Turmoil in Woodbury City Hall After Council Acts to Remove, Then Reinstate SROs
Written by Mallory Paine
Photo by Zehrah Ali
Even though school hadn’t been in session for even a week, on September 8th the Woodbury City Council suspended its contracts with its School Resource Officers at East Ridge and Woodbury High School.
East Ridge’s School Resource Officer (SRO), Officer Ashley Kowarsch, describes her role as, ensuring “the safety of every student, staff member and visitor while on our campus and surrounding area. Additionally, I provide law enforcement resources and police services to the school and build relationships with students and staff.” Officer Ashley commonly responds to incidents around East Ridge involving threats to student safety from both inside and outside of the school. This can involve many incidents, including trespassers on campus or student safety concerns at home.
The suspension came after a Minnesota law change on July 1st, 2023 that prohibits staff members like SROs from using a physical restraint that “restricts or impairs a pupil’s ability to breathe, restricts or impairs a pupil’s ability to communicate distress; places pressure or weight on a pupil’s head, throat, neck, chest, lungs, sternum, diaphragm, back, or abdomen; or results in straddling a pupil’s torso.” In a resolution provided by the Woodbury City Council, they stated that they were “concerned about the ambiguity created by a recently enacted law.” The council felt that the broad terminology of the law made it difficult to outline the role and restrictions on SROs in school. The meeting that decided the suspension of SROs was a closed-door meeting. In a later meeting, the council summarized the previous closed meeting and explained that SROs were concerned about liability issues due to their training not reflecting the new law.
Later in September, the state provided more clarification on the law, and the Woodbury City Council reinstated SROs into the local high schools on October 2nd. When Officer Ashley was asked if she feels that her role will look any different this year with the new state law, she responded, “East Ridge is a great school and situations where I have had to restrain students are so very rare so I’d like to think that this year will be just as awesome as last year and nobody will need to be restrained.”
The Woodbury City Council declined to comment after canceling an interview on the advice of their attorney, but did state that, “ongoing matters with the new law may arise.”
School Resource Officers are seen as important to many students because they add a level of security to the buildings. East Ridge senior Marissa Rutkowski explains that Officer Ashely “makes me feel more safe at school. She’s also a really nice person to say ‘hi’ to in the hallways!”
The Woodbury City Council commits to “Facilitate and promote discussion for a re-envisioned contract for 2024 and beyond.” The Ridge Review will continue to monitor the issue throughout the school year if legislation changes.
