Lack of uniform district policy affects Samo

When Guido Jaramillo and Darren Sargent stand at Michigan gate each day, they do more than just check ID cards. Over 3000 students need to get to class and hundreds of staff members need to get to their classrooms and offices. Fights need to be quelled and order needs to be restored.Unfortunately, this isn’t all Guido and Sargent face. Samo security guards are subject to disrespect by students and teachers alike, a lack of uniform policies, nearly no on-the-job training and an almost entirely new administration.According to S-House principal Brian Watson, who oversees security, a lack of respect towards security guards is a prevalent issue, despite their constant service to Samo.“I believe security officers are always the front lines of defense at our school, but they face all the flack from community members, students and staff when those individuals are angry and upset over something,” Watson said. “It’s always unfair. Students and staff members can do a better job of honoring and respecting our officers.”The issue is aggravated by the fact that principals and advisers at Samo aren’t fully aware of what the security guards do. According to Sargent, the principals and advisers aren’t always acting in tandem with security officers, and often times, teachers don’t support security.“Every three years we get a new administrator,” Sargent said. “A lot of these new principals have no clue what’s going on with security, and there’s no policy at the district level.”With administration in a constant flux, there has been no set code of conduct for the security guards to adhere to. According to security officer Guido Jaramillo, a lack of district policy has created confusion and misunderstanding on how best to handle different situations. In a large and diverse school, some level of uniformity is needed to control it. Without a written and clear code of conduct, different security officers are liable to handle identical situations in varying ways; therefore, students are subject to case by case punishments.“Even the smallest security company has a policy, but there is nothing like that here,” Jaramillo said. “[SMMUSD] has someone in charge in that area, that doesn’t know anything about security. All they want to do is sweep those things under the rug.”Principal Eva Mayoral also showed interest in the adoption of some sort of district policy, both at a civil level between staff and students, as well as uniformity in the handling of different situations.“We’ve been discussing [the creation of a policy] for some time, but it’s still early in it’s reign,” Mayoral said. “Right now we’re in the sixth and a half month of school, and have basically a whole new team, but we as a district have been looking into a civility code that addresses how we interface with one another. I expect that every adult and student on this campus is treated with compassion and respect, that’s the bottom line in every interaction, no matter who it is.”Another issue that security officers encounter is a lack of on the job training. Many of the security guards have received credentials independently from Samo, but once hired, received no instruction on how to handle Samo-specific situations. This combination of lack of training and lack of policy is a recipe for confusion and possibly mishandled situations.According to a survey done by the Child Trends Data Bank, in 2011, one in six teens surveyed, reported carrying a weapon on school property in the last 30 days. While security officers undergo training to deal with situations that may arise on campus, according to Jaramillo, Samo security guards don’t receive an adequate amount of training and go into the job ill-prepared.“These things happen in schools across the nation, a principal tells you to go disarm a guy with three knives, and you have to go,” Jaramillo said. “You can go to a police academy and train, but over time, tactics change, and it would be nice to keep up with that kind of training.”In weekly meetings, administrators discuss police alerts, professional development and concerns about where command presence is needed, according to M-House Principal Elias Miles.“I think there needs to be more [Training similar to meetings with Watson],” Principal Eva Mayoral said. “I think it probably needs to be more than what can happen on a Wednesday after school. The question becomes, ‘when will that happen?’.”gziaukas@thesamohi.combkanjo@thesamohi.comjsadler@thesamohi.com