SAMMAMISH, Wash. — The Lake Washington School District said it is currently evaluating their partnerships with law enforcement and overall school safety staffing levels. The district said this is part of their goals to reduce the overall budget for the 2023-24 school year.
The district said in a statement:
“We are working with local police agencies to define a more focused scope of work that is responsive to the safety and security needs of our schools. We hope to have additional information to share with our community in the coming weeks.”
The King County Sheriff’s Office said they were notified by the district that they “will not be staffing SRO positions for the 2023-24 school year." But, the district said that they have not made any decision yet and are continuing discussions with their law enforcement partners.
The district said they currently have five SROs (School Resource Officers) from four different agencies who work in the district. The district said due to staffing issues with SROs they had to move to a regional approach for the 2022-23 school year where most SROs serve at their comprehensive high schools and also provide services to other local schools. The King County Sheriff’s Office supplies the one for Eastlake High School. But, they say that won’t be the case next year.
The King County Sheriff’s Office released the following statement:
“Lake Washington School District has notified KCSO that they will not be staffing SRO positions for the 2023-24 school year. Under the current MOU, Lake Washington School District wanted staffing SROs for Evergreen Middle School, Eastlake High School, Timberline Middle School, and Tesla STEM High School. However, due to staffing at KCSO, we were only able to staff an SRO at Eastlake HS for 2022-23. These MOUs are evaluated on a yearly basis by both the School Districts and KCSO to determine staffing needs for the following year.”
The Sheriff’s Office then sent KING 5 another statement that read:
“The King County Sheriff’s Office is proud of the positive impact that our School Resource Officer (SRO) Program and all our specialty units have had within our community. They allow us to provide an enhanced level of safety for our residents and their families, in all aspects of life. We are incredibly grateful for the long-standing partnership we’ve had with Lake Washington School District and respect their decision. We look forward to future opportunities to connect with its students, faculty, and parents.”
In response to the statement from the King County Sheriff’s Office, Lake Washington School District sent the following statement to KING 5:
“It is premature to share information about any changes to the SRO program in our schools. LWSD has not ended agreements with any of our law enforcement agencies for next year. We are continuing to have conversations with our law enforcement agencies about what next year will look like.”
Neither the King County Sheriff’s Office nor the Lake Washington School District would interview with KING 5 about this topic.
The most recent data from the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), from the 2021-22 school year, showed 27% of the school districts in the state have one or more school resource officers.
Redmond Police, Kirkland Police, and Sammamish Police also have SROs in the Lake Washington School District, according to the district website.
Redmond Police told KING 5 that it has not been notified of any changes to its current contract and "will continue to provide the service."
Kirkland Police told KING 5 that it will also continue to provide SROs and will be in contact with the school district about a final decision for the coming school year.