The Northshore School Board voted to eliminate the position Monday, ending a 30-year relationship with the Bothell Police Department.
BOTHELL, Wash. — A Bothell High School senior has launched a petition online to demand the Northshore School Board reverse its decision to eliminate the school’s longtime school resource officer (SRO).
Brady Minneman started the Change.org petition after the board voted 4-1 Monday not to renew its contract with the City of Bothell for services at Bothell High School.
“They’re supposed to be voting based on what the community wants,” Minneman said. “And obviously they’re bringing in their own political and personal beliefs into the issue.”
As of late Wednesday, nearly 3,000 people have signed the petition.
Officer Garrett Ware has served as Bothell High School’s school resource officer since 2017.
“He’s just always there,” Minneman said. “A lot of people who don’t have a lot of friends, they talk to him. You can always talk to him, human to human.”
State law requires the Northshore School District to review its SRO contract annually. This year, the board chose not to renew it. Members cited concerns from some students, particularly students of color, about having an armed officer on campus.
Bothell High School was the last campus in the Northshore School District with an SRO. The board eliminated the program at Woodinville High School in 2022.
In a 2024 survey of Bothell High School community members, 77% of students agreed or strongly agreed that the SRO program promotes student safety. The school’s principal and district administrators had recommended the program continue.
Ware will remain on campus through the end of the school year in June.
District spokesperson Carri Campbell said that next year, Bothell High School will have two campus supervisors who receive state-required training that includes social-emotional learning, implicit bias, student-centered mentoring and restorative justice.
The second unarmed campus supervisor to Bothell High School will replace the SRO position. Campus supervisors are district employees, not law enforcement officers.
Minneman said students are not giving up.
“Everybody’s kind of mad… trying to find a solution to keep it,” he said.
To ensure diverse coverage and expert insight across a wide range of topics, our publication features contributions from multiple staff writers with varied areas of expertise.
