Española City Councilor Peggy Martinez addressed its Española School Board at the July 2 meeting to present her concerns regarding the school resource officer position.
“I was told that there was a good possibility that contract will be leaving us and along with the economic point, keeping the officer with the city will keep the trust the people have in us,” Martinez said.
Española Police Chief Richard Gallegos said he was very surprised when he learned the District was also considering using the Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office.
“It was pretty shocking to me because we didn’t get any notice,” Gallegos said.
This past academic year, the Española Police Department, in collaboration with the School District, had a police officer rotate through the different schools in the District to assist with security and other school-related matters.
The District is considering replacing the position with a deputy from the Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office. Superintendent Danny Trujillo said the switch will give him more flexibility to conduct business among the different schools in the area.
“I am looking at the needs of the District,” Trujillo said. “We have city jurisdiction and we have county jurisdiction. The County can go into the city. The city cannot go into the County. I have schools in the County that are not in the city. Basically, for me, my best need is that I have to replace the school resource officer from the schools, plus I have to build a relationship (with the County) for the other schools outside of the District.”
However, Gallegos said the majority of the District’s students are at the high school and middle school, so it would make sense for Española Police to work in the schools. There is also the issue of proximity. Gallegos said his officers work inside the city, so they can respond to incidents in the schools much faster than the County can.
Martinez agrees. She said the city’s budget is very tight and switching the position to the County would place a strain on Española’s finances. This past academic year, the District paid the school resource officer, Michelle Talache, $32,000 and the switch will force the police department to find other funding to pay her.
Trujillo rebuts that claim.
“The School Resource Officer that we are not putting in the schools, they (the police department) are still keeping on,” Trujillo said. “They have money for the position.”
Gallegos countered that claim and said losing the school resource officer position will significantly impact the police department.
“It affects us in many different ways,” Gallegos said. “There is money for training and equipment that we will lose.”
Martinez said the city already factored in the salary of the school resource officer into the 2014/2015 city budget, since it assumed the District would retain Talache’s services.
Martinez said she does not believe the switch is in the best interest of the community. She said the District should consider other factors before making a decision. For example, students must be given medical clearance before they can be transported to the Juvenile Detention Center and Martinez wonders where the Sheriff’s Office will hold those individuals, since the County jail is located in Tierra Amarilla. Martinez said she worries about the leadership change at the Sheriff’s Office as well.
“One more issue, the current sheriff will only hold the office for five months, the remainder of his term, which means that the program would have two different leaders in the coming year,” Martinez said.
Despite these concerns, Martinez said she believes the students will be most affected by the changes.
“I believe it’s important to keep the school resource officer currently working at our middle school because she’s created many trusting relationships with those students,” Martinez said. This lady has a special gift of connecting to these kids.”
Martinez said Talache provides stability to the children that they otherwise would not have. She mentors them beyond their time at school and keeps in touch with them on a daily basis.
However, Trujillo said he believes a sheriff’s deputy can form the same close relationships as Talache has.
“I think we have highly qualified police in every department,” Trujillo said. “They can form the same relationships as the city police had.”
The proposed single-year contract outlines the same responsibilities of the previous contract, but at a potentially higher cost.
The contract states that salary for the position will not exceed $40,000 and Trujillo said the salary could increase depending on the officer’s experience. Therefore, the budget allocated to the position could exceed the salary that Talache was paid in the prior year.
The contract also stipulates that a stipend will be given to the officer — about $75 per month for nine months. This will cost the District another $675. Trujillo said he believes this is only fair and would have made the same stipulation for the city’s police officer.
In the end, Martinez wondered why a new contract is under consideration.
“Dr. Trujillo seemed pleased with the job she has done thus far,” Martinez said. “Which leads me to wonder, why make the changes?”