Policy 4250 - School Safety and Security Services Program

At the beginning of each school year, if the Richland School District (“District”) has safety and security staff working on school property, the District must present to and discuss with students, and distribute to students’ families, information about the role and responsibilities of safety and security staff. 

“Safety and security staff” means a school resource officer, a school security officer, a campus security officer, and any other commissioned or noncommissioned employee or contractor, whose primary job duty is to provide safety or security services for a public school. 

“School resource officer” (SRO) means a commissioned law enforcement officer in the state of Washington with sworn authority to make arrests, deployed in community-oriented policing, and assigned by the employing police department or sheriff's office to work in schools to build positive relationships with students and address crime and disorder problems, gangs, and drug activities affecting or occurring in or around K–12 schools. School resource officers should focus on keeping students out of the criminal justice system when possible and should not be used to attempt to impose criminal sanctions in matters that are more appropriately handled within the educational system. 

Purpose 

The purpose of the District’s safety and security services program is to improve school safety and the educational climate at the school. The safety and security staff shall be integrated into the school community through participation in faculty and student meetings and assemblies as appropriate. They shall support a positive school climate by developing positive relationships with students, parents, and staff, and by helping to promote a safe, inclusive, and positive learning environment. Safety and security staff are valuable team members of School Based Threat Assessment Teams, which are preventative in purpose. They are encouraged to participate consistent with Policy and Procedure 3225 – School Based Threat Assessment. 

Limitations 

The primary responsibility for maintaining proper order and conduct in the schools resides with school principals or their designee, with the support of other school staff. Principals or their designee maintain order and handle all student discipline matters consistent with Student Rights and Responsibilities 3200. A school resource officer is prohibited from becoming involved in formal school discipline situations that are the responsibility of school administrators. 

Requests for Intervention 

Teachers and school administrators may ask safety and security staff to intervene if a student’s presence poses an immediate and continuing danger to others or an immediate and continuing threat of material and substantial disruption of the educational process or in other emergency circumstances. Safety and security staff do not need to be asked before intervening in emergencies. 

Law Enforcement Activity and Immigration Enforcement 

As a general rule, law enforcement activity should take place at a location other than school premises. However, there are circumstances where law enforcement intervention/activity at school premises is warranted and may be conducted by an SRO. These law enforcement activities by an SRO may include interviews and interrogations; search of a student’s person, possessions, or locker; citations, filing of delinquency petitions, referrals to a probation officer, actual arrests, and other referrals to the juvenile justice system, consistent with 4411 – Relations with Child Protective Agencies and Law Enforcement, and effective January 1, 2022, consistent with state law regarding a juvenile’s access to an attorney when contacted by law enforcement. 

The SRO duties do not extend to immigration enforcement and the SRO will not inquire into or collect information about an individual’s immigration or citizenship status, or place of birth. Neither will the SRO provide information pursuant to notification requests from federal immigration authorities for the purposes of civil immigration enforcement, except as required by law, consistent with 4411 – Relations with Child Protective Agencies and Law Enforcement. 

Annual Review and Adoption of Agreements with Law Enforcement Agencies or Security Guard Companies 

If a law enforcement agency or security guard company supplies safety and security staff to work on school property when students are expected to be present, the District must annually review and adopt an agreement with the law enforcement agency or security guard company. The agreement must: 

A. Include a clear statement regarding safety and security staff duties and responsibilities related to student behavior and discipline that: prohibits a school resource officer from becoming involved in formal school discipline situations that are the responsibility of school administrators; recognizes that a trained safety and security staff knows when to informally interact with students to reinforce school rules and when to enforce the law; clarifies the circumstances under which teachers and school administrators may ask safety and security staff to intervene with a student; explains how safety and security staff will be engaged in creating a positive school climate and positive relationships with students; and describes the process for families to file complaints with the school and, when applicable, the local law enforcement agency or the company that provides the safety and security staff on contract related to safety and security staff and a process for investigating and responding to complaints; 
B. Include a jointly determined hiring and placement process and a performance evaluation process; and 
C. Either confirm that the safety and security staff have completed training series documentation provided by the educational service district or describe the plan for safety and security staff to complete the training series required by law. 
 

The agreement review and adoption process must involve parents, students, and community members. 

The Superintendent or designee will develop additional procedures to implement this policy. 

Legal References:

RCW 10.93.160 Immigration and Citizenship Status 
RCW 26.44.030 Interviews of children 
RCW 26.44.050 Abuse or neglect of child — Duty of law enforcement agency or department of social and health services — Taking child into custody without court order 
RCW 26.44.110 Information about rights — Custody without court order — Written statement required — Contents 
RCW 26.44.115 Child taken into custody under court order — Information to parents 
RCW 28A.300.640-645 School based threat assessment program 
Chapter 28A.320.124 School resource officer programs 
20 U.S.C. 1232g Family Education Rights and Privacy Act 
SHB 1140, Chapter 328, Laws of 2021 Law Enforcement Contact with Juveniles – Access to Attorney 
 

Adoption:

Adopted: October 11, 2022