The Conversation Club at Mountain View High School (CCMVHS) held an open discussion about the roles of student resource officers (SROs) on Mountain View–Los Altos School District campuses yesterday at 6:30 p.m. Among the participants that attended the discussion were Superintendent Dr. Nellie Meyer, Board President Sanjay Dave, Board Member Dr. Phil Faillace and Distance Learning Coordinator Teri Faught. 

CCMVHS aims to provide opportunities for community members to share and discuss their differing perspectives on topics in a safe environment; this meeting was the first in a series of conversations aimed to share student perspectives on racism on campus with district administrators. 

Faught — who was the previous vice principal at MVHS — started the discussion with a presentation on the intended roles of SROs on MVLA campuses; according to her, SROs work to build positive relationships with students and provide a safe learning environment. 

“SROs make it so that all that students need to worry about at lunch is finding their friends and being first in the lunch line,” Faught said.

SRO presence differs between MVLA campuses: LAHS has one SRO while MVHS has four. The SRO at LAHS is on an on-call basis to provide security when needed but is not present on campus unless specifically asked by LAHS administration — he’s also assigned to 15 other schools. SROs at MVHS, on the other hand, are oftentimes present on campus which means that they’re a larger part of the community. 

Many of the students and staff present in the discussion expressed that having a law enforcement presence on campus makes them nervous — a police presence makes it feel as if there’s something wrong, they said.

CCMVHS plans to host additional seminars to talk about the role racism plays on the MVLA campuses. The Talon will continue to cover those meetings and report on additional perspectives.