Sandstrom plans to exempt school officers from bill

By Lisa Schencker

The Salt Lake Tribune

First published 5 hours ago
Updated 1 minute ago Updated Jan 7, 2011 11:26PM

At the urging of education leaders, Rep. Stephen Sandstrom has revised his proposed immigration bill to exempt school resource officers from having to check whether students and their families are in the country illegally.

Sandstrom’s proposed bill would require law enforcement officers to check the legal status of people they stop or detain for other violations if there is a reasonable suspicion they’re here illegally. But the Orem Republican said Friday he has revised the bill so school resource officers — police officers assigned to schools — wouldn’t have to do that.

“It’s very important [students] have this open rapport with school resource officers,â€