Mariana Dale/KJZZ

An empty parking spot for a school resource officer at a Phoenix school in 2019.

The death of George Floyd has sparked nationwide discussions on policing, including the use of school resource officers.

Representatives from Valley school districts and experts on the topic examined the pros and cons of having police presence on school campus in a Tuesday webinar by the Arizona School Boards Association's Black Alliance. 

Lindsay Love, the alliance's president, opened up the event by saying schools increased police presence on their campus since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting to promote safety. But she said there’s little data that shows school resource officers have stopped active shooters on campus. 

Some panelists discussed problems they've seen with some school resource officers. 

Katie Paetz serves as a governing board member for the Osborn Elementary School District in Phoenix, which recently ended its school resource officer program. She said the handcuffing of a third-grader by an school resource officers was one factor in that decision.

“We found that the program was problematic for the safety of our students, and we found it was problematic in that we didn’t get a say in hiring," she said. 

But Charles Cobbs, the director of safety and security for the Tempe Union High School District, said it doesn’t have these issues. He said he has not heard any student say that the district’s school resource officers were treating them unfairly. 

However, the Tempe district has received calls to end its school resource officers program and focus more on school counselors. The board hasn’t decided yet whether it will continue funding the program, or not.