DAVENPORT, Iowa — Davenport City Council talked for several hours Wednesday night regarding the role of School Resource Officers in the Davenport public schools. The schools have already signed a contract signaling they will have the SRO's in the buildings next school year.
Now the council is working on adopting a Memorandum of Understanding that outlines exactly what the role of a SRO is in the buildings. Several alderman including Marion Meginnis and Judith Lee expressed their concern over the wording used in the MOU.
Lee saying during the Committee of the Whole meeting on April 21st, that she wants language changed that specifies on incidents in the classroom. Instead she wants to see language that addresses the way SRO's handle students across school grounds.
Alongside her, Meginnis expressed concerns over the lack of time available to review the MOU. The MOU will go before the school board next Monday before the City Council meeting on Wednesday. Meginnis voiced confusion over why the updated MOU went through the school board for approval before the Council had a chance to look at it.
Both Meginnis and Lee, alongside Alderman Patrick Peacock and Alderman Ben Jobgen requested to table the vote until further changes could be made to the document.
Mayor Matson, Alderman Matt Dohrmann, and Alderman Raymond Ambrose disagreed, saying the document has already gone through extreme scrutiny. Mayor Matson saying, "We have something here that takes this process and puts it in a place that the people can see via data, because that's what they want. Via transparency through organizations like schools, the police and city council and elected folks all in comprehensive work to do this. Where else has that been done?
Mayor Matson says the document has been through several rounds of changes, and many hands to get different opinions on the matter. Members of Quad Cities Interfaith disagree however, saying they feel the Mayor and Council have not heard their concerns.
QCI member Alexandra Dermody saying, "The mayor and everyone else on the council are elected officials who serve at the will of the public, the people who elected them and we expressed to them we didn't feel like we were being listened to."