The Newman City Council voted 5-0 to authorize City Manager Michael Holland to complete a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the city and Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District (NCLUSD) to provide a school resource officer.

On July 23, 2026, the Newman Police Department posted a statement on its Facebook account, stating that NCLUSD decided to not renew the SRO’s contract ahead of the 2026-27 school year. The posts drew in reactions from residents, who expressed their concerns about campus safety.

This led to district officials to later clarify that they are negotiating for the position rather than eliminating it.

The first step in bringing back the SRO happened when the NCLUSD Board of Education voted 5-0 on the position’s MOU on Aug. 10.

“What we were paying for was not what we were getting,” said Board President Don Chabral about the reasons for the negotiation.

He added that if NCLUSD wanted to get out of its current contract, which automatically renews every year, it had to not renew the contract.

Cabral said district staff looked at seven different school districts in the local area, and NCLUSD was paying the most for its SRO.

“So, it gave us an opportunity to end that contract [in order] to come up with a new contract … at a lot cheaper price for the same service,” Cabral said.

Despite the city council’s decision on Aug. 25, NCLUSD Superintendent Justin Pruett told the Westside Connect that the SRO began their role on Aug. 24.

According to the agenda report, the individual will receive $162,000 annually and will be for overtime by the city for special events such as five home football games, two basketball games, high school prom and graduation, per the agenda report.