by
Allyson Chiu and Jolene Toves


Guam - The School Resource Program will see a few changes in the upcoming school year. The SRO program has been in effect for the last few years - the program, in partnership with the Guam Judiciary, has placed at least two SROs in each of our island's high schools.


Recently DOE superintendent Jon Fernandez sat down with Chief Justice Robert Torres and several of the island's SROs to discuss the future of the program. "We sat down and brought the SROs together to get some feedback from them about their experiences in our schools which was very informative to us and I believe they are collecting data," he said.


The data collected by one of the SROs will help mold the program moving forward and may bring changes this coming school year, with Fernandez noting, "I think it is important for us to review the effectiveness of the program and address any kinks that have happened in the last year or so in terms of the experience at the schools. I think there are benefits having our probation officers in uniform at the sites not only to address things that happen as law enforcement but also to help prevent."


In addition to law enforcement SROs educating students about the importance of public safety, part of what has been seen, Fernandez says, is that there are different expectations at different schools regarding the education and prevention aspect of the program.  "So this school year after hearing the feedback from the SROs we plan to really do a better job at all of our schools integrating that educational component into the school day," he said.


One of the ideas suggested is that when a teacher is absent instead of having a substitute come in for one or two periods during the day have the SROs use that opportunity to deliver the curriculum that has been developed for the SRO program.