Parents raise concerns about Burlington High School resource officer, district's response

Sep. 29—Burlington School Board members on Monday heard from parents concerned about a school resource officer assigned to the district, as well as the board's lack of response to a petition for his removal that was signed by more then 500 people.

The Change.org petition was created by Candice Ives after a video was posted to social media of a female student screaming from another room at Burlington High School during what appeared to be an incident involving Burlington Police officer Brian Carper.

Because the incident involves a minor, video taken by school security cameras and SRO body camera footage cannot be released by either the district or the police department without the parents' consent.

Parents of the student involved in the incident and another student whose encounter with Carper spurred a protest in May by students claiming he used excessive force have declined to give that consent.

Another Change.org petition created shortly after the first one urges the district to keep Carper at the school and has been signed by 128 people.

The petition to remove Carper garnered 559 signatures and was e-mailed to school board members and district administrators at the beginning of September.

"I'm just very concerned that the school district as a whole has been very dismissive when it comes to the concerns of the community and parents when it comes to the actions of the school resource officer," Ives, who lives in West Burlington but open-enrolls her children into Burlington schools, told school board members via phone call during the public comments portion of the board's regular meeting Monday.

Per Iowa Code 279.8B, petitions signed by at least 10% of the number of people who voted within district boundaries (which is about 300) or by at least 500 registered voters within the district must be placed on board agendas. The district consulted with attorney Brett Nitzschek over the matter. In a Sept 14 e-mail from Superintendent Pat Coen to Kristina Robinson, another parent of Burlington students, it was explained that, because the petition was internet-based, legitimacy of the signatures could not be assured.

Robinson urged the board to be proactive.

"I just feel like it's really unfortunate that you guys have a chance to do the right thing, and instead, you guys are sitting on your hands and not doing anything about the situation," she said. "When something does happen that someone gets hurt, then it's going to be a more reactive situation when you guys could be more proactive."

SRO services are provided to the district under a contract with the police department.

Coen told The Hawk Eye that he and district administrators met last year with Maj. Jeff Klein, who was serving as the interim police chief, to review the SRO training manual, which states that hands-on interactions between SROs and students are a last resort, as well as the role of administrators. Coen said that meeting was successful.

"You cannot ever allow your school administrators to become less than fully engaged in your mission, and it would be easy for those lines to be blurred and for the administrator to allow the resource officer to take the lead, and that's never the intention," Coen said. "The intention is that the school administrator takes the lead and that the school resource officer would only become engaged if it was necessary. The resource officer should be standing behind the principal, not in front of the principal."

Coen has talked with Burlington Police Chief Marc Denney since then, after comments posted to social media, though he said he could not elaborate further.

"We are restricted by state and federal laws that cover student and employee records to where we can't rebuttal without breaking another law. So the schools are often caught in a Catch-22 where somebody may or may not be saying something that is 100% correct or not correct at all," Coen said.

The district does have the ability to request that the BPD assign a different SRO to its schools, but no such request has been made.

Because the matter was not on the agenda, board members were unable to respond to the comments other than indirectly during the board communications portion of the meeting, though none of them did.

Per district policy 500.2R1, complaints of parents and students are to be resolved at the lowest administrative level possible, beginning with verbal discussion between the involved parties and the building administrator or supervisor.

If no resolution is reached, the student or parent may file a complaint in writing with a requested resolution. It then goes to the building administrator or supervisor, who will make a decision on the complaint and communicate it in writing.

If the parent or student is not satisfied with the decision, they may file a copy of the complaint with the superintendent and request a meeting. The complaint must be filed with the superintendent within 10 school days of the principal's decision.

The superintendent then must file a written response with the parent or student, as well as the building administrator or supervisor.

It is only if the complaint cannot be solved satisfactorily by the superintendent that the parent or student may request to have the matter placed on the board agenda.

"The way the process would work is if an appropriate resolution wasn't found, then it would come to the board," board president Joel Sieren told The Hawk Eye. "If the board was too involved in personnel issues prior to it coming to us, it wouldn't be a fair hearing."

Because an official complaint has not been filed with the board by the involved parties, Sieren believes the matter has been resolved.

"I trust our staff and, as they have fully investigated any claims against any staff member, that the appropriate resolution has been found," Sieren said.

Also at Monday's meeting, Coen said he visited each of the district's school buildings on Monday and that the majority of students were complying with the board's reinstated mask mandate.

There were, however, some rebellious tweens.

"We had a couple middle-schoolers who cut the mask out and sewed mesh into it, and that is so middle school," Coen said.

Those students were given new masks, which they put on.

Coen and several board members, including Tom Courtney, who was attending the emergency board meeting held to discuss the mandate virtually and lost service before it was put to vote, thanked students and parents for complying with the mandate, especially given that not everyone is happy about it.

Courtney noted he had intended to vote in favor of the mandate.

In other action, the board reluctantly accepted Coen's notice of retirement as it appeared on the human resources report.

Sieren commended Coen for his successes and the future successes for which he has set up the district.

"It is a sad 'yes' vote that we'll make today," Sieren said. "We as a board are committed to having a new superintendent hired and in position to start when Mr. Coen's position ends. I think with the great team you've built and the great momentum we have in the district, we should have our pick of great candidates."

Board member Darven Kendell, who serves on the district's facilities committee, said staff surveys have been sent out to gather input on the district's $30 million Secure Advanced Vision for Education project, which, according to previous discussions, is expected to include the addition of an auditorium at the high school and a practice gym at Edward Stone Middle School.

A board work session to discuss plans for the project is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 22, and community input meetings will follow.

The board also approved an asbestos sampling inspection of BHS as part of the district's three-year required asbestos report.

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