VENTURA COUNTY ROUNDUP : Thousand Oaks : District Rejects Offer for Campus Officer

Although other districts welcome having an officer on campus, the Conejo Valley Unified School District has repeatedly declined an offer from Thousand Oaks Police Cmdr. Kathryn Kemp for a high school campus resource officer.

A federal community-policing grant was available for a school liaison officer in 1998 and again this year. The grant would provide $120,000 for a campus officer for three years. The city, the county and the school district would be required to provide matching funds, but school district officials declined, saying the cost was too high.

The resource officer would have rotated between Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Westlake and Conejo Valley high schools, so students could talk to the officer privately on a daily basis.

“We have DARE [Drug Abuse Resistance Education] officers going into the elementary and intermediate schools. It’s seen as a proactive enforcement that the kids see as a regular part of their education,” Kemp said.

Kemp said the city and the Sheriff’s Department shouldn’t be asked to pay for the campus resource officer without the school district participating in the cost.

“Hopefully, in the future, the school district will change their philosophy and interact with us,” Kemp said.

The district doesn’t consider hiring such an officer to be an integral resource for the schools, said Richard Simpson, assistant superintendent of instructional services.

“It’s a high-cost item. That’s dollars not going to the classrooms and kids. I don’t think part of our K-12 mission is to hire a police officer,” he said.

The Moorpark Unified School District is expected to receive a high school campus resource officer next month; Adolfo Camarillo High School in Camarillo has had an officer for four years. The officer’s salary is paid by the Oxnard Union High School District and the Sheriff’s Department.

“He’s a positive addition to our staff,” said Principal Terry Tackett. “He speaks to our students. He is on our campus daily. He speaks to classes. Our students think highly of him.”