Salinas school boards face pushback for rejecting cops on campus; MPUSD reconsiders.

The night after the Salinas Union High School District board voted unanimously to reject the Salinas Police Department’s proposal to place four police officers on some school campuses, the Salinas PD came knocking at the door of the Alisal Union School District. On Aug. 9, some of the same members of the public attended AUSD’s board meeting and heard the same proposal they’d heard the night before, backed by the words of some of the same officers at the previous night’s meeting.

AUSD’s board came to the same conclusion: a unanimous rejection. Like the board of SUHSD, they cited concerns with the proposed memorandum of understanding. Trustees criticized the MOU for being pushed through too rapidly, leaving little say to school officials. “This is totally unfair,” said board member Fernando Mercado. “You’re giving us a month to think about something major.” (Police Chief Adele Fresé says specific terms would have been hashed out only after an agreement, and the proposed MOU was only a template.)

“She was pushing a little girl on a merry-go-round. All I could see was the gun.”

Others, like board member Guadalupe Gilpas, took issue with the presence of cops among K-6 kids. Talking about an earlier presentation, Gilpas said, “She was pushing a little girl on a merry-go-round. All I could see was the gun.”

After the decision, about two dozen community members went out of the gym doors, formed a circle and chanted, “Si, se puede.” A few sat in their chairs shaking their heads, commiserating in smaller circles. Some reactions were more nuanced.

Cassandra Palmeno, a graduate of North Salinas High School, says she isn’t against police officers on campus, but spoke against the proposal. Though she said her own experiences with officers were positive, she claims she’s seen officers mishandle incidents on campus. “I’ve witnessed situations that could have been de-escalated with a properly trained officer and weren’t,” she said.

Faced with two rejections from two districts in as many days, Fresé said she would investigate options to extend the deadline of Aug. 31 for the $3.4 million federal grant. She also indicated that instead of courting school boards, she’ll wait for them to come to her. (At least one has: Shelly Morr, superintendent of Santa Rita Union Elementary School District, says she’s sent a letter of interest to Fresé and Salinas City Manager Ray Corpuz.)

Whether or not Fresé finds a place to house the school resource officers, there are already signs of political fallout from the two rejections. Political consultant Brian Higgins says he’s hearing from prospective candidates considering running for four SUHSD school board seats open in 2018.

“Republicans, Democrats and Independents have all approached me,” he says, adding the interested individuals – who he’s not naming yet – believe SUHSD put politics before student safety.

On the Monterey Peninsula, cops in schools are also getting attention. The board of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District will decide on Aug. 22 whether to renew existing contracts with school resource officers, or spend that $250,000 on other resources for students, like therapists and counselors, according to Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh.