St. Peter Schools choosing to keep SROs in their hallways

ST. PETER, Minn. (KEYC) - While the status of school resource officers in many Minnesota public schools remains up in the air, St. Peter Schools is choosing to keep their designated officer in the hallways.

Republican state lawmakers and several law enforcement agencies have called for a special session to review language in legislation passed earlier this year.

The law limits district employees, including Safety Resource Officers (SROs), from placing students into certain holds, like the prone position.

Those calling for a special session have said the language is not clear enough and limits an SROs ability to do their job properly when it comes to use-of-force tactics.

Gov. Walz has declined to call a special session at this time.

Mankato Public Safety has moved to an “on-call” basis for their resource officers in Mankato Area Public Schools.

Blue Earth County Sheriff Jeff Wersal announced his office decided to pull SROs out of St. Clair and Lake Crystal schools entirely.

St. Peter Schools superintendent Bill Gronseth issued a statement to KEYC News Now regarding the decision made before the start of the school year.

He says, in part: “The role of a school resource officer is not to serve as a disciplinarian or to provide behavior management other than for the occasional incident that reaches a level that such assistance is requested by an administrator.”

Gronseth goes on to say the district and St. Peter Police Department will continue their partnership as the legislative issue is debated at the state level.

Waseca Public Schools and the city’s police department have also elected to keep a resource officer on-site this year.

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