A 2024 Utah law requires K-12 schools to have some form of armed security.
The law gives schools three options for adding security. One is for districts to contract with a local law enforcement agency to add a school resource officer, also known as an SRO. According to KUER, about 300 of Utah’s roughly 1,100 public, private and charter schools have chosen that route. Some had SROs in place before the law, including all Wasatch Back school districts.
Park City School District Safety and Security Director Eric Esquivel said Park City High School had an SRO on site for more than a decade before 2024. He said that’s thanks to the district’s long-standing relationship with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
Now that Utah law requires more security personnel on campuses, Esquivel said the district has expanded its partnership with local law enforcement to have an SRO in every school.
“They chose to go with school resource officers because those are trained law enforcement officers who are qualified with arms and legal matters,” he said.
The Park City Police Department provides an officer for Park City High School and McPolin Elementary. Summit County deputies are in place at Ecker Hill Middle School and Parley’s Park, Trailside and Jeremy Ranch elementaries.
Through the partnership, the district pays half the salary of each officer, which comes to $80,000 per year per SRO.
North Summit and South Summit school districts have the same partnership with the sheriff's office.
North Summit Business Administrator Marci Sargent said the district had an SRO from the sheriff's office in place for many years. She said the district has also had a full-time security director officer for four or five years. He’s a retired Salt Lake City police officer with a salary and benefits costing around $100,000 a year.
“We've been approved a waiver to allow for the SRO and our security officer to cover the three schools that we do have,” Sargent said.
South Summit School District started its partnership with the sheriff’s office about a year before the 2024 law passed. Superintendent Greg Maughn said since then, the district added one SRO to its roster for a total of two.
North Summit is also the only Wasatch Back district to have “school guardians” on its campuses.
The 2024 law allows a school employee — excluding principals and teachers in most cases — to volunteer as an armed guardian on campuses. School guardians must receive at least 28 hours of training from their local sheriff’s office, including instruction on firearms and deescalation. Guardians must also pass a mental health screening and get the approval of a school administrator.
Maughn said the school guardians serve as back ups to the SROs at the district’s four schools.
“We want to make sure that we always have someone there,” he said. “In the event an SRO had to leave for some emergency, we want to make sure that we still are compliant. So our goal is to try to have backups as well.”
Wasatch County School District’s nine schools also have partnerships with local law enforcement and have had full‑time SROs since 2018. Depending on a school’s location, the SRO is either a Wasatch County sheriff’s deputy or Heber City police officer.
The district pays about $700,000 annually for the nine SROs, splitting their salaries with their law enforcement agency.
Elementary Education Director Stephanie Discher said the SROs have become part of each school’s community.
“Wherever there was a large body of the kids, our SRO was always out there, normally playing games with the kids, interacting with the kids, and it really built this trust,” she said. “Our children really learn that this is someone who looks out for their safety.”
Discher said SROs also do safety checks throughout the day, including make sure exterior doors are closed. They also help with safety drills and directing traffic when needed.
Under the 2024 law, school districts can hire private security guards. According to KUER, only a handful of school districts have opted to implement private armed security.
