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Policy 4311 Olympia School District | Page 1
Policy: 4311
Series: 4000 Community Relations
School Safety and Security Services
Program
At the beginning of each school year, if the district has safety and security staff
working on school property, the district must present to and discuss with
students, and distribute to students’ families, information about the role and
responsibilities of safety and security staff.
“Safety and security staff” means a school resource officer, a school security
officer, a campus security officer, and any other commissioned or
noncommissioned employee or contractor, whose primary job duty is to provide
safety or security services for a public school.
“School resource officer” (SRO) means a commissioned law enforcement officer
in the state of Washington with sworn authority to make arrests, deployed in
community-oriented policing, and assigned by the employing police department
or sheriff's office to work in schools to build positive relationships with students
and address crime and disorder problems, gangs, and drug activities affecting or
occurring in or around K–12 schools. School resource officers should focus on
keeping students out of the criminal justice system when possible and should not
be used to attempt to impose criminal sanctions in matters that are more
appropriately handled within the educational system.
Purpose
The purpose of the Olympia School District safety and security services program
is to improve school safety and the educational climate at the school. The safety
and security staff shall be integrated into the school community through
participation in faculty and student meetings and assemblies as appropriate.
They shall support a positive school climate by developing positive relationships
with students, parents, and staff, and by helping to promote a safe, inclusive,
and positive learning environment. Safety and security staff are valuable team
members of School Based Threat Assessment Teams, which are preventative in
purpose. They are encouraged to participate consistent with Policy and
Procedure 3225 – School Based Threat Assessment.
Limitations
The primary responsibility for maintaining proper order and conduct in the
schools resides with school principals or their designee, with the support of other
school staff. Principals or their designee maintain order and handle all student
discipline matters consistent with Student Discipline Policy and Procedure 3241.
A school resource officer is prohibited from becoming involved in formal school
discipline situations that are the responsibility of school administrators.
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Policy 4311 Olympia School District | Page 2
Requests for Intervention
Teachers and school administrators may ask safety and security staff to
intervene if a student’s presence poses an immediate and continuing danger to
others or an immediate and continuing threat of material and substantial
disruption of the educational process or in other emergency circumstances
consistent with 3432 – Emergencies. Safety and security staff do not need to be
asked before intervening in emergencies.
Law Enforcement Activity and Immigration Enforcement
As a general rule, law enforcement activity should take place at a location other
than school premises. However, there are circumstances where law enforcement
intervention/activity at school premises is warranted and may be conducted by
an SRO. These law enforcement activities by an SRO may include interviews and
interrogations; search of a student’s person, possessions, or locker; citations,
filing of delinquency petitions, referrals to a probation officer, actual arrests, and
other referrals to the juvenile justice system, consistent with 3226 – Interview
and Interrogations of Students on School Premises and 3230 – Student Privacy
and Searches, and effective January 1, 2022, consistent with state law regarding
a juvenile’s access to an attorney when contacted by law enforcement.
The SRO duties do not extend to immigration enforcement and the SRO will not
inquire into or collect information about an individual’s immigration or citizenship
status, or place of birth. Neither will the SRO provide information pursuant to
notification requests from federal immigration authorities for the purposes of civil
immigration enforcement, except as required by law, consistent with 4310 –
District Relationship with Law Enforcement and Other Government Agencies.
Annual Review and Adoption of Agreements with Law Enforcement
Agencies or Security Guard Companies
If a law enforcement agency or security guard company supplies safety and
security staff to work on school property when students are expected to be
present, the district must annually review and adopt an agreement with the law
enforcement agency or security guard company. The agreement must:
A. Include a clear statement regarding safety and security staff duties and
responsibilities related to student behavior and discipline that:
● prohibits a school resource officer from becoming involved in formal school
discipline situations that are the responsibility of school administrators;
● recognizes that a trained safety and security staff knows when to informally
interact with students to reinforce school rules and when to enforce the
law;
● clarifies the circumstances under which teachers and school administrators
may ask safety and security staff to intervene with a student;
● explains how safety and security staff will be engaged in creating a positive
school climate and positive relationships with students; and
● describes the process for families to file complaints with the school and,
when applicable, the local law enforcement agency or the company that
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Policy 4311 Olympia School District | Page 3
provides the safety and security staff on contract related to safety and
security staff and a process for investigating and responding to complaints;
B. Include a jointly determined hiring and placement process and a performance
evaluation process that involves students, families, and staff; and
C. Confirm that the safety and security staff have completed training series
documentation provided by the educational service district prior to interactions
with students in their official capacity.
The agreement review and adoption process must involve parents, students,
staff, and community members.
The superintendent or designee will develop additional procedures to implement
this policy.
Legal References RCW 10.93.160 – Immigration and Citizenship Status
RCW 26.44.030 Interviews of children
RCW 26.44.050 - Abuse or neglect of child — Duty of law
enforcement agency or department of social and health
services — Taking child into custody without court order
RCW 26.44.110 Information about rights — Custody
without court order — Written statement required —
Contents
RCW 26.44.115 Child taken into custody under court
order — Information to parents
RCW 28A.300.640 - 645 – School based threat
assessment program
Chapter 28A.320.124 – School resource officer programs
20 U.S.C. 1232g Family Education Rights and Privacy Act
SHB 1140, Chapter 328, Laws of 2021 Law Enforcement
Contact with Juveniles – Access to Attorney
Cross References 2121 - Substance Abuse Program
2161 - Special Education and Related Services for Eligible
Students
2162 - Education of Students with Disabilities Under
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
3143 - Notification and Dissemination of Information
about Student Offenses and Notification of Threats of
Violence or Harm
3225 - School-Based Threat Assessment
3226 - Interviews and Interrogations of Students on
School Premises
3230 - Student Privacy and Searches
3241 - Student Discipline
3246 - Restraint, Isolation and Other Uses of Reasonable
Force
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Policy 4311 Olympia School District | Page 4
3432 - Emergencies
4210 - Regulation of Dangerous Weapons on School
Premises
4310 - District Relationships with Law Enforcement and
other Government Agencies
Management Resources 2020 - May Issue
