KCK school police officer accuses district of wrongful firing, covering up crimes
The deputy police chief of the department serving Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools believes he’s being wrongfully terminated in an effort to cover up an investigation involving an officer on his force, as well as additional crimes committed by the local school district.
With his firing pending, he’s speaking out and planning future legal action.
KCKPS, meanwhile, has said it cannot comment on the situation, citing that personnel matters are confidential.
Syler Colaço, a nearly 12-year member of the school police department, told media outside his Wednesday morning pre-termination hearing that the public school district is punishing him for investigating that officer and reporting official misconduct to the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standing and Training.
The commission, often called CPOST, sets the training standards and administers certification to law enforcement officers in Kansas.
Colaço also said he’s witnessed numerous crimes, including sexual, verbal and physical misconduct, by district staff against students that the school district has never reported to state officials as required.
“The school district, particularly Human Resources and the Superintendent’s office, has covered up this and other criminal activity, violated its own district policies while selectively enforcing those same policies against others when it suited them, made threats, ignored serious safety and security concerns, and turned a blind eye to employee misconduct,” Colaço wrote in a statement.
Colaço, who is on administrative leave, is still technically employed by the school district until a final determination is made on his termination.
He said the district is accusing him of retaliating against fellow officers by investigating allegations of time theft, or collecting pay for time someone didn’t work, and reporting evidence of those allegations to the state commission.
The district also accused Colaço of lying to administration about the timeline of when he reported those allegations to the state. A letter from a Kansas CPOST investigator said that Colaço was not lying about that timeline, and that the commission mistakenly shared the wrong timeline with KCKPS when they reached out to the commission for more information.
Mike Brown, executive director of CPOST, confirmed in a Thursday morning phone call that that letter was from the commission and that the information contained in that letter, including some details on the investigation, was accurate. Further details regarding the investigation and how it’s being handled must remain confidential until the case is closed, he said.
“I believe what has occurred here includes the covering up of criminal conduct by certain employees, the protection of some while others are targeted, and retaliation against the people who report wrongdoing,” according to Colaço’s statement. Staff within the district’s human resources department have previously threatened to dismantle the police force, he said.
Doug Shane, a Republican state senator in Miami County, attended Colaço’s hearing Wednesday as a character witness. He called efforts to terminate the officer unsubstantiated and said the allegations against Colaço don’t make sense.
And that, he said, tells him that the school district is hiding something.
“To me, it’s quite simple,” Shane said. “The adults are trying to make sure that the adults are protected. It’s not the interest of the students. It’s not the interest of the taxpayers.”
KCKPS did not directly address Colaço’s allegations, but it did say that his potential termination has “nothing to do with our students or student safety.”
“The district’s focus ensures student safety remains a top priority,” according to the district. “We continuously evaluate practices, procedures, and staffing decisions with the goal of maintaining a safe, supportive, and effective learning environment for all students and staff.”
‘Raised alarms’
An official within KCKPS with information on the department, but who was not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Star that lacking support from administration and targeting of department leadership have been key problems within the KCKPS police department.
People within the department have gone so far as to tap outside agencies and ask them to investigate KCKPS administration after seeing things that have “raised alarms,” including an observed underreporting of violent incidents in schools, the official said.
That official said they have concerns that the school district modified its reports for how many crimes occur in schools in order to retain access to specific state and federal funding.
And, the police department, which creates police reports for incidents that happen in all schools, can threaten that, they said, given those reports don’t always match up with what the school district has reported.
The KCK school community has recently witnessed numerous tragedies, including gun violence, several student overdoses and suicides. Bullying on social media has led to toxicity in society that weighs on all students daily, the official said.
School police chief leaving
Colaço’s pending termination comes as the school district’s police chief, Chad Whiteman, prepares to leave KCKPS. Whiteman in April informed the district that he planned to resign at the end of his contract year, scheduled for June 30.
Instead, the school district decided that Whiteman’s final day of official duty would be Thursday. He will continue to receive his salary and benefits through the end of his contract.
Whiteman is the third police chief that the KCKPS police department has had since 2024, Colaço said.
At least 10 officers, a third of the force, resigned from the school district police force within the past several months.
