LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After 16 year old Tyree Smith was killed waiting at his bus stop last week, Louisville Police Chief Erika Shields called on JCPS to have its own police department.

But JCPS board member Chris Kolb said the district has found alternate ways to make schools safer, including hiring mental health practitioners and school counselors.

According to JCPS officials, SRO’s began working in several JCPS schools in 2004. In June 2019, Louisville Metro Council voted to recall 17 LMPD officers who had been assigned to JCPS schools and in August 2019, Jefferson County Board of Education voted not to renew contracts to supply 11 SRO’s to schools.

Throughout the 2019-20 school year, officials floated possible proposals for the school board to consider hiring JCPS’ own school safety officers (SSO’s), but that was stalled whent he pandemic hit in March 2020.

Kolb said SRO's do not stop firearms from being brought to schools and armed personnel in schools, giving a false sense of security to parents and the community according to a research article from 2019. The article asserts that there's no current school firearm violence prevention method that shows evidence of diminishing firearm violence in schools.

“It's just way more difficult for kids to build that level of trust with a sworn police officer," Kolb said. "They’re afraid they're going to get their friends in trouble, they're afraid they will be in trouble because first and foremost, those are cops, so we've taken steps that we know will improve school safety."

The rise of crime in Louisville has even sparked Metro Council Members to send a letter to Mayor Fischer with ideas that include the city having an ongoing partnership with JCPS focusing on the safety of children.

“The performance of a student in school is not only determined by the 7 hours they spend inside the door. Likewise, their contribution to our city is impacted by factors outside of what the school can do," said Markus Winkler, Metro Council (17). "And so working together I think is critical to build a stronger and better Louisville."

Council members also suggested filling public safety staffing gaps by utilizing retired officers or other law enforcement agencies.

“JCPS must stop acting like their responsibility ends when the child goes home at the end of the day," the letter reads.

“Which is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard, we've never had that approach and there are numerous programs that we have," Kolb said. "The amount of money that we spend is to make up for the things that the city doesn't do.”

Fighting and suspensions are currently down in the school system, according to Kolb.

“Students are statistically much safer in a school building than they are anywhere else in their lives throughout the day. We have a wave of violence happening in the community. I'm not really sure other than to deflect responsibility from their own failings why people like the police chief and mayor would be talking about that when it has really very little or anything to do with the current tragedy we are experiencing,” Kolb said.

Winkler said his purpose is not suggest SRO's or other alternate solutions, but to work together for one common goal.

“What I do know is that when you consider what happens before a kid gets to school, when they're at school and when they go home, that there is a link between those three things. And that if you try to only address one of those pieces that you might not be actually solving the problem,” Winkler said.