(Image: Garfield High School)

After a summer of community discussions, the families and students of Garfield High School are hoping to make their voices heard this week as the Seattle School Board considers a proposal to post a uniformed and armed Seattle Police Department officer every school day at the 23rd Ave campus.

Officials are hoping revisions made to the proposed School Engagement Officer pilot program based on community feedback will help make sure the program addresses concerns over school-specific training for the officers and better guidance that ensures the officers are placed “supporting safety, not discipline.”

The board is set to vote on the pilot program after public testimony Wednesday night.

“In the potential pilot program, a School Engagement Officer (SEO) is a Seattle Police Department officer assigned to schools. The role is focused on safety, not discipline,” Principal Tarance Hart wrote in a message to families, saying that the potential Garfield officer would “maintain a visible presence on campus, build positive relationships with students, staff, and families, assist with emergency preparedness and school safety procedures,” and “serve as a liaison with local law enforcement when outside issues affect the school.”

CHS reported here on a summer community forum at Garfield as last school year ended with a remembrance of the 2024 campus parking lot murder of student Amarr Murphy-Paine, security changes at the 23rd Ave school, and a debate around a proposal to return an assigned School Engagement Officer to Garfield.

Hart said last year was his first year at Garfield without gun violence since he became principal in 2021.

Over the summer, Hart and Garfield also held the inaugural “Reclaiming the Village” summit as part of “fostering stronger relationships with its Black families,” Converge Media reported.

The return of an assigned campus police officer would roll back a Black Lives Matter-era reform.

Previously known as community resource officers, the program was dropped by the district in the summer of 2020 during the height of Black Lives Matter protests against police killings when the school board suspended a partnership with SPD that provided five armed officers with rotations and placements across Seattle’s public schools.

After Murphy-Paine’s killing and ongoing gun violence around the city’s campuses, officials have pushed to reestablish SPD’s presence. SPD’s new Chief Shon Barnes is also a proponent.

Seattle voters are set to decide on a new $1.3 billion school levy this fall that includes millions for improved campus security across the district as well as funding for restarting the school officer program with the Garfield pilot.

Hart and Seattle Public Schools officials say they have also made the 23rd Ave campus — the largest public high school serving the Central District and Capitol Hill neighborhoods — safer with new investments including mental health resources and four district “security specialists” on campus along with new policies on accessing the campus that directs all access through a new vestibule and front office.

Neighborhood program Community Passageways also has been funded to provide two “violence interrupters who build positive relationships and help prevent conflicts,” a case manager, and staff around the campus perimeter to help ensure “safe passage support for students traveling to and from school.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Bruce Harrell and District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth pushed to include the area around Garfield in the city’s expansion of the Seattle Police Department camera surveillance system. New Real Time Crime Center cameras will be installed in the Central District centered around safety at Garfield High School with boundaries running from a block north of the school along E Cherry all the way to S Jackson. The western edge will include 20th Ave and the eastern edge will extend along 26th Ave. The zone will include Garfield’s 23rd Ave campus, the Garfield Super Block area including the Garfield Community Center and sports fields, and the troubled parking lot at 23rd and Jackson.

The school board decision on the School Safety Memorandum of Understanding and School Engagement Officer pilot program was originally planned for earlier this summer but delayed to give officials time to respond to community concerns and questions. Wednesday, the board will decide if those questions have been answered.

You can learn more about the Seattle School Board meeting and participating in the public comment at seattleschools.org.