At the September 22nd, 2025 Valparaiso City Council meeting councilman Jack Pupillo’s resolution to ensure sufficient school resource officer coverage and school security improvements was back after being tabled at the last meeting. It was tabled to allow more time for dialogue between the council and the police, along with the school board. Pupillo described the resolution as “A statement of intent on what we plan to do with the city. Working with our schools, our law enforcement professionals and all interested parties to try and get this across the finish line and get our schools protected with additional SROs (school resource officers) and security measures.”
The Valparaiso Police have been recommending a fifth SRO for the school system for over a year but as Pupillo said at the last council meeting the process for getting from four to five SROs had gotten “gummed up” and stalled. Tabling the resolution at the last council meeting allowed time for the council to confirm this recommendation by the police and look into the process.
Councilwoman Emilie Hunt said, while supporting the resolution, that “Ultimately this is a decision for the school board, but has not been brought before the school board for a vote. I am more than comfortable approving or voting in favor of this resolution and would only add that my hope is that the school board president adds this to their next agenda for a discussion so we can figure out what exactly is going on.” Also adding that “the understanding is now that this matter has never been presented to the school board, so the recommendations made by VPD (Valparaiso Police Department) were never brought to the school board or shared with the school board president, either at the time they were made first in 2023 or in January 2025, and that former school board president stated that in a call with Jack and I.”
The school superintendent Dr. Jim McCall was there for the school’s 2026 budget ordinance and was questioned by council on this matter. Pupillo started “We had talked about an additional SRO at the schools, I just want to confirm that is in this budget and should the recommendation come from law enforcement that we are able to act on that.” McCall responded “There is room in the budget.”
Hunt then asked “The recommendation has been made and VCS (Valparaiso Community Schools) has chosen not to implement it despite having room in the budget and we are still unclear on why that is. We have an interest in understanding why VCS has not taken the recommendation from VPD to implement a fifth SRO.” McCall responded. “We received a proposal from the SROs regarding a fifth SRO. The chief and I met and discussed it and came to the conclusion we weren’t quite there yet and would continue to monitor the data in order to arrive at that location.”
Councilwoman Hunt then said “I think there is still some misunderstanding”, she then questioned Assistant Chief Mark LaMotte who was in the audience “I think the council would appreciate some clarity from VPD whether that fifth SRO is still being requested or recommended.” LaMotte said “yes” and Hunt confirmed by asking “Definitively yes?” and LaMotte confirmed again. This was discussed further with the conclusion that it is up to the school board and hopefully these conversations have gotten it there. The resolution passed six to one, councilman Cotton was the sole no vote.
The next hour and forty minutes consisted of the school and city budget. Both budgets come before the council for an initial reading and public comment and then back at the next council meeting for approval vote. So more on those next meeting.
There was a HRC (Human Relations Council) appointment on the agenda and Council Woman Emilie Hunt was appointed as the nonvoting city council member. After the acquisition of the HRC by the city council which changed it from being an advisory committee to the mayor into an advisory event committee under the purview of the city council, four HRC members resigned. So with the four resignations and two additional seats created there are six vacancies on the HRC and per their last meeting they will be taking applications in the near future.
Public comment as always was last, the public comment time is for any person to address the council and mayor. There were several people who spoke in support of Pupillo’s resolution voicing their agreement with increasing the SROs. There were also multiple people who spoke about a VCS High School English teacher who made a social media post supporting the assignation of Charlie Kirk. The next school board meeting is Wednesday September 24th, it has been moved to the high school gym because of the public attention and the number of people expected to turn out for public comment. It appears from a new job posting by VCS for a high school English teacher just today that she has subsequently been terminated.
Valparaiso City Council meetings are held on the second and fourth Mondays of each month.
Meeting Time: The meetings begin at 6:00 PM.
Location: The meetings are held in the City Council chambers at City Hall.
Public Access: The meetings are open to the public, and citizens can attend in person.
Meetings are Recorded: Watch City Council Meetings Online here
Public Participation:Citizens can address the council during designated periods, often with time limits and specific protocols.
Recent Meeting Highlights:
A recent meeting included discussions about opioid grant recipients and the impact of the funds.
Another meeting focused on a resolution recommending a downtown liquor license for Cafe Farina.
One meeting in 2025 regarding a proposed Data Center meeting saw a large public turnout regarding a specific issue, leading to a crowded chamber and locked doors.
On Monday August 11th, the Council Overrode the Mayor’s Veto, read the full story here.
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