Police officers will remain in the public schools in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Springfield School Committee unanimously approved a new five-year agreement with the Springfield Police Department to continue the school resource officers program.
The current agreement, which was also for five years, expires Friday, June 30th.
Language in the new agreement will better protect student confidentiality, said Melinda Phelps, chief legal counsel for the Springfield Public Schools. Student files remain off-limits, but now even a conversation overheard in a hallway where information about a student might be disclosed must be kept confidential and cannot be used for a law enforcement purpose.
“That is a major change that I included in this document,” Phelps said.
In another effort to distance school resource officers from educational situations, they will no longer have access to the individual educational programs developed for special education students.
“This document also continues what we had in our previous MOU (agreement), which is to create a bright line between discipline – which is within the purview of the principal – and law enforcement – which is the purview of the school resource officer,” Phelps said.
New language also states that only the principal – or a designee such as a vice-principal – is authorized to contact the school resource officer about an issue in the building.
“What is before you is certainly more reflective of good practices within the buildings,” Phelps told the School Committee.
At the urging of School Committee member Denise Hurst, the word “delinquent” was removed from the agreement. She said it could be interpreted subjectively.
“I can’t understand what was the definition of delinquent conduct in this particular document,” Hurst said. “Are we talking about behaviors or that it is an actual delinquency charge by way of the court?”
The school resource officers program came in for a hard look from Springfield officials after two incidents during the 2018-19 school year where police officers had physical altercations with students. The result was a new policy that requires all officers assigned to work in schools must be specially trained and certified by the National Association of School Resource Officers.
Police Superintendent Cheryl Clapprood assigns the school resource officers. Superintendent of Schools Dan Warwick participates in an annual evaluation of the program.
“I have to say Superintendent Clapprood has been a pleasure to work with,” Warwick said. “If we’ve had any issues with assignments, she’s very receptive and has always cooperated with us and made moves that need to be made.”
In 2020 at the height of the George Floyd-inspired protests against police, the Pioneer Valley Project launched a campaign to remove police officers from the Springfield schools. An official with the organization did not respond to a request for comment.
At the urging of juvenile justice advocates, the Boston Public Schools, in 2021, replaced police officers with safety specialists.
