Teacher safety concerns top priority, new Fresno school board says. ‘I’m asking for your help’
Fresno Unified’s new school board immediately confronted some of the district’s most controversial issues in recent years during its first official meeting Wednesday, including teacher safety, student discipline, and cops on campus.
At Wednesday’s meeting, newly sworn-in Trustee Susan Wittrup, who assumed Terry Slatic’s former seat, had the chance to weigh in on these issues for the first time as an elected official.
The board’s debate over police presence at FUSD schools and how to properly support teachers Wednesday night showed where lines might be drawn between trustees on these issues going forward.
One particular campus — Wawona K-8 School — happened to be at the center of these discussions Wednesday night.
Eight staff members from the school pleaded with district leaders to provide better support as they deal with threats and physical aggression from students on campus, as well as fights that one staffer said “could only be described as a riot” on one occasion.
“I am not trained to de-escalate a fight,” said Wawona library employee Jennifer Agazarian as she tearfully recounted an altercation between students this school year. “I really hoped that I would be relieved by someone with training.”
“I’m asking for your help,” said first-year Wawona teacher Reanna Bromley, “because we can’t put out this fire by ourselves, even with 200% of our effort.”
Classroom safety has been a top concern for teachers in FUSD and all over the country as students struggling with mental health and behavioral issues in the wake of COVID-19’s disruptions have further complicated the already-difficult job of teaching.
A majority of trustees Wednesday also approved a new contract with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office to assign an armed Student Resource Officer, or SRO, to Wawona, despite challenges from community members and individual trustees.
The FUSD board previously voted in June to bring SROs back to the district’s middle school campuses after law enforcement contracts agreed upon before the pandemic were tabled and later expired.
Wawona, which serves students in kindergarten through junior high, rests on a county island outside Fresno PD’s jurisdiction, necessitating a contract with the sheriff’s office instead.
Veva Islas, who was voted board president Wednesday, remained consistent in her critiques of law enforcement contracts with the school district.
Islas was the lone nay vote against SROs on middle school campuses in June.
On Wednesday, she was joined by Trustee Andy Levine opposing Wawona’s contract and requesting it be tabled for revisions.
“We can address that systemic and clear concerns from our staff — and I’m sure our students — at Wawona,” Levine said, “by not responding ... like we’ve always done, in terms of reacting with policing. I understand that sentiment because it’s what we’ve always done. It’s all we really know. But we’ve got to start thinking deeper and more proactively.”
Wittrup, who was named the board’s new clerk Wednesday night, meanwhile voiced her support for police on campus.
“I really value our law enforcement partners in Fresno Unified,” she said, “and I feel strongly that we need to keep them at our schools.”
Five community members, some of whom have been pushing for FUSD to consider alternatives to police on campus for years, also condemned the Wawona contract at the meeting.
“Children deserve chances, not charges,” said Ashley Rojas, former executive director of the nonprofit Fresno Barrios Unidos, members of which have been vocal in this debate for the past two years. “Children need caregivers, not cops.”
Rojas was careful to note she spoke out Wednesday in her private capacity as an FUSD alumnus and fifth-generation Fresnan.
Wednesday’s school board meeting was Fresno Unified’s last in 2022. The board will meet again on Jan. 11.
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.
This story was originally published December 15, 2022 at 11:08 AM.
