Wichita won’t be pulling its police officers out of Wichita high schools, but plans to retool the program to make it less about security and more about mentoring and counseling, the city manager said Tuesday.
City Manager Robert Layton told the Wichita City Council he’s not going to recommend ending the program, an idea that had been floated in a series of possible cuts to close a $1.7 million budget gap.
The idea of eliminating school resource officers was not popular during a social media town hall last week, particularly amid ongoing concerns over school shootings.
“As a result of that and also some discussions I had with the chief and the superintendent, I think what we’ll be doing is not proposing . . . the elimination of that program, but instead, at a later time this year, rolling out a different model,” Layton said.
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