116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids’ school resource officer agreement remains largely unchanged
Agreement keeps officers stationed at five schools
CEDAR RAPIDS — An agreement for Cedar Rapids school resource officers — or police — remains largely unchanged after City Council and school board votes this week approved keeping an officer stationed in the same five schools.
The agreement essentially has remained the same since members of the council and school board in 2022 disagreed over whether the officers should be stationed in middle schools.
The Cedar Rapids City Council in 2022 unanimously backed a contract for seven officers, keeping one each serving McKinley STEAM Academy and Wilson Middle School, where police had said the highest number of incidents occurred.
However, the school board in a 5-2 vote ultimately approved a contract in 2022 that included five officers total stationed at Kennedy, Washington, Jefferson and Metro high schools and Polk Alternative school.
The agreement for the five officers approved this week is effective July 1 and ends June 30, 2025. The school board approved it Monday and the council signed off on it Tuesday, both without discussion. The agreement does not add an officer for the City View Community High School, the district’s new magnet school.
The agreement was authorized after Gov. Kim Reynolds in April signed into law legislation allowing trained school staff to carry firearms on school grounds. Lawmakers passed it in the wake of January’s fatal shooting at Perry High School where Ahmir Jolliff, 11, and Principal Dan Marburger were killed and six others were injured. The 17-year-old shooter killed himself.
Under the new law, the state's 11 largest school districts — those with 8,000 or more students — are required to employ a school resource officer or private school security in each high school. The district's school board may vote to opt out.
Police Chief David Dostal said the only change from last year’s agreement is the district agreeing to a small increase to reimburse school resource officer training up to $4,500 total.
Some other items in the contract include:
- School resource officers shall assist the district with facilitating lockdown drills specifically at school buildings staffed with school resource officers twice per school year.
- Officers provide “run, hide and fight” training annually to faculty and staff at all school buildings as well as general professional development training on agreed-upon topics.
- If it’s necessary to conduct formal police interviews with students about an incident related to the school or on school grounds, the officer shall inform the principal or designee beforehand. The officer should reasonably notify parents or guardians and allow them to be present during the interview, unless emergency circumstances arise.
- The officer will divert first-offense violations when possible and focus on a restorative response, but may take law enforcement action.
- In collaboration with the district, the officer will collect data on all referrals to law enforcement including police calls, criminal charges and arrests in school-related incidents. This is to be reported to the district on a monthly basis.
- The officer will wear “soft uniform” attire on duty
- Officers shall be available for conference with students, parents and faculty to assist them with problems of a law enforcement or crime prevention nature.
Each officer costs $159,197 for fiscal 2025, according to the district. The five positions cost $795,985 total. The district covers and reimburses the city for half the cost for all five officers, totaling $397,992.50.
Comments: (319) 398-8494; marissa.payne@thegazette.com
Grace King of The Gazette contributed to this report.
Daily Newsletters