Students skipping class is a problem for schools in unincorporated San Diego County, according to Supervisors Bill Horn and Dianne Jacob. The supervisors want to fight truancy by putting cops on campus.
Horn said students missing class without permission costs school districts a lot of money.
“The state is giving you $12,000 per student to keep your kid in class,” Horn said. “Obviously, it can be an economic boon to the school districts. If you have 30 kids in class that were truant, that's a lot of money.”
Many schools have municipal officers on campus helping to fight truancy. Horn pointed out that the Grossmont High School District contracts with police departments of the cities where its schools are located.
However, schools in many of San Diego County’s unincorporated areas don’t have officers on campus. Horn said he wants sheriff’s deputies and probation officers to fill the campus cop gap.
“The state can’t afford to put these people on campus and I think that we at the county can,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Department has 14 school officers to serve 40 high schools. Sheriff Bill Gore wants funding for eight to 10 more school resource officers. Gore said paying for the officers can be done by school districts and the county combining resources.
“In contract cities, it’s done primarily with the sharing of finances between the school district and the cities, and in unincorporated areas we’re looking at a similar type of sharing of expenses,” Gore said.
The supervisors and sheriff all said the campus cops can offer more than just a police presence.
“Kids who get in trouble are sometimes very smart kids, and they need a relationship to keep out of trouble,” Horn said.
Gore said campus officers do more than police work.
“These cops, for example on high school campuses, aren’t just walking around to thump people on the head,” Gore said. "They’re there as a resource, maybe a counselor.”
San Diego County’s chief administrative officer has 90 days to complete a report showing the Board of Supervisors how much it will cost to put cops on campus. Horn said he wants the program up and running by the start of the next school year.
