Kentwood and Kentlake high schools will not have school resource officers on campus for the 2024-2025 school year due to a staff shortage of deputies at the King County Sheriff’s Office.
The Kent School District has contracted in the past with the Sheriff’s Office to provide a deputy at each school. The district contracts with the Kent Police Department to provide officers at Kent-Meridian and Kentridge high schools, which are each in the city limits. The Kent School Board recently approved a contract extension with Kent Police.
Kentwood is in the city of Covington, which contracts with the Sheriff’s Office for police services. Kentlake is in unincorporated King County, served by the Sheriff’s Office.
“Due to staffing shortages, unincorporated SROs (school resource officers) were redeployed back to patrol,” said Sgt. Eric White, spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, in a July 19 email. “As our staffing levels increase, we hope to provide SROs to Kent SD in the 25-26 school year.”
Members of the district’s Safety Services Team met with the Sheriff’s Office in June to discuss a contract for the next school year when it was told the department didn’t have the staff for the program.
“In the meantime, KSD Safety Services will continue collaborating with the King County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Covington to support our schools,” according to a July 22 email from a district spokesperson.
The district maintains ongoing partnerships with the Sheriff’s Office to provide training, response and communication regarding safety concerns and incidents in and around the schools. The district has security officers but they are not trained police officers.
“We expect this collaboration to continue while we await improvements in staffing,” according to the spokesperson. “Currently, KSD Safety Services has Campus Safety officers at all secondary schools and Safety Patrol officers at elementary schools. These safety officers play a crucial role in building relationships with students, staff and parents, monitoring campuses, assisting with emergency procedures and protocols, and responding to emergencies and calls for service.”
Kent Police contract
The school board unanimously approved a contract July 10 for the 2024-2025 school year with Kent Police to provide two resource officers and a commander to oversee the program as a school safety liaison.
The city of Kent and the district will split the costs.
For the two school resource officers, the total cost is $363,200, according to district documents. The district will pay 60% ($217,920) with the city covering the rest of the costs. For the liaison, the total cost is $277,380. The district will pay 25% ($69,345) with the city paying the rest.
The cost for the two resource officers is an increase of $12,178 from the 2023-2024 school year due to annual salary increases. The cost for the liaison is an increase of $5,005 due to salary increases.
The total cost to the district is $287,265, paid out of the 2024-2025 Safety Services budget.
The primary areas of service for the officers are Kent-Meridian High School, Mill Creek Middle School, Canyon Ridge Middle School, iGrad, Kentridge High School, Meridian Middle School and Kent Laboratory Academy.
Role of officers
Tim Kovich, the district’s School Safety Services supervisor, explained the role of the officers at the July 10 school board meeting.
“They come and they get to know the kids,” Kovich said. “They’re in the parking lots and they work with school administration more toward the criminal side. They also deal with outside influences and the impact to our buildings and communicate with other school safety officers that serve the elementary schools.”
Kent Police Officer Kevin Strong recently completed his sixth year as a school resource officer. He spent his first three years at Kent-Meridian, Mill Creek and iGrad and the last three years at Kentridge, Meridian Middle School and Kent Laboratory Academy.
“This (program) got started a long time ago and it’s a very serious program to our mayor and police chief,” Strong said at the board meeting. “When we interact with the students, I like them to see me as a school resource officer and not a cop.”
Strong said he works to keep students out of the criminal justice system by working with staff and maybe getting the parents involved and the police staying out of it.
“It’s only very serious when we put the criminal hat on,” Strong said. “Most times, it stays at the school level.”
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