Politics & Government

Council Slams Helix Charter High School for Ending Police Grant

Charter board voted June 6 to end payments to city for Police Department-provided SRO.

Helix Charter High School came in for some pointed criticism Tuesday when the City Council, before approving a preliminary two-year budget, noted the school’s governing board had decided not to fund a school resource officer from the La Mesa Police Department.

Called an SRO, that role has been filled in recent years by Officers Jennifer McNamara and Scott Hildebrand, the latter still listed on the school website as “Police Officer on Campus – SRO.”  Helix underwrote an SRO at least five years.

Helix was paying the city $104,200 in 2010-2011 for the SRO, city records say. But this month, the governing Helix Charter board opted against allocating $126,000 for the coming school year, according to Helix officials.

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“We’ll have a distinctly different relationship [with Helix],” said Police Chief Al Lanning, when asked by the council what the loss of the SRO means to the Police Department.

Mayor Art Madrid said: “It concerns me that the school can have more coaches … but not a resource officer.”

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He archly suggested that La Mesa should “make sure citizens aren’t subsidizing that [Helix] activity” by assigning La Mesa officers to school events.  

Councilman Dave Allan called the Helix decision to defund the SRO  “unfortunate” because it involves public safety and since Proposition L sales-tax revenue—paid for and approved by La Mesa voters—is supporting Helix High.

Allan suggested the city demand more of the University Avenue school.

And Councilman Ernie Ewin rapped Helix for “not being able to step up and meet their responsibilities” on campus security.

Madrid revived another sore issue—making reference to its “beautiful” campus but Helix barring the public from using its all-weather track, for example.

“[They] keep the field locked up and down,” he said.

 Contacted after the meeting, Helix spokeswoman Jenn Osborn supplied some responses on behalf of the charter board’s president, Brian Kick.

“Due to a $1.7 million deficit faced by Helix Charter High School, the result of the state’s reduction in funding for public education, Helix’s governing board made difficult decisions in cuts and reductions during their June 6 meeting,” Osborn wrote via email.

 “As safety and learning are the utmost priorities of the administration and governing board, many factors were weighed in determining where those cuts and reductions would be made.”

The school says it employs 11 campus supervisors, “two of whom have backgrounds in law enforcement.”

These employees provide security on and around campus from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“The funding for a school resource officer … provided by the La Mesa Police Department had been allocated in the past so that a sworn officer would also be present when students are on campus” Osborn wrote. “The SRO is not on-site approximately one-third of the school year, and the campus supervisor staff has proven effective in managing security during those times.”

With these factors in mind,  she said, the decision was made to no longer fund what she called the $126,000 SRO position.

To use funding more efficiently, she said, the governing board and administration decided to realize the “full potential of the campus supervisors and make them an even more valuable asset to the campus.”

Indeed, she said, campus supervisors will get further training by the La Mesa Police Department “to enhance their already vast knowledge of, and experience with, safety and security practices. During and after the completion of the training, Helix will continue to work closely with the LMPD to handle any issues that extend beyond the expertise of the campus supervisors.”

Over the years, in his regular operations reports, Chief Lanning has noted accomplishments of the SROs at Helix. 

In April 2011, for example:

Officer Hildebrand … investigated three petty theft cases, one grand theft case, one attempted robbery case of a cell phone, a Facebook threat involving one student, and two cases of selling marijuana. He also assisted the Sheriff’s Department with a robbery investigation. During the quarter he also arrested one student for possession of prescription drugs, one for possession of marijuana, one for possession of a dangerous weapon (knife), and one for grand theft.

In a June 2009 police operations report, Lanning wrote that Officer McNamara, among other things, “held 37 student/parent meetings and attended 36 school staff meetings. She conducted five criminal investigations, nine home welfare checks and sent six educational e-mails to school staff. She also made seven classroom presentations.”

And in September 2010, Lanning wrote, McNamara had a busy slate that included updating all the classrooms with hall vests and emergency packets, conducted five criminal investigations, trained a new campus security officer and coordinated the security for three football games.

Lanning assured the City Council that the defunding of the Helix SRO would not mean that the officer position would be let go. Instead, he said, the decision “leaves it to the La Mesa Police Department on how to best use the officer.”

In recent years, the nine-member Helix Charter High School governing board has included a local police officer.

La Mesa police Sgt. Brian Stoney was a member until this spring, and police Capt. Ed Aceves (with several children as Helix graduates) preceded Stoney on the governing board.

Asked if the current board (see attached list) includes a police officer, Helix program supervisor Judith Kirk said: “I wish we did; they were truly an asset to our board—great community involvement and knowledge.”


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