FARMINGTON -- Farmington school officials are discussing several options on how to improve campus security for the 2018-19 school year.
Bryan Law, superintendent of schools, gave School Board members an update on his ideas at their July meeting to "keep them in the loop." Law said he hoped to bring back a recommendation at the Board's Aug. 27 meeting.
For now, Farmington School District has one school resource officer, Jimmy Brotherton, but Law has talked to police Chief Brian Hubbard and Mayor Ernie Penn about the possibility of a second school resource officer.
The school and city each pay 50 percent of Brotherton's salary but Law said the school would probably pay for most of the salary for a second school resource officer.
Another proposal on the table, Law said, is to consider what Bentonville School District is doing this year. Bentonville School Board voted in July to allow high school security officers to carry weapons if they complete 60 hours of training and pass state and federal criminal background checks.
Act 393 of 2015 allows Arkansas' traditional school districts to arm staff if those staff members have 60 hours of initial training, ongoing education and certification renewals each year.
The armed officers will be called commissioned school security officers, according to Steve Vera, the district's security director.
Vera said each high school has had two unarmed security officers on campus. With the change, three of these are eligible to go through the training to become commissioned school security officers.
Leslee Wright, director of communications for Bentonville School District, said the armed and unarmed officers work full-time in a security role at the high schools.
She pointed out school security is a topic across the country because of the number of school shootings.
"We wanted to do more," Wright said. "This is an added layer of security in our district."
One advantage to using commissioned security officers or guards, Law said, is that the district probably could hire two guards for about the same cost as a second school resource officer. In addition, he said he's already heard of several retired police officers who have expressed an interest in such a position.
Law said he's not sure yet how the positions would work and what the officers would be allowed to do and not do. One idea, he said, is to hire the commissioned officers as instructional aides, with security a part of their job description. For this, the district would have to create a new position to compensate for the security part of the job.
"They would have some duty responsibilities where they would walk the halls to be the eyes and ears of the school and we could use them in other ways, too," Law said.
Lt. Chad Parrish, who served as Farmington's school resource officer for about 15 years, said he has supported a second school resource officer in Farmington for many years. He also is not opposed to the idea of security officers or guards.
"I'm for all of them," Parrish said. "For more school resource officers, for more security guards, whatever we can do to protect those kids."
He added, "I know a bunch of guys that are retired that I would very much like to have protecting my daughter."
Penn said it makes sense to add another school resource officer or security guards in Farmington because the schools are spread out. At the same time, he pointed out, the police department is not far from any of the schools and is able to respond quickly to any emergencies.
Farmington Police Department does not have the staff to move another officer into a school resource role, Penn said. If the school district wants another SRO it will have to pay for the position, he added.
"It's a tough situation in small communities to fund this but if it's something you have to do, then you do it," Penn said.
General News on 08/15/2018