Procedure No. 4311PR
Community Relations

 

School Safety and Security Services Program

Safety and Security Staff Training

The district recognizes that trained safety and security staff know when to informally interact with students to reinforce school rules and when to enforce the law. Prior to assigning safety and security staff to work on school property when students are expected to be present, the district and its contractors must either:

A. Confirm that the safety and security staff have completed training series documentation provided by the educational service district; or

B. Require the safety and security staff to complete the following educational service district training series: two components for school resource officers and three components for other safety and security staff, which must meet the following requirements:

(i) All safety and security staff must complete classroom training on the subjects listed below, within the first six months of working on school property when students are expected to be present:

• Constitutional and civil rights of children is schools, including state law governing search and interrogation of youth in schools;
• Child and adolescent development;
• Trauma-informed approaches to working with youth;
• Recognizing and responding to youth mental health issues;
• Educational rights of students with disabilities, the relationship of disability to behavior, and best practices for interacting with students with disabilities;
• Collateral consequences of arrest, referral for prosecution, and court involvement;
• Resources available in the community that serve as alternatives to arrest and prosecution and pathways for youth to access services without court or criminal justice involvement;
• Local and national disparities in the use of force and arrest of children;
• De-escalation techniques when working with youth or groups of youth;
• State law regarding restraint and isolation in schools, including RCW 28A.600.485
• Bias free policing and cultural competency, including best practices for interacting with students form particular backgrounds, including English learner, Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ), immigrant, female, and non-binary;
• The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g) requirements, including limits on access to and dissemination of student records for non-educational purposes; and
• Restorative justice principles and practices;

(ii) All safety and security staff must complete two days of on-the-job training with experienced safety and security staff, at the school of the experienced staff, within the first year of working on school property when students are expected to be present; and

(iii) Safety and security staff who are not school resource officers must complete at least six check-in trainings with experienced staff within the first year of working on school property when students are expected to be present.

Complaint Resolution Process

The district recognizes the importance of establishing a simple and effective means for resolving concerns that may arise related to safety and security staff. The following complaint resolution system will address concerns regarding safety and security staff, provide for the investigation of complaints, and provide for timely communication of the resolution of the complaint to the complainant.

The complaint resolution system shall allow parents and guardians and adult students to submit complaints. A complaint shall mean a written claim by a parent or guardian or adult student that alleges improper conduct by safety and security staff that has directly aggrieved them.

The following procedure has been established for resolving a written complaint filed by a parent or guardian or adult student.

 

Step One

The parent or guardian or adult student will present the complaint in writing to the school principal or their designee within 14 calendar days of the action or incident that gave rise to the complaint. The written statement of the complaint will contain:

A. The facts upon which the complaint is based as the parent or guardian or adult student who is filing the complaint sees them;

B. A reference to the policies/procedures of the district which have allegedly been violated; and

C. The remedies sought.

Failure to submit a written complaint within the timeline specified will result in waiver of the complaint.

If a written complaint is filed in compliance with the timeline specified above, the parent or guardian or adult student will discuss this complaint with the school principal, a representative from law enforcement or their designee. A sincere effort will be made to resolve the complaint at this level. If the parent or guardian or adult student does not appeal the complaint to the superintendent, law enforcement or their designee in writing within 14 calendar days of the parent or guardian or adult student's meeting with the school principal or their designee, the complaint will be waived.

 

Step Two

If the parent or guardian or adult student does appeal the complaint to the superintendent, law enforcement or their designee in writing within 14 calendar days of the parent or guardian or adult student's meeting with the school principal, law enforcement or their designee, the superintendent, law enforcement or their designee will, within 14 calendar days of the receipt of the complainant’s written appeal, meet with that parent or guardian or adult student to hear their claim.

The superintendent, law enforcement or their designee will render a decision regarding the appeal within 21 calendar days of the parent or guardian or adult student's meeting with the superintendent or their designee. The superintendent, law enforcement or their designee’s decision will be considered final.

Annual Data Collection and Reporting

The district must annually collect the following information on safety and security staff:

A. The total number of safety and security staff working in the district and in each school building, and number of days per week that each staff works;

B. The name of any law enforcement agency or private organization with which the district has an agreement for safety and security services;

C. A description of each incident where safety and security staff were involved that resulted in student discipline, use of force against a student, or a student arrest. For each student involved in the incident, the description must include:

(i) The student’s race, ethnicity, and other demographics; and

(ii) Whether the student has an individualized education program or plan developed under section 504 of the rehabilitation act of 1973;

D. The number of complaints related to job duties and student interactions filed against safety and security staff; and

E. Other school safety and security information required by the office of the superintendent of public instruction.

The district must annually submit any agreements with a law enforcement agency or security guard company and the information collected above the time and in the manner required by the office of the superintendent of public instruction. The office of the superintendent of public instruction will make the submitted agreements and information publicly available. To the extent possible, information collected under C. above must be disaggregated as provided in RCW 28A.300.042.

 

Initial Adoption Date:  October 24, 2022