BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) - A high school in Brattleboro will not use a resident police officer in the 2021-2022 school year after a community survey recommending removing the program.
The school resource officer at Brattleboro Union High School will be suspended next school year, Principal Steve Perrin said in a letter sent to the school community on Friday, the Bennington Banner reported.
The Windham Southeast School District will hire a facilitator to review the resource officer program, Perrin said.
The decision to suspend the resource officer responds to a Dec. 31 report that examined public safety in Brattleboro. Facilitators were hired in September to interview community members and local organizations about their interactions with law enforcement, the newspaper reported.
Windham County Sheriff Mark Anderson told the newspaper he disagrees with the decision to suspend the officer, but looks forward to an objective review of the program by a facilitator.
“It pains me to hear the lived experiences members of our community have had with law enforcement,” he said, adding that the resource officer program is intended to protect students’ access to education.
“We’re glossing over the fact that the school’s safety plan relies on the SRO. Those are well thought out, well rehearsed concepts,” he said. “So to say, ‘Let’s roll all this back,’ the school’s going to have a lot of work on its hands to unravel.”
The Vermont American Civil Liberties Union, the Windham County Vermont Branch of the NAACP and youth activists are among those who support the removal of the school resource officer. They have instead called for investment in mental health resources and improving the school’s existing restorative justice program, the newspaper reported.
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