Local Sheriff Takes a Stand Testifying to Urge Legislative Change for Education Bill Language Modification

(KNSI) — A local county sheriff is taking his crusade to keep kids safe in the classroom to the State Capitol.

Wright County Sheriff Sean Deringer testified in front of the Minnesota House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee in favor of House File 3489, which seeks to modify the language in the education bill signed by Governor Tim Walz in May. The law banned the types of physical holds a school resource officer could use on a student. It was widely praised as helping to make schools safer, but many departments said the language was too ambiguous and could open SROs up to criminal prosecution or civil liabilities just for doing their jobs. As a result, more than three dozen police departments suspended their SRO programs until either the law was changed or clarified by the state.

Wright County was one of the exceptions, opting to keep SROs in schools. The decision came after discussions with the county attorney, school administrators, and other stakeholders. Deringer says he offered all 14 SROs a temporary reassignment, but all of them declined. He said the vast majority of the time an officer assigned to a school spends is to build and foster relationships and be a role model.

In the last three years, 4,500 calls for service were made in the 59 buildings in the ten school districts in the county that have SROs. Deringer said these calls include fights, assaults on students and staff, sexual assaults, possession and use of drugs, overdoses, thefts and online bullying and threats. He said given the new parameters, there were three instances that could have been deemed questionable by the state. He also gave two recent examples where incidents could have been contained sooner, had the SROs been allowed to intervene.

“In just the past two weeks,” Sheriff Deringer said, “we’ve had two students require an ambulance ride to the hospital for mental health related circumstances. A patrol deputy had to ride in the ambulance because of the aggressive behavior.” He noted student mental health plays a big part in many of the situations they deal with.

In the second situation, he explained, a second grader started “launching items off the second floor onto the floor below.” Staff followed the student around, “watching him destroy school property and disrupting the entire school and other students.”

Deringer says he believes it is “because of the confusion caused by last year’s legislation that have tied the hands of our SROs. Early intervention by the SROs could have resulted in far less disruption to the school and a more dignified outcome for both of these young students.”

Testimony was limited to three minutes, and he closed by saying it’s hard to fully express the impact of the legislation in such a short period of time, but a letter sent to lawmakers from the Minnesota Sheriff’s Association and other stakeholders explains with just a few minor changes, it would have a “significant impact.”

Deringer added that SROs provide a “tremendous service to our schools and have a significant role in keeping our schools and children safe.”

After the testimony, the bill hit a snag and was laid over for further discussion before being sent to the House Ways and Means Committee, which is its final stop before heading to the full House floor.

Members of the Public Safety Committee expressed their disappointment with the lay over saying some key lawmakers have been left out of discussions and a compromise offered by Republicans was voted down by the DFL majority on a party line vote.

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