Mead High School is promised a plan for two Student Resource Officers from local police department

Both administration and Mead Police Department share plans for creating ‘consistency’ and ‘foundation’ for SRO work at the school

Marina Goter, Editor-in-Chief|September 5, 2019

Marina Goter

Chief of police Brent Newbanks at MHS.

As the new school year started, Mead High School students and staff seemed pleased to have a Student Resource Officer (SRO) in the halls, but some remained uneasy about the fact that there was one. Rumors did circulate that MHS was promised two officers, but this could not be confirmed by The Mav. 

 Click here to see our original reporting on the topic. 

The Mead Police Department did share at the end of last school year that the goal was to have two SROs at the high school. 

The Mav also reached out to students from other schools in the district and found that all schools besides MHS have two SROs.

But the reason for this discrepancy is more complex than it seems. As a new organization, the Mead Police Department faces many challenges.

“Hiring police officers, in general, is a little bit difficult. We’ve been very fortunate to get some very good people here, but we won’t accept anything that doesn’t meet our standards,” said chief of police Brent Newbanks. 

In addition to being hired to the Mead police department, to become an SRO there is a specific training that officers have to go through to be allowed in schools. 

Although many agree that it makes sense that it would take longer to get police officers in schools as a result of the need for additional training, some are concerned. 

Andrea Randolph (‘20) says that “It’s concerning because of all the threats. Having two is always a better option, it’s just safer.”

“It doesn’t concern me that much, but I was told we would get two so I’m just confused,” said English teacher Mrs. Nichole Rue.

Although MHS has one SRO as of now, Newbanks said, “Dr. Haddad and I have had [the] discussion that it is a goal to get a second SRO. The first step for us was getting one into Mead and creating that consistency and foundation.”

Principal Rachael Ayers believes MHS is safe and has remained safe in the process of hiring and finding new SROs. She said that this work has been a process but that “Saint Vrain is pretty blessed” because many other districts do not have the same security and SRO ratio that MHS has.