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VOL. 41 NO. 47 www.quadcommunitypress.com $1.00
SPOTTED AROUND TOWN: Check out this week’s photos, submit yours PAGE 15
Corridor study plans for future of 20th Avenue
Lino PD, school district work together to keep schools safe
BY SHANNON GRANHOLM MANAGING EDITOR
It’s not too late to weigh in on what you would like to see 20th Avenue look like in the future. Anoka County, in partnership with the cities of Centerville and Lino Lakes, is studying the CSAH 54 corridor (20th Avenue) between 73rd Street and Birch Street (CSAH 34), as well as the Main Street (CSAH 14) and 21st Avenue intersection. The county is working with Transportation Collaborative & Consultants (TC2). The area has seen a spur of
BY SHANNON GRANHOLM MANAGING EDITOR
Because of the perceived impact of legislative changes, there will no longer be a school resource officer (SRO) stationed at Centennial Middle School. Due to recent legislative changes to Minnesota Statute 121A, police officers who are under contract with the school district are no longer allowed to provide services in a school setting in the same manner as they have in previous school years. The law changes also impact the department’s ability to provide police officers to work extracurricular events, such as football games or school dances, police officials have said. Specifically, Director of Public Safety John Swenson explained that the new legislation makes the SRO an agent of the school district and limits its officers’ ability to use force if necessary. “If one of our officers were to interact with a student after they attempt to deescalate and the student is out of control, disruptive, breaking property — you pick the scenario — and our police officer has to go hands-on, if the police officer who is the SRO takes that student to ground to handcuff them and puts them down on their stomach, that is a crime under this new law,” Swenson said. He added that the police officer would then be open to criminal liability and the city to civil liability. Although the Lino Lakes Public Safety Department will no longer have an SRO at the middle school, Swenson said officers will not be strangers to the schools. “We are still going to have presence in the school, we just won’t have a contract with the school district,” Swenson said. “School safety is a priority for us. We just may have to do some things that make it fit this law better to ensure that our schools are safe.” As of last week, Superintendent Jeff Holmberg said the district had not received official notice of the suspension of SRO services. “The safety and security of our students and staff is our number one priority and our learning environments need to be safe for students to focus on learning. Centennial Schools has a strong, long-
SEE CSAH54, PAGE 9
SHANNON GRANHOLM | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
Residents voice their opinions on priorities by placing marbles in jars. Priorities include: improvements to mobility, safety, or multimodal facilities; minimizing environmental impacts or property impacts; or adding landscaping.
SHANNON GRANHOLM | PRESS PUBLICATIONS
Centennial kicks off school year Students in the Centennial School District go back to school this week. Pictured is Mack Morris, a third grader at Centerville Elementary School.
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development lately. Amazon, Sutton Transport and Kwik Trip have all built new facilities, and Watermark, the residential development west of I-35E, continues to add new homes. The primary goal of the study is to identify the future vision for the corridor that addresses known issues, while providing safe and efficient mobility for all users. “As part of the Amazon project, they did set aside some funds for public infrastructure and so that's a piece of the puzzle that's out there, but that also spurred us to help
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