South San Francisco’s school district and police department have agreed upon an updated memorandum of understanding that both bodies believe will improve data reporting moving forward.
“I want to thank you for coworking with Chief Campbell for coming up with something and talking about ways to improve in coming years,” said Patricia Murray, president of the South San Francisco Unified School District Board of Trustees, during a meeting April 27. “I appreciate that. I appreciate you guys working together.”
After spending two years drafting a memorandum of understanding that governs and defines school liaison officer presence and responsibilities within the South San Francisco Unified School District the two bodies are still fine tuning. The most recent update will change how data is reported to both the City Council and Board of Trustees.
The MOU previously required an update on the SLO program, including data on interactions, to be presented annually in March, allowing the parties to decide whether the program should be further altered or renewed.
But after presenting the first report this March since adopting the MOU last year, the parties now want to change the timeline so the report is given in June or July. On that schedule, data would be presented based on a full school year rather than calendar year, allowing staff to present data that takes into account student cohorts or programs and unique campus conditions, staff said in a report to the board.
“This would allow for greater clarity, rather than combining prior year data with current year information,” the report read. “It should also be noted that requiring a report to be based on calendar year information presents feasibility issues with gathering information and makes the process much more difficult and misaligned with many of our other data reports being based upon school year information.”
According to the most recent report, a total of 368 calls for service were made during the fall semester, with no students arrested or cited on the school campus while school was in session. Five adults who were not students were arrested on campus during nonschool hours for alleged crimes.
Around 85 calls were for burglary alarms, and 87 were 911 hang-up calls, with both sections not warranting police interaction because they consisted of teachers opening doors on campus or misdials from school officials. Around 56 calls were for people seeking advice on school issues, 25 from school officials asking officers for advice on a school situation, 23 parent requests, 19 for suspicious incidents, 16 for follow-up investigations, and four for active shooter threats or swatting.
About 22% of calls occurred at South San Francisco High School, 15% at El Camino High, 12.2% at Alta Loma Middle School and 7% at Westborough and Parkway Heights Middle School.
The next update will be presented by both Police Chief Scott Campbell and Ryan Sebers, director of Student Services, to both the Board of Trustees and City Council this June. Student survey data will also be included in that presentation.
(1) comment
Still “fine tuning” the MOU after two years? Unbelievable!
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