SROs role in MAPS for new school year

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - “Our school resource officers are still very involved in the schools,” said Amy Vokal, Director of Public Safety.

Mankato Area Public schools has two school resource officers that won’t be present until further notice, after a new state law took effect.

AMY: “We hope for clarity, that’s I think the most important thing and we hope to be able to go back and do our jobs and do it under the same guidance and authority and guidelines we always have,” said Vokal.

“Just know that our SRO’s are waiting and ready and willing to get back in school as soon as this is solved and we’ll get right at building those relationships with kids and families and our staff,” said Scott Hare, Director of Student Support Services.

The language in question is a small segment that limits district employees, including SROs, from placing students into certain holds: such as prone restraint.

In Mankato, Officers will be available on an ‘on-call’ basis.

”They’re not stationed in the schools right now, but they can respond to, help with follow up investigations or meeting with families or help with threat assessments. A lot of times they just consult and so they’re still available for all that,” said Vokal.

And even though some districts across the state are pulling their SROs out, MAPS SROs says they will stay.

“They can continue to work on all those different things, just not in the building. For those first couple of days, hopefully it will be solved very soon at the legislature,” said Hare.

“We did it together. It wasn’t me calling and saying we’re just not going to be there because we wouldn’t do that. And it wasn’t the school demanding you have to be here. So we worked really well together to kind of come up with the best situation for the time being,” said Vokal.

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