When the Edmonds School District voted to pull cops from schools, Mountlake Terrace High School didn’t just lose a school resource officer — it risked losing an instructor as well.

After joining the high school two years ago as a school resource officer (SRO), Officer Kyle O’Hagan decided he wanted to help students better understand the role police play in society and began teaching a criminal justice class. With 12 years’ worth of experience working with youth prior to becoming a police officer, O’Hagan said the class was a perfect fit for him.

O’Hagan’s class is a career and technical education (CTE) elective course intended to educate students on the history of policing, the judicial system and their rights when dealing with law enforcement. He also said he wanted to use the class as a chance to humanize police officers with students.

“They saw me as a trusted police officer,” he said. “At the end of my first year at the high school I had around 200 students sign up to take my criminal justice class for the next year. It was then that I felt the students knew who I was and what I was about.”

The school board voted last month to remove three SROs from distinct high schools after deciding that placing police officers in schools isn’t in the best interest for all students. The decision came in response to outcry from students, families and district and school employees at all levels concerned that having armed police officers in schools could negatively impact students of color and their ability to learn.

So far, the board has voted to remove SROs from Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds-Woodway and Meadowdale high schools. Due to Lynnwood High School being located in unincorporated Snohomish County and having a longer response time, district officials are exploring safety measures before making a final decision.

Though O’Hagan said he understands the decision, he disagrees with it and added that he will miss working with the students.

“I loved being at the high school,” he said. “(The SRO program) really is community-oriented policing at its best. I’m really disappointed to see this program come to an end.”

During his time at the school, O’Hagan said he enjoyed engaging daily with students and becoming a part of the school’s community. In addition to teaching, O’Hagan said he was able to act as an informal counselor to students and discuss issues they were experiencing.

“I’ve had kids come to me wanting to talk about issues and get advice about life and issues in their home,” he said.

O’Hagan said some of his favorite memories from his time at the school are being cheered on while doing a toe-touch for students at a football game and making TikTok videos with them.

O’Hagan may no longer be an SRO at the school, but whether he will still teach is up in the air. According to O’Hagan, the school’s administrators and the district’s CTE department both support the idea of him returning to teach the class. However, he added that he will have to see how teaching will mesh with his other duties with the police department before a final decision is made.

For now, O’Hagan is back to patrolling the city. Even if he can’t return to the school in a teaching capacity, he said he hopes to be the responding officer should the school need police assistance in the future.

“I suppose this fall when the calls from the high school start I will try to take as many of those calls that I can,” he said. “I would really love to do as much community outreach as I can.”

O’Hagan also offered students these words of encouragement: “Run the race that is marked out for you,” he said. “You have a choice to let the circumstances of life get you down or to let them build your character.”

–Story and photo by Cody Sexton