The Concord School Board will be considering some last-minute budget additions Wednesday after members of the School Discipline and SRO Task Force expressed concern that their recommendations were not being considered.
School Board President Jim Richards said Tuesday that the board will discuss recommendations from the School Discipline and SRO Task Force at Wednesday’s meeting, where the board is slated to vote to finalize the $96.3 million 2022-23 budget.
“They brought in some good ideas that I anticipate the board will be discussing for this budget and also for the coming school budget as well,” Richards said. “They did make some recommendations for further study and looking into programs some more.”
Over the weekend, five members of the School Discipline and SRO Task Force sent a letter voicing concern that the board has not included its recommendations for student safety coaches in the 2022-23 budget, or had any discussion about the future of the school resource officer position as part of their budget work.
“The Task Force completed one year of intensive work on the topic of the SRO, yet the Board’s response remains the same as a year ago — it needs more time, more information, and more data,” the letter read. “However, the Board’s failure to identify the precise information or data that it feels is lacking makes progress feel like a moving target.” The letter was signed by Task Force members Lidia Aloyo Yen, Steven Kidder, Elizabeth Lahey, Barry Lawrence and James O’Shaughnessy.
The task force was assembled in Spring 2021 to review the discipline system and make recommendations on how to improve it, following lengthy community debate over the necessity and effectiveness of a school resource officer position. Over the past several months, the group has reviewed data, learned about discipline methods and interviewed students and staff. In February, the task force recommended hiring “school safety coaches” to focus on building relationships and de-escalating conflicts using “healing-centered” approaches while re-framing the school resource officer position to be focused solely on crime risk.
The school board held public hearings on the budget March 21 and 23. In those work sessions, the board has discussed adding grant-funded student mentors and Americorps positions to help out with social-emotional wellness among students. In the letter, Task Force members said that doesn’t align with their recommendations.
“While we are aware that the Board has included grant-funded ‘student mentor’ positions (we profess no opinion on the value of such positions), we would like to be clear that such positions are not consistent with the Student Safety Coaches recommended by the Task Force,” the members wrote. “The student-m entor roles will not solve the problems highlighted by the Task Force or those inherent in the current SRO model.”
The School Board will convene Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.