Long Beach Students Feel Intimidated by SSO Presence

Students on their way to Cabrillo High School pass by the Long Beach Police Department's West Division Station, which is next to the school.

Photo Credit: Ceferino Martirez

To some, a school may represent a safe space to learn, make friends and gain the knowledge and skills for life.

For 17-year-old Jesse Guardado, who attends Cabrillo High School, located a block away from the Long Beach Police Department’s West Division station, the school was not a safe space.

The police station was a representation of the violence that surrounded them and created a tense and intimidating environment even within the school walls, Guardado said.

Violence in and around schools was not exclusive to Cabrillo. In September 2021, an 18-year-old named Mona Rodriguez was fatally shot by a school safety officer (SSO) near Millikan High School. The Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) fired the SSO, but these events have refueled conversations about what it actually looks like to feel safe in schools.

Lucas Higbee, a chemistry teacher at Millikan Senior High School, said school safety is difficult to assess. He added that feeling safe is different for every student. While some may perceive random backpack checks and the presence of SSOs a safety measure, others may not.
“[For some students] it makes it so that they come to school and the first message they are told is these members of authority don’t trust you,” Higbee said. 

According to the School Safety and Emergency Preparedness Division Manual, LBUSD employed 13 SSOs stationed on campus and three district security officers who patrolled the property at night. These officers had the power to use pepper spray, physical force, firearms and impact weapons, such as batons.

The SSOs can cite, but not arrest, and are not employed by the Long Beach Police Department, yet Guardado often found it hard to tell the difference. Despite having limited contact with SSOs, Guardado viewed them as an aggressive presence on campus.

“That power dynamic makes it more than enough to paint them as an aggressive authority figure,” Guardado said. “Are they cops? Or are they supposed to be school resource officers? Because I can't tell.”

Milikan junior Emma Huynh perception of campus officers mirrored Guardado’s.

“They make people feel a little bit uneasy because they kind of just standing around and don't really interact with anybody,” Huynh said. “They're very present without having to present themselves.”

Huynh described herself and her friends as feeling intimidated by SSO presence on campus, especially knowing that they have guns.

“We’re just kind of unsure of what they would do, but we all subconsciously know that they're there to protect us,” said Huynh.

Guardado described them as “hawks.”

“As a person of color, it feels extra terrifying because it feels like they have the authority to do whatever they want with you and not face the consequences for those actions,” Guardado said.

And although they are supposed to ensure student safety, Guardado pointed out that these officers, and school faculty in general, are often not adequately prepared to curtail situations. Instead, they resort to merely separating fights and taking students to the office.

Higbee believed that to achieve de-escalation, it is necessary to dismantle the SSO program and instead hire trauma-informed individuals appropriately trained in how to deal with these conflicts.

Long Beach Police on the scene in the 6200 block of E. Spring Street where a shooting occurred between a School Safety Officer and a possible student from Millikan High School in Long Beach on September 27, 2021. Multiple students aboard an LB Transit bus and walking by witnessed the shooting and were detained to be interviewed by officers. Photo Credit: Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images

In response to the pandemic, Cabrillo HS has emphasized the importance of mental health and provided students with resources such as the Wellness Center, with similar centers at LBUSD schools like Millikan and Long Beach Polytechnic High School But Guardado felt it was also important to focus on other aspects of mental health, such as the impact of systemic racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and other forms of oppression. 

Hiring full-time therapists and psychologists was a crucial part of ensuring adequate mental health assistance. Cabrillo’s current psychologists are not full-time employees and are only on campus a few times a week Guardado said.

As someone who is graduating soon, Guardado would like to see schools provide more access to tangible resources. Guardado mentioned Cabrillo Closet, a campus resource that provided students with donated clothes, school supplies, and basic hygiene products. Anyone can walk in and take what they need, for free. Poly has The Rabbit Hole, which functions in the same way. Guardado suggested all schools across the district have something like this available, and that running it could even translate into internship opportunities for other students. 

Guardado said it was important schools have these conversations with students and directly ask them about what resources and changes they would most like to see, rather than the usual rare to no acknowledgment.

“A clear-cut way to directly help students is asking them what they want, what they need,” Guardado said.