How This Boulder School District Replaced Traditional SROs with School Safety Advocates

Like many other communities, stakeholders from the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) began questioning the role of school resources officers following the murder of George Floyd. To evaluate whether SROs were right for their district, BVSD hired an external facilitator with expertise in equity and community engagement who developed the BVSD Equity Council.More than 900 community members applied to sit on the council, and district leaders spoke to stakeholders such as the District Attorney's Office, police, and the public defenders' office. Ultimately, the Board of Education voted to remove SROs.As an alternative, Brendan Sullivan, BVSD's director of safety, security, and emergency management, created the School Safety Advocate role. In this interview, Sullivan shares:How he determined the roles and responsibilities of SSAs (02:53)Training the advocates receive (07:48)How SSAs interface with both law enforcement and school principals (08:52How BVSD students feel about SSAs (13:29)How BVSD parents feel about SSAs (16:53)CAMPUS SAFETY SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/campussafetymagazine X: https://x.com/CampusSafetyMagInstagram: https://instagram.com/campussafetymag LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1836305/ YouTube: @CampussafetymagazineCAMPUS SAFETY SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS: Facebook: https://facebook.com/CampusSafetyMagazineX: https://x.com/CampusSafetyMagInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/CampusSafetyMagLinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1836305YouTube: @Campussafetymagazine