(FOX40.COM) — If you’re a Natomas parent, security at your child’s school will soon look a lot different. Natomas Unified School District confirmed — starting in January — schools will no longer have school resource officers monitoring campuses.

The school district clarified that safety positions are not going away. Schools will still have people assigned to monitor and protect students on campus, this just won’t be through the Sacramento Police Department anymore.

School safety has been a hot topic on the local and national scales for years. The California School Boards Association, or CSBA, reported 226 school shootings in California since 1970. According to the CSBA, in 2022, about 46% of traditional public schools had school resource officers, SRO’s, as a primary form of protection. This included Natomas Unified School District schools — until now. Starting in January, the Sacramento Police Department will reassign SRO’s to city patrol duty. Amid ongoing staffing shortages, the department said this is to ensure they can “meet emergency response needs citywide.”

Some parents told FOX40 they fear this could make schools less safe. They said they believe SRO’s help deter violence simply by being present. Meanwhile, other parents told FOX40 that they welcome this change.

Teyahnee Ridgle is the parent to a Natomas 12th grader, but she’s been heavily involved with student safety in the past. She said students told her there’s such thing as being too policed.

“They felt like it was more of a prison than it was a learning environment,” Ridgle said. “They were like overly monitored.”

She served at Natomas Charter School as a campus monitor. These security ambassadors are not armed nor contracted with formal law enforcement agencies. However, Ridgle said students still said these monitors made them feel like they weren’t trusted.

“They don’t need to feel like they’re criminals on the campus,” Ridgle said. “Campus supervisors are sufficient.”

The Natomas Unified School District said they are continuing other safety measures — including their Safety and Safe Schools Department, which focuses on training. They’re maintaining partnerships with safety consultants and the “Sandy Hook Promise” reporting system to encourage students to report concerns. Ridgle said she believes conversations about safety and proper school behavior start at home.

“We need to teach our kids how to do more at de-escalating,” Ridgle said. “They’re going to need that, those skills in everyday life. We’re not going to always have an officer there. I try to tell students to like, walk away from these situations. And sometimes that’s all it takes is just someone giving them different ways of how to deal with situations.”

In a statement sent to the school body and FOX40, the school district’s superintendent, Robyn Castillo, said safety is the highest priority and that leaders have developed a new safety plan. The district has developed a security position that will be assigned to each school. School leaders said — like SRO’s — people in this new role will support schools in safety intervention and prevention duties. They’re also increasing the number of “Campus Safety Specialists” at middle and high schools to “have increased adult presence.”

Ridgle said it’s important to teach high school aged kids that actions have consequences in order to prepare them for the real world.

“I think that students need to be aware of processes and procedures, and know that they will be held accountable for their actions if they are to do something that’s inappropriate at school,” Ridgle said.

Natomas Unified School District is actively recruiting candidates for this new role. For updates you can visit Natomas Unified School District‘s website. These new safety positions will be individuals hired by the school, rather than contracted through a law enforcement agency like school resource officers are now.

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