Please forgive the last-minute notice. We just found out about this.
The first meeting of the School Resource Officers MOU Commission is scheduled for Wednesday, March 24th at 9am to 11am. The zoom link and agenda can be found here.
The meeting is open to the public. Pursuant to the provisions of G.L. c. 30A and 940 CMR 29.00 et seq, notice is hereby given of a meeting of the School Resource Officers MOU Commission to take place on March 24, 2021, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. virtually at zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81074760083?pwd=Z1BnU29GVkc4U2x4UGtSZDVaSDVpZz09
What’s at Stake?
While we all celebrated that the policing bill ended the state mandate for every school district to assign an SRO, the policing bill shifted the state mandate so that any school district that employs an SRO must comply with a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that is developed by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The stakes are really high in terms of what that means for the role of SROs in schools, what confidentiality protections students will have and where the line between discipline and policing lies (among many things). The MOU will also be informed by other provisions of the 2020 policing bill (see attached “SRO Excerpts of Policing Law” for all SRO provisions)
Who are the decision makers?
The 2020 law creates a commission, chaired by EOPSS and DESE and has several members of the commission (see “SRO Commission Summary” for commission appointments as we know them, subject to additions/corrections), however the law explicitly requires that the two chairs (EOPSS/DESE) have the final say in a final model MOU.
How can you get involved?
The SRO commission is subject to public meeting laws and therefore all interested parties have a right to attend. The process for public input has yet to be decided, but we will share any information as we receive it.
Additional Resources for School Resource Officers MOU Commission Meeting
