night as to why City Council put an abrupt stop to a plan to provide two armed officers to high schools.

But Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Joel Boyd said there's still time for the city to resurrect the plan.

"If this is something that the city believes it can resolve internally within a matter of weeks, then we stand ready to partner," Boyd said at the meeting. "If it's going to extend to months, we can't freeze money for months. We have other uses and other needs for money. You've heard a number of people come forward to the board today with requests for resources in schools, so we don't have the luxury of freezing resources for months."

Earlier this year, the school board authorized $70,000 of its budget in a partnership with the city to provide an officer at Santa Fe High School and an officer at Capital High School. But the plan ran into controversy with some recently who didn't like the idea of guns in schools. Last week, city councilors criticized the plan for not being vetted and raised concerns about how much it would cost the city.

Councilor Bill Dimas, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican, conjectured that the plan could cost the city $530,000.

But Boyd said yesterday that it would only cost the city $70,000. He said the partnership began with concerns from parents and students about the lack of a relationship between the city's schools and the city's cops. He and former Police Chief Ray Rael talked about reviving a program that used to provide a "school resource officer" at one of the schools to help bridge the gap. When Rael retired and Eric Garcia replaced him earlier this year, Boyd said Garcia expressed interest in reviving and expanding the program to two officers.

Boyd added that requests from City Council to hold a joint meeting with the school board on this issue wouldn't be productive because their questions are revolving around their own finances.

"The questions and concerns seem to relate to internal city workings," he said.

School Board President Steve Carrillo expressed frustration over the city not living up to its end of the deal, noting that the school board had been discussing this issue openly since January.

"It makes us look at partnerships a little differently," Carrillo said.

He added that if City Council relents, the two officers could be in the schools as soon as December.

School board members Linda Trujillo and Glenn Wikle requested that the board consider canceling the partnership with the city at the next meeting on Nov. 18.

Santa Fe Reporter