Faculty officers transfer to South San Francisco Unified Faculty District for resolution | Native Information

Faced with a tight deadline, the South San Francisco City Council fulfilled its role in determining what it believed to be the duties and responsibilities of liaison officers for students on the city’s campus and left final approval of the agreement to the South San Francisco Unified School District.

“It’s not 100% what the school district or city might want, but that’s collaboration,” School Board Trustee Patricia Murray said during a special meeting of the school committee and city subcommittee on Monday prior to Wednesday’s city council meeting .

District and city officials have negotiated a letter of intent through campus police.

The intent of the MoU is to clearly define the role of SLOs on campus and when they should or should not be involved in student disciplinary matters. As outlined in the draft SLO approved by the South San Francisco City Council on Wednesday, July 28, campus staff must handle most disciplinary matters in-house, unless the Code of Education dictates otherwise.

With the fall semester starting on August 11, the district’s board of trustees was not confident that the two parties would come to an agreement before classes began and decided to put the SLO program on hold until an agreement was signed.

Despite the tight deadline, the trustees suggested that staff take ample time to draft a strong letter of intent while the board of directors focused on reopening campus safely. The Trustees also assisted in planning a special meeting to approve a final version of the document.

During the council meeting on Wednesday, Councilor James Coleman also encouraged city officials to spend considerable time preparing the document, noting that officials will continue to respond to emergency calls.

“There is no rush and I want to make sure we are serving our students, our parents, and our community by adopting a well-researched and best possible coordinated letter of intent,” said Coleman called.

Alternatively, Mayor Mark Addiego, a member of the subcommittee who endorsed the drafted letter of intent, shared the urgency to reach an agreement before the students return to campus.

“I don’t want to be the political entity that drops the ball and ends with a suspended SLO program,” said Addiego.

Public requests

Councilor Buenaflor Nicolas said she felt the process was not hasty and said she saw no problem with the MOU as it was elaborated, suggesting that she was in “another universe” after being Heard the concerns of public speakers.

As with previous public sessions on SLO, a number of public speakers said they felt the officers made the students uncomfortable. Some urged the council to reject the MOU and keep the program on hold, while others called for the MOU to remove any language that helps foster strong relationships between the department and students.

On the public speaking side, Coleman said the district should limit social interactions with students and requested that courses that are normally run by the police force be run by other trained professionals. In line with Coleman, Councilor Eddie Flores said therapists and other local organizations better trained in mental health could be a resource for programming bullying.

Additionally, Coleman said he would like officers to be casually dressed and unarmed at closed events such as career fairs. In its draft, the MOU calls for SLOs to be dressed in accessible uniforms such as polo shirts and utility pants as often as possible, but allows officers to wear all tools for the use of force.

Police Chief Jeff Azzopardi rejected Coleman’s proposal, noting that officers are legally allowed to hide wearing on or off duty, including on school grounds. When asked to attend a paid event that the officer was not allowed to attend, he suggested that the officer decline “even if I try.”

“If the school district wants a policeman there, that policeman will be there and that policeman will be armed every time,” Azzopardi said. “I will not allow one of our officers to be paid in uniform or without a uniform and be on the street without a weapon.”

He acknowledged that off-duty officers are prohibited from carrying firearms in certain situations, such as when playing the San Francisco Giants’ games at Oracle Park. Councilors asked if the school district could put similar restrictions in place, which Azzopardi said he was unsure of about the legal parameters, but officials would stick to or choose not to attend school events.

Agreement areas

Azzopardi signaled a vote from the department to ensure students were discreetly handcuffed from campus if necessary, noting that only one student and one teacher had been arrested in the district in the past three years.

“Our goal for the future is not to have to take anyone out with handcuffs,” said Azzopardi during the subcommittee meeting on Monday. “My goal would be that no one would see anyone handcuffed.”

During the subcommittee meeting on Monday and the council meeting on Wednesday, he assured officials that he would reassign any SLO that the district was uncomfortable with on campus if they couldn’t come to an agreement.

Azzopardi also pointed out the legal restrictions that officers face when interrogating children aged 17 and younger. Starting in 2021, California law requires the department to contact the district attorney if it is interested in speaking to a minor, he said. An administrator must also be present at every interaction between officers and students.

In the interests of full transparency, Flores and Councilor Mark Nagales asked the MOU to explicitly state student rights while also outlining when a campus employee may or may not contact the police. Coleman also requested that the document highlight the complaints process for officers in the department.

“This is the first year that we are putting together a formal agreement document between this relationship and I would like to see it in detail,” said Flores. “The more details, the better.”

Since the document is a letter of intent rather than a binding contract, City Attorney Sky Woodruff told council members that either party can make changes if they see fit.

If either party violates any agreements in the MOU, each also has the power to terminate the agreement, Woodruff said. An annual review of the SLO program, required by the MOU, will also allow both government agencies to review how well the program and MOU are working in practice, said City Manager Mike Futrell.

“In the years to come, we can continue to refine this program to meet the intent we all need to have to do this successfully,” Futrell said during the subcommittee meeting on Monday.

With the unanimous support of the council, the draft MOU and proposed changes are now being sent back to the school district board of trustees, which can propose further changes before a final vote takes place. The next official board meeting will be on August 12th and a special meeting before the school’s return has yet to be planned.

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106