‘The school’s not protected’: Zia Middle School community alarmed by loss of school resource officer

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- With a single vote last week, Zia Middle School became the only middle school in Las Cruces Public Schools to not have a school resource officer on campus.

"The school's not protected at this time," said Nora Barraza, the mayor of Mesilla. "Our number one priority is safety. By not being able to provide that service to them, we're heartbroken."

In a deadlocked vote of two to two, the Las Cruces Public Schools board failed to approve an existing contract with the town of Mesilla to retain two school resource offices for Zia Middle School and Rio Grande Preparatory Institute.

When the board failed to renew the $100,000 contract, the mayor of Mesilla told ABC-7 that Officer Matt Rivera lost his job.

"Unfortunately, we don't have the manpower to provide law enforcement presence at those schools," Mayor Barraza said.

Zia Middle School last had a shooting in the 1990s, confirmed Mesilla Town Marshall Edward Lerma. He said he worries about the response time if there is another one.

"In every school shooting that's occurred throughout the nation, there's always been that delay of response because there's nobody available at the school," Lerma said. "Unfortunately, there were more fatalities that could have been."

"Many students feel much more safe with him to intervene in case of a crisis or a conflict," said Lorraine Leachman, the PTO president of Zia Middle School.

Students might be learning from home, but the district can still utilize the officers to check on them when they are missing class.

"Some of these families might not have good relationships with law enforcement," said Teresa Tenorio, who represents district four. "Unfortunately, when you have a police officer show up and you're struggling already to be engaged in school... I think it would be really intimidating."

"We know that during this time that domestic violence calls have increased along with child abuse," Leachman told ABC-7. "It is critical for the school  to have the resource to be able to do home wellness checks."

In the meeting, LCPS Board President Terrie Dallman expressed concern about Zia Middle School's undocumented students, but didn't elaborate on that point.

"That's another issue all together," Dallman said.

On Monday, she clarified to ABC-7 that she worries about armed members of law enforcement knocking on the doors of undocumented students. She also said she doesn't agree with paying a school resource officer when students aren't in school.

However, Marshall Lerma disagreed with the cost-cutting measure, worrying about the lack of officers in school when students do return to campus.

"There shouldn't be a value on human life," Lerma said.