Edina Public Schools recently hired a former police officer for a new district position to strengthen school safety efforts.

Alex Hattstrom, the newly employed Emergency Management and Safety Coordinator, is a law enforcement veteran with 12 years of experience. Most recently, Hattstrom was employed by the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Police Department as a police officer. 

“[The airport was] a very unique type of law enforcement,” Hattstrom said. “That’s where I learned a lot about facility security, critical infrastructure security, and a lot of concepts that a typical patrol officer wouldn’t have learned.”

 Superintendent Stacie Stanley created the position of Emergency Management and Safety Coordinator following the resignation of former Director of Media and Technology Natasha Monsaas-Daly, who was formerly in charge of school safety measures.

“Last spring, our focus was on safety and security,” Stanley said. “[I saw our partner districts], and a vast majority of them actually had someone in that capacity that was overseeing security. So, I took that opportunity to evaluate our current structure and determine if that was what was really going to be best for Edina Public Schools, and decided to add the position. To have someone whose eyes for their 40 hours a week are strictly on the safety and security of our district is really important.”

Hattstrom plans to strengthen response between Edina High School and the Edina Police Department through training such as tabletop exercises, where law enforcement officials discuss their response to specific scenarios. Compared to recreating a physical scene, the practice requires fewer resources and less preparation, according to Hattstrom. 

Hattstrom also said he wants to standardize the district’s procedures to ensure a consistent strategy when handling incidents. 

EPS currently has two School Resource Officers (SROs)—police officers who are assigned specifically to patrol school property—compared to five officers in Eden Prairie and three officers in Bloomington. Stanley said the shortage of SROs was due to a lack of funding. 

“We expend more than our safety dollars for just those two school resource officers. As we go through budgeting, I would love to add more SROs,” Stanley said.

In addition, EHS employs seven security monitors who patrol the building and parking lot and report suspicious instances to law enforcement. Stanley said that Hattstrom’s position allows for the guards to be further trained in proactive security measures. 

Stanley views the partnership with the Edina Police Department as a valuable tool to increase safety for students and staff.

 “[Having SROs make students] feel they feel safer, [and] they’re more likely to report,” Stanley said. “We can be much more proactive in preventing harm in any way in the system.” 

The Edina Police Department was not available to comment. 

This piece was originally published in Zephyrus’ print edition on September 26, 2024