An expiring contract leaves Salinas Union High School District scrambling to keep officers on campus.

For more than two decades, probation officers could be seen walking on Salinas Union High School District campuses, attending games and talking with students. That’s about to end.

Earlier this year, Monterey County Probation Department informed SUHSD it would not renew its contract, meaning probation officers on campus will be redirected to other tasks, leaving SUHSD campuses without sworn officers.

“We won’t have a first line of defense that can support when something happens, or when students need to be counseled,” SUHSD Superintendent Zandra Jo Galván says.

Galván says response times would increase if probation officers aren’t on campus, such as in instances when campuses go on lockdown while officers, including Salinas Police, investigate alleged threats.

For the transition period, the probation department suggested a three-month contract with four officers. SUHSD is counteroffering with a one-year transition contract for six probation officers, which will be located at high school campuses, at a cost of $1.5 million.

The original contract, which is set to expire at the end of June, included 12 probation officers. The probation department and SUHSD pay their salaries with a 60-40 percent split, respectively ($1.7 million, $1.1 million).

“We learned very close to the end of the year that they were going to pull this, and we had no time to really develop a transition plan,” Galván says.

The contract negotiations reached the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. During a budget hearing in May, several supervisors favored seeking a longer term contract than what probation has offered.

Assistant Chief Probation Officer Julie Kenyon says their work has increased exponentially after the California Division of Juvenile Justice closed in 2023, transferring the responsibility to rehabilitate youth to the counties. Monterey County was “a heavy DDJ user” with an average of 30 to 35 youth in state custody.

“It’s always about money at some level, but it’s primarily our resources. We need to do more with less,” Kenyon says, noting the number of detained youth on secure track (those who committed serious crimes) under their custody has increased 700 percent in the past 18 months. Juvenile hall has an average population of 50 individuals, and currently 24 of them committed serious crimes.

Kenyon adds the mission of probation is prevention and not campus security.

“Probation is a great asset in the community to work with you, but we shouldn’t be providing security for you. We’re not security experts,” she says.

Kenyon noted the probation department seeks to increase its Silver Star program, a multiagency prevention and intervention services program for youth ages 6-21 that’s available for anyone in the community.

“We want to bolster our Silver Star program to give more prevention and intervention referrals to students that may need them on each of the campuses,” she says.

SUHSD will submit 80 letters from parents and community members opposing the department’s decision to the board of supervisors. The board is scheduled to consider the county’s budget, including for the probation department, on June 16.