Safety officer reinstated at American Canyon High School
After talks of his removal in December, American Canyon Police Officer Joshua Coleman will remain in his role as safety resource officer at American Canyon High School.
Coleman is a former Vallejo police officer who was tied to the Vallejo Police Department’s notorious badge-bending scandal and has been linked to past police-involved shootings. Coleman previously worked with Napa Police Department and has been working for the Napa Sheriff’s Department since 2018. In 2024, he was in the news for shooting 18-year-old Rogers Vaughn.
On Dec. 20, a letter circulated on Nextdoor and Facebook decried “the recent decision to remove Officer Josh Coleman from American Canyon High School,” and stated that “Officer Coleman was the person who identified and acted on information that a student was being sexually abused.”
The letter went on to list Coleman’s contributions to student life at ACHS and called him “present, proactive, innovative and unapologetically protective of our children.” The letter was brought to a nationwide audience by @libsoftiktok, which reposted Smith’s letter on X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok.
A memo sent from the Napa Valley School District to ACHS staff over the weekend and obtained by the Current stated that “you may have heard that our SRO was being replaced. I want to inform you that Officer Coleman will continue to be assigned as the ACHS SRO.” The letter was signed by ACHS Principal Karin Hatton.
This morning, American Canyon resident Jessica Smith posted a follow up on Nextdoor lauding the decision to keep Officer Coleman at ACHS.
In an email, district communications chief Julie Bordes told the Current that “the District engaged in conversations with the American Canyon Police Department and Napa County Sheriff’s Office regarding a possible change in the assignment of the SRO at the American Canyon High School.”
Ultimately, Bordes wrote, “after extensive conversations” with American Canyon Police, a replacement officer could not be found. It was decided that “the best course of action would be for the current SRO assignment to continue at American Canyon High School.”
Citing privacy concerns, Bordes did not provide details about what prompted discussions of Coleman’s removal but said that such conversations are not unusual for the school district.
