Winter Park Approves School Resource Officer Contract

The resolution came after months of heated rhetoric from Orange County Public Schools

April 23, 2025

By Beth Kassab and Gabrielle Russon

The City Commission approved a new contract for its school resource officers on Wednesday — a deal that calls for Orange County Public Schools to pay the city at least $740,000 over two years.

After months of tense talks, commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the contract with the only comments coming from Mayor Sheila DeCiccio.

“We have always prioritized the safety of our children,” she said. “There was never an issue as to whether Winter Park Police would show up at school … at no time did Winter Park suggest using armed guardians. That came directly from Orange County Public Schools.”

She was referring to a school board meeting earlier this month and an email to parents last year where district officials floated turning to private security for certain schools without an SRO deal.

The new deal calls for the district to reimburse Winter Park $73,000 per SRO for the 2025-26 school year, a slight increase from the previous contract for $72,000 per officer. For the 2026-27 year, the district will pay $75,000.

But the proposed contract also includes provisions so if the district gets additional Safe Schools state dollars, then Winter Park could get paid more too.

Five Winter Park police officers are deployed across Brookshire Elementary, Lakemont Elementary, the Ninth Grade Center and Winter Park High main campus.

A review of public records by the Winter Park Voice shows how city officials and residents responded to the pressure the district put on the city to reach a deal amid rising SRO costs. Winter Park leaders were frustrated by the district’s handling of the situation when they began receiving a backlash last year from residents. Some parents said they were upset SROs could get pulled from schools and armed guardians — a private security force — could be in charge of protecting students, according to emails obtained by the Voice .

The district emailed OCPS families with direct language in mid-December.

“You are receiving this email because you have a child who attends one of the 30 schools potentially impacted by School Resource Officer (SRO) contract negotiations with the cities of Apopka, Ocoee, Windermere, Winter Garden and Winter Park and their local law enforcement agencies. The district has NOT been able to reach a multi-year agreement with them for SRO coverage of the schools within their jurisdiction,” the unsigned district message said. “The School Board strongly believes the safest option is for our law enforcement partners to provide SRO coverage on all school campuses. … Orange County Public Schools understands the financial challenges the cities are facing, but there is simply not enough funds in the State’s Safe School allocation to give more to the local jurisdictions without impacting the classroom.”

The OCPS email also included links so parents could contact officials from the five municipalities.

That sent Winter Park City Manager Randy Knight scrambling to reach OCPS Superintendent Maria Vazquez but the district restricted the superintendent’s access. 

“I tried to call you today but was told by the operator that she was not allowed to connect people to your office by phone.  She said I have to email you with the topic and request a call back,” Knight wrote Vazquez on Dec. 17.

Knight wrote the first negotiating session for the new contract wasn’t scheduled until Jan. 14 but the district’s “public negotiation strategy” was bad for both sides as he complained Winter Park has subsidized the SRO costs for years.

“In good faith, we operated much of this school year without a contract while we tried to work one out,” Knight wrote the superintendent. “I find it very disappointing that someone at OCPS decided to create ill-will in the community against our elected officials as a negotiating tactic.  It unfortunately puts us in a position of having to respond to each of those that write us with the facts of how much Winter Park taxpayers are subsidizing these officers in schools largely made up of non-Winter Park students.”

After the OCPS message to parents, Winter Park officials drafted a public records request for the school district to get “all correspondence/communication to include emails, text messages, transcripts, voice mails, notes between any board member, consultant,  superintendent, employee of OCPS or affiliated with OCPS that relates to the referenced subject/email to include who authorized the email being sent.”

The city also wanted other records to understand how OCPS spent its Safe Schools funding, the pot of state money where OCPS pays for SROs. 

Winter Park began crafting its own response to tell its side of the story as officials received emails from concerned residents.

“Did you know Guardians are only required to have 144 hours of training versus the over 1,000 hours of training a SRO has in one year?” Leslie Bobolts, the parent of a Winter Park High student, wrote the city Dec. 16. “I urge you to please work with the City of Winter Park police department in reaching an agreement on this urgent matter.”

Frances Ferrato, an economic analyst whose daughter attends Lakemont Elementary, also feared what could happen if SROs were gone.

“Recently, during school drop-off, an SUV mistakenly turned onto the sidewalk where children were walking into school. Officer Alvarado, who is always alert and attentive, immediately stepped in, placing herself between the vehicle and the students. Her quick response prevented what could have been a tragic accident,” Ferrato emailed the city Dec. 16. “I feel immensely safer knowing Officer Alvarado is on duty. … Replacing SROs with less qualified school guardians would compromise that safety.”

Months later, the district brought up the contract standoff again publicly. 

School board members slammed Winter Park and the other four cities for not yet reaching a contract deal during an April 1 OCPS meeting. 

“There is no other way to characterize that than they are negotiating in bad faith with us, and I am so disappointed and so frustrated,” said school board member Stephanie Vanos at the meeting.

Vazquez told school board members the district is facing an unprecedented financial crisis and urged the school board to reconsider exploring the controversial guardians program.

Knight declined to be interviewed at the time but commented in the online comments of an April 9 Winter Park Voice story.

“I just want to reassure everyone that the quotes from OCPS officials contained in this article do not accurately reflect the actual status of negotiations. The parties are very close to terms,” Knight wrote.  “Winter Park, along with the other cities involved in the negotiations, have chosen not to instill fear in the minds of our parents or to negotiate through public comments, as we feel that is unprofessional and unproductive.”

Apopka, Ocoee, Winter Garden and Windermere agreed to the same terms with the district.

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